Modus VR Controls and Shortcuts

Ken Brueck Blog, How to

Introduction

Some commonly-used controls for Modus VR changed in the September 2022 release to enhance usability. 

  1. Rotating objects
  2. Modifier button
  3. Snapping
  4. Duplication

Rotating objects

Controllers with joysticks, like the Quest 2’s, have a new method of rotating objects. Previously, as you moved the joystick in a circle the object’s rotation would follow. Although it was fast this approach didn’t lend itself to precise control.

Now, you can push the joystick all the way to the right or left to continuously rotate the object clockwise or counterclockwise. For small adjustments, you can simply bump the joystick to the right or left and the object will rotate a small amount.

You now hold the joystick left or right, rather than moving it in a circle

You now hold the joystick left or right, rather than moving it in a circle.

You can also pull the joystick down or push it up to have the selected object continuously point at you or away from you, respectively. This is great when angling in speakers, for example.

Pull the joystick down and the object faces you. Push the joystick up and the object faces away.

Pull the joystick down and the object faces you. Push the joystick up and the object faces away.


Modifier button

There is now a dedicated modifier button that activates secondary behaviors. Simply press and hold the grip button on your controller while performing another action, like scaling or teleporting, to activate secondary behavior.

Tip: We recommend using the modifier button on your off hand, e.g. if you’re resizing an object with your right hand, hold the grip button in your left hand to activate the secondary behavior.

Note: The HTC Vive and Windows Mixed Reality gen 1 controllers use the grip button for both modify and undo. On the Valve Index, you must squeeze the controller to activate the grip button.

The following actions have secondary behaviors:

Resizing

  • Normal: Asymmetrical resizing, extending or contracting one side of the object.
  • Modifier: Temporarily resize symmetrically, extending or contracting opposite sides of the object at the same time.

Note: Some objects, like screens, scale symmetrically by default. When using the modifier button it will temporarily switch to asymmetrical scaling instead.

Rotating with the wheel

  • Normal: Free rotation
  • Modifier: Temporarily snap to 15° increments

Snapping

  • Normal: Respect the snapping rules defined in the side menu
  • Modifier: Temporarily disable all snapping

Note: Axis arrows will still restrict movement along their axis.

Teleporting

  • Normal: Teleport normal distance
  • Modified: Teleport arc is thrown much farther


Snapping tolerance

Snapping tolerance has also received an update. In previous versions of Modus VR, the snapping tolerance, or size of the magnetic field that would cause an object to snap, was fixed. This meant if you were far from an object you may not even see the snapping effect at all. Up close, you may have experienced multiple snapping rules “fighting” each other, e.g. you want to center something between two nearby objects but your object keeps getting pulled to one side instead.

Now, snapping tolerance is calculated based on your distance from the object. If you want to have more fine-grained control, simply move closer and the snapping tolerance will shrink.


Duplication

Previously, you could only duplicate by grabbing the object or axis arrows. Now, you can also duplicate while grabbing the resize handles or rotation wheel.

Rotate and duplicate at the same time

You can now switch to rotate, resize, or axis modes while in duplicate mode


Summary

We’ve come to love these changes over the last several months and hope you will, too. As always, we love hearing your feedback!