Last month, the DIY and VR communities were captivated by a barebones, self-built VR headset from engineer and YouTuber Daniel McKenzie (aka CNCDan). His initial creation was a testament to ingenuity, proving that a functional virtual reality experience could be built from the ground up. However, it came with a significant limitation: it only offered three degrees of freedom, or 3DoF.
For the uninitiated, 3DoF tracks your head's rotations—looking up, down, left, right, and tilting. It’s fine for gazing around a stationary cockpit in a sim racer, which was Daniel's primary goal. But as many commenters were quick to point out, the lack of positional tracking—the ability to lean in, duck, or move side-to-side (collectively known as 6DoF)—was a dealbreaker for a truly immersive VR experience, even in racing sims.
Well, it seems Daniel heard the feedback loud and clear. In an impressive follow-up, he has successfully upgraded his DIY VR system, transforming it from a 3DoF curiosity into a fully-fledged, positionally-tracked headset.
Building on the Shoulders of Giants: The HadesVR Upgrade
Rather than reinventing the wheel, Daniel smartly turned to the open-source community for the core of his tracking solution. He integrated technology from HadesVR, an open-source project dedicated to creating accessible outside-in positional tracking.
This new "outside-in" system uses a camera placed in the room to track the position of the headset and controllers. By leveraging the HadesVR project, Daniel could focus on integrating the system with his own hardware rather than writing complex tracking algorithms from scratch. You can explore the open-source project that made this possible here: HadesVR GitHub Repository.
To complete the package, he also incorporated wireless controllers, finally allowing for true hand presence in virtual worlds.
The Proof is in the Playtesting: A Round of Beat Saber
The ultimate test for any VR system is how it handles a fast-paced, movement-heavy game. Daniel put his upgraded rig to the ultimate test: Beat Saber.
The results were promising, though not without the expected hiccups of a DIY prototype. Using a single camera for tracking introduced some limitations, with the controllers occasionally losing their precise position. Furthermore, both the headset and controllers, which also rely on internal IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) sensors, experienced some drift over time—a common challenge in VR tracking that even commercial headsets grapple with.
Despite these quirks, the fact that a homemade headset could run Beat Saber at all is a remarkable achievement and a huge leap forward from its stationary predecessor.
Open-Source to the Core
Staying true to the DIY spirit, Daniel has made his entire project open-source. He invites other tinkerers, engineers, and VR enthusiasts to learn from, improve upon, and build their own versions of his headset. The plans and code for his initial 3DoF build are already available, and he has pledged to upload all the resources for this new 6DoF version soon.
If you're interested in building your own or just want to dig into the technical details, keep an eye on the project's main hub: Daniel McKenzie's DIY VR GitHub. He’ll likely update the description of his YouTube video with the link as soon as the new files are live.
For those inspired to start their own DIY tech projects, having the right components is key. Many essential parts, like sensors and microcontrollers, can be found online. (Disclosure: The following link is an affiliate link that supports the site at no extra cost to you.) You can browse a wide selection of electronics and DIY components here: Shop DIY Electronics on Amazon.
Daniel McKenzie's journey is a fantastic reminder that innovation in technology isn't confined to big corporate labs. With passion, skill, and a little help from the open-source community, you can literally build the future in your own workshop. We can't wait to see what he—and the builders he inspires—creates next.