The lastest Public Test Channel release of the Oculus PC software adds driver and software support for the upcoming Oculus Rift S headset. By looking at the code, we can see the new Guardian setup process- as well as what happens after.

Guardian is the boundary that keeps you from bumping into walls in VR. It marks the edges of your playspace in VR.

Painting Lines In AR

On the first Rift you set up Guardian before putting the headset on by walking around the room with a Touch controller. A top-down view of the boundary was shown on the monitor as you drew it.

On Rift S and Quest this process is different with the onboard cameras. You now set up Guardian with the headset on. You see the real world in black & white and use your Touch controllers to point and “paint” the Guardian lines onto the real ground — essentially an augmented reality view:

If you need to expand the boundary you don’t need to redraw. You can just draw another line outside the current lines and it will expand:

Calibrating Floor Height

To set the floor position on the original Rift, you entered your height and stood up straight. From your height and the headset location it calculated the floor position. This was done because in the default Rift sensor placement the sensors cannot see the floor.

Since Rift S and Quest cameras can see the floor when you simply look down, the floor height is now set by touching the controller to the ground:

Passthrough Auto Activation

The setup of Guardian is not the only change. When you move your head out of your Guardian area the headset will fade back into the black & white camera “passthrough” view, letting you see the wall or furniture you’re about to bump in to.

This could increase situational awareness in VR and make room scale a safer experience.

Introductory Tutorial

When setup is complete, you’re taken to a new introductory experience for Rift S which explains the basics of VR and the Touch controls: