LÖVR

LÖVR is a simple framework for creating virtual reality experiences with Lua. For more information, visit the website.

Getting Started

You can download precompiled binaries from the LÖVR website. The LÖVR documentation provides API reference as well as a series of tutorials and examples. Here are a few short snippets so you can get an idea of what it looks like to use LÖVR:

Hello World

Create a folder called myProject. In that folder, create a file called main.lua with the following in it:

function lovr.draw()
  lovr.graphics.print('Hello World!', 0, 1, -1)
end

Finally, start SteamVR and drag the myProject folder onto lovr.exe. Put on your headset and you should see the hello world text at the front of the play area.

Cube

You can draw a spinning cube using lovr.graphics.cube:

function lovr.draw()
  lovr.graphics.cube('line', 0, 1, 0, .5, lovr.timer.getTime())
end

Audio

Play an ogg file:

function lovr.load()
  local sound = lovr.audio.newSource('darudeSandstorm.ogg')
  sound:play()
end

Audio is spatialized using HRTFs, and the virtual audio listener is synchronized with the pose of the HMD.

3D Models

LÖVR supports most 3D model file formats:

function lovr.load()
  model = lovr.graphics.newModel('teapot.fbx', 'teapot.png')
end

function lovr.draw()
  model:draw()
end

For more examples, check out the examples folder.

Hardware Support

• HTC Vive (full support via OpenVR)
• Oculus Touch (partial support via OpenVR)
• WebVR (partial support, see emscripten branch)
• Mobile VR (no support currently)

Documentation

See http://bjornbyt.es/lovr/docs for examples and API reference. The documentation is open source and can be found here.

Compiling

You might want to compile LÖVR from source so you can use LÖVR on other operating systems or create a custom build.

Dependencies

• LuaJIT
• GLFW (3.2+)
• OpenGL (3+)
• assimp
• OpenVR (1.0.5, for lovr.headset)
• PhysicsFS
• OpenAL (1.17+ recommended for HRTF support)
• FreeType

See lovr-deps for a GitHub repo containing all of these as submodules.

Windows (CMake)

First, install lovr-deps:

cd lovr
git clone --recursive https://github.com/bjornbytes/lovr-deps deps

Next, use CMake to generate the build files:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..

This should output a Visual Studio solution, which can be built using Visual Studio. Or you can just build it with CMake:

cmake --build .

The executable will then exist at /path/to/lovr/build/Debug/lovr.exe. The recommended way to create and run a game from this point is:

• Create a shortcut to the lovr.exe executable somewhere convenient.
• Create a folder for your game: MySuperAwesomeGame.
• Create a main.lua file in the folder and put your code in there.
• Drag the MySuperAwesomeGame folder onto the shortcut to lovr.exe.

Unix (CMake)

First, clone OpenVR. For this example, we'll clone openvr into the same directory that lovr was cloned into.

git clone --branch v1.0.5 https://github.com/ValveSoftware/openvr.git

Next, install the other dependencies above using your package manager of choice:

brew install assimp glfw3 luajit physfs freetype openal-soft

On OSX, you'll need to set the DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable to be /path/to/openvr/lib/osx32.

Next, build using CMake:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake .. -DOPENVR_DIR=../../openvr
cmake --build .

The lovr executable should exist in lovr/build now. You can run a game like this:

./lovr /path/to/myGame

You can also copy or symlink LÖVR into a directory on your PATH environment variable (e.g. /usr/local/bin) and run games from anywhere by just typing lovr.

License

MIT, see LICENSE for details.