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Introduction

Welcome to How To Be More Creature Online, a wiki for furries and therians of all stripes (and spots) to document our setups, techniques, approaches, and ideas for being more creature online.

“Be more creature?” What exactly does that mean?

This is a complex question with even more complex answers, but the simplest answer is we are a ragtag collection of transhumanist furries (and adjacent) who all in any way wish to more fully inhabit the physical characteristics of our imagined selves.

We have done this at every step, from putting on our first pair of ears at a con, or VR furry avatar, right through to biosensing, eye tracking, haptics, prostheses and more.

All of it is in an effort to more fully embody our avatars, and in many cases, our characters and possibly our truest selves.

Starting this was inspired by an absolutely lovely time had talking shop among fellow VR enthusiasts and therian types at the fireworks finale of Furality Ultra.

What topics are open to being covered?

There’s not really a line of what counts; if it is something virtual, physical or technological that affirms your species, assuming you aren’t hurting anyone with it, it is welcome here. This is a queer-positive, trans-positive, therian-positive, and transhumanism-positive space. If you don’t like it, there’s the door .

Who can contribute?

Anyone! This wiki is open to contributions; we generally will review external contributions before we publish, but the world is your oyster. You need only a free account on Codeberg to propose a change.

How do I contact you?

We’re just getting things set up right now, but you can contact Ticky at any of the options listed at drac.at/contact.

Cosmetics

Style yourself to more closely resemble your creature, whether virtually or in meatspace.

  • Shaders & Settings
  • Avatar Dynamics; Linking to Senses & Interactions
  • Muzzle Visibility in VRChat (HeadChop)

Senses

Anything that adds to or enhances your senses.

Haptics

Haptics are any way of communicating touch to a user’s body, and can take the form of movement, vibration, or other forces applied to the user to correlate with some sense to be augmented.

This can be as simple as a vibration motor, or as fancy as electrical stimulation or other novel approaches.

  • Haptic Pancake, Tundra Tapper & compatible
  • Giggle Puck (Shop)
  • Repurposing Joy-Cons

Low-Frequency Effects

If you’ve ever felt the sound from a subwoofer, or stood near the speaker at a concert or in a theatre then you’ve experienced Low-Frequency Effects.

Note

We’re borrowing the terminology from surround sound for convenience, but our use-case is a little different. If you’ve got a better name for it I’m all ears! And bones, I guess.

Replicating that in virtual reality is somewhat complicated; it’s not easy to integrate a traditional subwoofer into a VR setup due to latency, and ultimately the speed of sound. There’s also arguably a bit of a fuzzy line between LFE and contact haptics. This will focus primarily on replicating the experience of being in a room with loud music.

Options

  • Woojer Strap
    Ticky has used a Woojer Strap 3; it’s fairly good at enhancing the virtual clubbing experience, though it is not quite powerful enough, and perhaps the vest would be a better investment.

  • Woojer Vest
    The Vest appears to be, more or less, four or five Woojer Straps placed strategically around the body.

  • Subpac

  • BackBeat G2

Interactions

Novel ways you can interact with the world, Virtual or otherwise.

  • Eye & Face Tracking
    • VRCBiteTech
  • Hand Tracking & Gloves
  • Controlling Appendages

Controlling Appendages

Appendages, whatever they may be, have quite a few options for interfacing with controls.

For more specific control options, check the other sections under Interactions. This page will cover some general ideas that can be used for all sorts of stuff.

  • Knuckles to OSC (Repo)
  • Linking with other interactions (eyes/face controlling ears/tail)
  • Puppet controls in VR

Appendages

Ever wanted an extra limb or two? Been jealous of people who can wiggle their ears? Let’s see what we can do.

Setups

This is where enthusiasts are encouraged to document their setups, whether for VR or meatspace creature affirmation.

Ticky’s VR Setup

Starting from the top; I use a Quest Pro headset via Steam Link to VRChat on Windows 10.

Note

I do not recommend the Quest Pro, due to ongoing software quality issues, although it sadly remains the most fully-featured eye and face-tracking headset available.

Senses

Haptics

I use a set of four Tundra Trackers, with the Tundra Tracker I/O expansion board, and coin vibration motors attached. These operate via the Haptic Pancake software.

Tundra Trackers are positioned on my headset, waist, and feet. The haptics from these work well on paws and waist, but due to the mass of the Quest Pro, are much less obvious on the head. The tracker on the headset is for integrating the SteamVR and Quest tracking systems, and was previously used for chest tracking instead.

Warning

The Tundra Tracker I/O expansion board is not built for the purpose of haptics, and has historically required surface-mount soldering in order to attach haptics devices.

For those starting out now, however, there is a much cheaper and simpler option; the Tundra Tapper.

Audio & Low-Frequency Effects

Given the poor audio quality on the Quest Pro, I use a pair of Koss Sporta Pro headphones instead of the built-in audio solution. For VR clubbing, I will also use the Quest Pro’s second headphone jack to connect a Woojer Strap 3 to provide low-frequency effects. I tend to strap it against the skin of my sternum just below my bra.

Interactions

The Quest Pro provides face and eye tracking to VRCFaceTracking via OSC. Additionally, the eye tracking controls my ears’ behaviour via Unity animations.

I use a pair of Valve Index knuckles for finger tracking and general navigation inputs.

Software

Future Additions

I have a FluxPose kit on order, which I hope will act as a drop-in replacement for my Tundra Trackers and their haptics. Given that will leave my Index knuckles as the last remaining Lighthouse-tracked devices, I am tempted to try going for gloves or some other higher-fidelity hand tracking option.

I’m very interested in tail control and haptics! I want to investigate more options in that area. I am inspired by the Imaginary Joint paper, and the Freedom of Form Foundation, among others.

I additionally own a Muse 2 brain-sensing headband compatible with the BFIVRC/VRChat BioSensing tech, but I’ve not found a good way to integrate it with my setup.

Because I have face tracking, I have tried and failed to get VRCBiteTech working. I should poke it again soon.

Future work on my VR avatar in this vein includes moving to properly rigged digitigrade legs, a floor collider for my tail, paw splay for my footpaws, as well as working on using VRChat’s Head Chop component to be able to see my muzzle in VR. I’m also very interested in integrating fur shaders and interactions with such.

Outside of VR, I already find myself “moving my tail” subconsciously even though I don’t physically have one. I would love to make that real in VR and also real in meatspace!

Contact Me

If you want to ask me questions about my setup, or you have suggestions or ideas, or otherwise just talk shop, please feel free to reach out to me via my website!

Contributors

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Links

We like or are inspired by the following communities and websites, in no particular order;

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