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HMD Motion Emulation

Updated: Oct 7, 2026

Use HMD Motion Emulation to simulate the movement of a user directly in the Unity Editor.

Any app that uses OVRCameraRig or OVRPlayerController prefabs will enable the emulator. Otherwise, you can attach the OVRHeadsetEmulator class to a game object.

To use the emulator, play/preview the scene in the editor and use your mouse and keyboard to:

Input	Action
Ctrl (hold) + mouse movement	Update head pitch and yaw
Ctrl (hold) + alt + mouse movement	Update head roll
Ctrl (hold) + mouse wheel	Update head height/elevation
Ctrl (hold) + middle mouse button	Reset the pose to scene default

All in-editor manipulation is done while holding the Ctrl button on Windows. HMD Motion Emulation is not supported on Mac at this time.

By default, OVRHeadsetEmulator.opMode is set to EditorOnly, which make it effective only in the Unity Editor preview window. Set to AlwaysOn to activate the function in standalone builds.

By changing OVRHeadsetEmulator.activateKeys and OVRHeadsetEmulator.pitchKeys, you can change the default key-bindings.

Any updates/translation made in the Editor will also be reflected on the device.

If the HMD Motion Emulation is not working, check if OVRHeadsetEmulator is properly attached, and try stopping the scene and restarting.

How it Works

OVRHeadsetEmulator modifies OVRManager.headPoseRelativeOffsetRotation and OVRManager.headPoseRelativeOffsetTranslation. You can also write your own script or use Unity animation clips to modify those properties to automatically change the head pose.