WalkingStick is a locomotion mode that simulates the use of walking sticks or canes to move through the virtual environment. Users can attach virtual sticks to their hands or controllers and push against the virtual floor to propel themselves forward, creating an intuitive and physically-inspired movement system.

Unlike physics-based locomotion systems, WalkingStick locomotion does not rely on real physics interactions with the environment. Instead, it calculates movement based on the relative distance from the hand to the virtual floor, providing natural and responsive movement while being compatible with human-scale environments and hand input constraints.

The WalkingStickLocomotor reads input from one or more WalkingStick components attached to the hands. When a stick is pushed down toward the floor, the system generates relative LocomotionEvents to move the player. When the sticks are released, momentum is maintained through Velocity events, allowing for natural sliding movement.

How does WalkingStick locomotion work?

The WalkingStick system operates through a centralized locomotor that manages input from multiple sticks:

Walking stick components

WalkingStickLocomotor

The WalkingStickLocomotor is the core component that processes input from all registered WalkingStick components. It calculates stick positions relative to the virtual floor and generates appropriate movement events.

The locomotor operates in different modes based on user input:

Pushing mode: When sticks are actively pressing against the floor, the system generates relative translation events. The player moves in the direction opposite to the stick movement, similar to pushing off with a real walking stick.

Sliding mode: After releasing the sticks, momentum is maintained through velocity events. The player continues moving in the same direction with gradually decreasing speed, creating a natural deceleration effect.

Jumping: When both sticks are pushed down simultaneously with sufficient force, the system can trigger a jump action, combining vertical and horizontal movement.

WalkingStick

The WalkingStick component is attached to each hand or controller. It acts as a proxy that communicates stick state to the central WalkingStickLocomotor.

Each stick tracks:

Its position relative to the virtual floor

Whether it is currently touching or penetrating the floor

Its velocity and movement delta

Whether it is in a valid configuration for movement

WalkingStickVisual

The WalkingStickVisual component provides visual feedback by rendering a virtual stick from the hand position down to the virtual floor. This feedback highlights when the player is actively pushing against the floor to use the stick for movement.

Property	Description
Handle height	Measurement from the tip to the handle portion of the virtual stick visual
Idle color	Color to use when the stick is not actively pushing
Selected color	Color to use when the stick is actively pushing against the floor

Walking stick options

Movement parameters

The WalkingStickLocomotor uses animation curves to provide the following control options:

Property	Description
Delta factor	Multiplier applied to the delta of `WalkingStick` movement while pushing
Velocity factor	Multiplier applied to velocity when releasing the stick and starting a slide
Aiming stickiness	Stickiness of the movement direction towards the current direction of the character
Direction strength	Strength of movement when moving in the direction of the character

Jump Parameters

When both sticks push down simultaneously, the system can trigger a jump:

Property	Description
Jump forward factor	Bias towards forward direction when jumping
Jump velocity factor	Factor applied to the jump horizontal velocity
Jump vertical factor	Factor applied to the jump vertical velocity

Relative distance calculation

The WalkingStick system does not rely on real physics collisions with the environment. Instead, it uses the following calculations to determine its collisions and how to translate them into movement:

Stick length: The system calculates a virtual stick length based on the user’s head height in tracking space. This automatically adapts to different user heights.

Floor detection: The system determines if a stick is touching the floor by comparing the stick’s virtual tip position to a virtual floor plane. This calculation is based purely on the relative distance from the hand to the floor.

User movement: When a stick penetrates below the floor plane, the user is propelled by the collision. The system calculates the hand’s movement delta and transforms it into player movement in the opposite direction.