2.1 - Audio and Haptics

2.2 - Activation Events

2.3 - Direct and Ray Interactors

2.4 - User Interface

Challenge 2 - 3D Painting

The XR hardware landscape

Lab 2 - Personal Project Events & Interactions

Submission 2 - Share your Work

Mission 2 Quiz - VR Events & Interactions

Learn how to implement more complex interactions in VR to make the experience more immersive, such as audio, haptics, and user interfaces.

In this mission, you will implement more complex interactions in VR to make the experience more immersive.

In these tutorials, you will do the following:

Apply new functionality to specific objects

Allow the user to toggle between multiple types of interactors

In the Challenge for this mission, you will apply your skills in a 3D painting prototype. Then, in the Lab, you'll implement the core functionality of your personal project. Finally, in the Quiz, you will test your new knowledge.

Events and Interactions

Unity VR Development

Dive into the world of virtual reality with Unity's VR Development Pathway. Learn to design immersive experiences, build VR games, and master Unity's VR tools. Start creating in VR today!

VR Development Pathway - Learn Unity VR Game Development | Unity Learn

 or have the equivalent experience, before starting Unity VR Development.

In addition, basic coding experience is recommended before starting the Custom VR Development mission, which can be obtained via the 

Ready to develop for VR? This guided learning Pathway will prepare you for a job in the VR industry!

Welcome to VR Development! This learning pathway is designed for anyone interested in learning to create experiences for VR. This pathway assumes a basic knowledge of Unity and basic knowledge of programming.

VR Development

Welcome to the VR Pathway

VR Software Setup 

1.1 - VR Project Setup

1.2 - VR Locomotion

1.3 - Grabbable Objects

1.4 - Sockets

Challenge 1 - Architecture Review

The VR software landscape

Lab 1 - VR Personal Project Basics

Submission 1 - Share your Work

Mission 1 Quiz 1 - VR Basics

Learn the basics of setting up a VR project and implementing simple interactivity like locomotion and grabbing objects.

In this mission, you will learn the basics of setting up a VR project and implementing simple interactivity.

Set up a VR-ready project with the room of your choice

Implement locomotion so that users can move around the scene

Add grabbable objects users can pick up and throw around

Set up sockets that objects can snap into

In the Challenge for this mission, you will apply your skills in an architectural review prototype. Then, in the Lab, you'll fill out a design document to lay out a concept for your own project, and then begin working on it. Finally, in the Quiz, you will test your new knowledge.

VR Basics

3.1 - Comfort and Accessibility

3.2 - Optimization

3.3 - Lighting

3.4 - Building and Sharing

Challenge 3 - Training Simulation

Keeping up with XR technology

Lab 3 - Personal Project Ergonomics & Optimization

Submission 3 - Share your Work

Mission 3 Quiz - VR Ergonomics & Optimization

Explore ergonomics and optimization for VR for making apps as accessible and comfortable as possible.

In this mission, you will focus on ergonomics and optimization for VR in order to make your app as accessible and comfortable as possible.In these tutorials, you will do the following:

In the Challenge for this mission, you will apply your skills in an industrial training simulation prototype. Then, in the Lab, you'll implement the core functionality of your personal project. Finally, in the Quiz, you will test your new knowledge.

Ergonomics and Optimization

What is in this mission?

Explore the sample scene

Set up the scanner

Code the scanning functionality

Balloon Inflator

Escape Room project overview

Number pad

Keycard reader

Sliding Door

Mission 4 Quiz - Custom VR Development

Clone with a twist!

Submit your final project

Learn to write scripts for advanced interactions in VR applications, and create your own unique VR project.

In the previous missions, you used pre-made interaction scripts provided to you as part of the Create with VR project. This mission will teach you to write scripts specifically for VR applications. You’ll write these scripts from scratch in the context of three separate projects.

In project 1, the XRI example scene created by the XR Interaction Toolkit team, you'll reference existing code and documentation to program some more advanced, customized interactables.

In project 2, you’ll follow guidelines from a project brief to create part of a VR escape room. Rather than following step-by-step instructions here, you’ll only receive hints.

In project 3, which you’ll submit to receive your pathway badge, you’ll create your own unique VR project. The challenge here is to create a clone with a twist: a version of an established VR experience, but with a unique alteration.

, you should already have a good foundational knowledge of scripting in the Unity engine to make the most out of this learning content.

If you don’t already have a foundational understanding of scripting, now is an excellent time to learn. We recommend you complete the 

If you feel almost ready but want to brush up on a few skills without doing the entire Junior Programmer pathway, why not check out the 

Custom VR Development

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Overview

Recap: VR vs. AR vs. MR

Opportunities for work in XR

Categories of XR hardware

HMD tech: passthrough

HMD tech: hand tracking

HMD tech: body and eye-tracking

Next steps

Beginner VR Design

aaron.sharp@unity3d.com bCXcG*RnEp9O!6@q

Immersive VR games made with Unity | Unity

Unite Berlin - AR Keynote Reel

Unity Slices: Table. Sliding along the spectrum of realities.

In the Metaverse computers are semi-virtual : Augmented Keyboard - Meta Quest 2

Hand Physics Lab: Launch Trailer

VIDEO 3  - What opportunities are there for work in the XR industry-_V3.mp4

There are so many VR headsets out there that it can be overwhelming at first. If you are going to work in the world of VR development, it’s important to get your bearings in this vast, rapidly-evolving hardware landscape.

In this tutorial, you will do the following things:

Recall the difference between VR and other types of XR (such as AR and MR)

Learn the differences between the most widely used XR hardware systems

Investigate the latest hardware trends in VR

Designed for post-secondary and K-12 educators at accredited academic institutions teaching Unity in the classroom, the Unity Educator plan provides you with free access to the same real-time 3D development tools used by professionals to support your students.

Included in this plan are Unity Pro, cloud-based collaboration, cloud build, free Unity assets, and much more!

VR Developer Pathway Facilitator Kit.zip

VR Developer Pathway Facilitator Kit (Google Drive)

Unity Educator Hub

The VR Developer Pathway Facilitator Kit includes everything you need to successfully bring this Pathway into your learning context including a syllabus, complete lesson plans, standards alignment, teacher preparation guide, and more.  

Games

Film

Automotive

Skill-L2-SysDes.VRd-2: Decide which XR hardware to target, given the goals of a particular project.

o-L2-SysDes.VRd-2.1: Explain the difference between VR and other types of XR (such as AR and MR), including suitable uses for each one.

o-L2-SysDes.VRd-2.2: Explain the differences between the most widely used XR hardware systems.

o-L2-SysDes.VRd-2.3: Explain at a high level the options for publishing or distributing VR apps.

o-L2-SysDes.VRd-2.4: Recall the latest hardware, software, and research trends in VR in order to inform recommendations.

Decide which XR hardware to target, given the goals of a particular project.

Previously, you looked at the software landscape of VR; now it’s time to look at the hardware landscape.

The VR HMD landscape is expanding with more offerings all the time. It can be difficult to keep track of the differences between them. However, there are major advantages that come with being up to date on the latest hardware.  

In this tutorial, you will learn about different types of XR hardware as well as new technologies and features on the horizon.

You learned about the differences between VR, AR, and MR in the introductory tutorial. But as a recap, XR is split into three primary categories. 

VR creates a digital environment that replaces the real-world environment through a head-mounted display. Check out some of the amazing VR games made with Unity:

AR overlays digitally created content into the user’s real-world environment on a mobile device or head-mounted display. Check out some of the applications for handheld AR in this demo reel:

MR includes any experiences that fall along the reality-virtuality continuum, including some elements of AR and VR. Check out this demo of Unity Slices: a multiplayer mixed reality experience that allows people to locally and remotely simultaneously interact with the same surface:

You’ll see next that, as the hardware evolves, the lines between these technologies get blurrier. 

As you have already heard, this technology changes so quickly that it can be difficult to keep up. But with changes in technology come new opportunities.  

Hear from our established creators on the wide range of opportunities in this fast-changing field:

There is so much to learn about XR hardware and how it works, but here is a high-level overview of the categories of XR hardware:

Since VR replaces your entire visual field with digital content, it can only be done with a head-mounted display and usually includes two handheld controllers.

However, a couple of crucial features distinguish the most popular VR devices:

Tethered headsets like the PSVR2 are connected to a console, which allows for higher quality graphics.

Standalone headsets like the Meta Quest 2 are entirely cordless, requiring that all processing be done in the headset. These are less cumbersome because they don’t have any wires, but they aren’t capable of producing as high-quality graphics as tethered headsets.

Inside-out tracking means all cameras and sensors are located inside the HMD and controllers, tracking the position and rotation of your head and hands from within (inside) the devices, outward to the room around you. The Meta Quest and PSVR2 use inside-out tracking. 

Outside-in tracking means you have additional external stationary sensors in the room, outside the HMD and controllers, tracking the position and rotation of your head and hands. Outside-in tracing requires more setup, but it allows for more advanced tracking. The HTC Vive Pro and Valve Index use outside-in tracking. 

Since both AR and MR combine digital content with real-world content, they can share the same hardware. 

Head-mounted AR/MR headsets like the Magic Leap or Hololens 2 have transparent lenses that can have digital images displayed on top of the lenses.

Handheld AR/MR devices are most commonly smartphones. Using the camera and screen, images and filters can be superimposed onto the live view of the real world. Common examples of AR/MR on smartphones include social media apps like Snapchat or dedicated AR apps like Pokémon Go and IKEA place. 

Display: Transparent lenses vs. passthrough

Transparent lenses like the Magic Leap or Hololens 2 project digital images on top of the real world you are seeing through transparent lenses.

Passthrough is when a live camera’s feed is projected onto a screen that you’re looking at, which can then have images projected onto it. That is what is happening with smartphones. You’ll learn more about passthrough in the next step.

Most new models of VR head-mounted displays have external cameras mounted on the outside of them pointing outwards. Passthrough technology is when the view from those cameras is passed through to the display in the headset so that it’s viewable by the user. 

In the demo video below, the black-and-white video is a demonstration of passthrough:

Passthrough lets users look at their physical environment like they would without a headset, but they’re actually looking at the live feed from the external cameras.

The recent improvement in these external cameras' quality allows traditional VR headsets to act more like AR or MR headsets. It allows you to see the world around you and easily superimpose digital content on top of that image. 

Technology like this is beginning to blend the distinctions between AR, VR, and MR. Some people are starting to think of these media as existing along a sliding scale of blended physical and digital realities, rather than existing as distinct media types. 

With the improvement of external cameras on VR HMDs, hand-tracking has become possible. With hand tracking, you can freely move your hands and use gestures like pointing, squeezing, and pinching to perform actions instead of using controllers.

For a vivid demonstration of hand-tracking technology, check out the Hand Physics Lab app trailer:

There are benefits and drawbacks of using hand tracking instead of controllers. 

It promotes a sense of presence and immersion since your hands are not tied to controllers. 

Since hand tracking relies on hand and gesture recognition from cameras, hand tracking isn’t as accurate or responsive as pressing a button on a controller is. 

Your hands need to be in view of the cameras for the hand tracking to work, which could significantly limit the experience. 

There are not as many inputs (buttons and triggers) as there are with a controller, which might limit the complexity of experiences.

The lack of haptic feedback makes it harder to determine whether you performed an action correctly.

As tracking technologies improve, we may see advancements such as full-body monitoring. This would allow a user’s legs, arms, and upper body to be represented in VR, instead of just their head and hands. 

Headsets that use outside-in tracking can track a user’s entire body, including the use of dedicated sensors for body tracking such as the Vive Tracker. 

In addition to this, newer HMDs can track a user’s eye movements, allowing for more responsive experiences, advanced interactions, and improved comfort.

We will not be developing for these features in this pathway, but understanding the pros and cons of these technologies will allow you to make informed decisions for your projects in the future. In a later tutorial, we will offer you some tips for keeping up with these changes.

In the next tutorials, you will continue working on projects with your current hardware, but it is good to be aware of the other technology as you do so.

The XR hardware landscape

1. Overview

2. Recap: VR vs. AR vs. MR

3. Opportunities for work in XR

4. Categories of XR hardware

5. HMD tech: passthrough

6. HMD tech: hand tracking

7. HMD tech: body and eye-tracking

8. Next steps

Complete this tutorial