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 - VR Basics 

VR Software Setup 

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.

In these tutorials, you will do the following:

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

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

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.

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

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

What makes for a great VR experience?

Explore the VR landscape

What’s so great about developing for VR?

The limitations of VR

Next steps

Beginner VR Design

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VIDEO 4  - What's special about VR, as a medium-_V3.mp4

VIDEO 5 - What makes for a great VR experience-_V3.mp4

If you’re not an active user of a particular medium, you’ll have difficulty designing effective experiences for that medium. You are much better positioned to create comfortable, intuitive experiences when you are very familiar with the medium you’re designing for. 

In this tutorial, you will do the following things:

Familiarize yourself with a wide range of typical VR experiences 

Learn about the advantages and disadvantages of VR, compared to traditional screen-based experiences

Learn what makes for effective VR experiences

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-1: Evaluate a proposed VR experience in order to suggest ways it could be improved

o-L2-SysDes.VRd-1.1: Describe the advantages and disadvantages of VR experiences, when compared with traditional screen-based experiences.

o-L2-SysDes.VRd-1.2: Describe the design considerations specific to VR experiences, when compared with traditional screen-based experiences.

o-L2-SysDes.VRd-1.3: Explain the importance of optimization and performance for VR experiences.

o-L2-SysDes.VRd-1.4: Explain comfort and accessibility considerations specific to VR experiences.

Evaluate a proposed VR experience in order to suggest ways it could be improved. 

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.

VR basics

Create your first ML2 app

Before you can become an expert in VR development, you should first get familiar with the VR landscape: what’s already out there in the wide world of VR? 

In this tutorial, you will explore common categories of VR applications and learn what works and what doesn’t in virtual reality. 

Of all the different ways to experience media, VR is probably the most immersive. When you’re in a well designed VR experience, you really feel like you’re in the virtual environment. 

Hear from our established creators on what makes for a great VR experience:

Rather than trying to describe this multidimensional, multi-sensory experience through 2D black-and-white text, you should just check it out for yourself!  

If you don't have access to a headset, you can still get a good idea of the range of VR experiences through trailers and screenshots. 

Browse through the experiences below and consider how these experiences would be different if they were done on traditional screen-based platforms like desktop, console, or mobile. Try to look into at least one example from each category.

Puzzle games like The Room VR: A Dark Matter

Historical scenes like Anne Frank House VR

Travel and discovery like National Geographic: Explore VR

Immersive storytelling like St. Jude Hall of Heroes

Reaction time training like Reakt Performance Trainer

Technical skills training like Oxford Medical Simulations

Soft skills training like Active listening or Interview simulations

If you do have access to a VR headset, you can also go to your headset’s store page (Oculus or Steam), and sort the results to show only free applications. A lot of apps will have limited free demos, which allow you to experience a wide range of experiences without spending a lot of money.

When you experience something in VR, your brain responds as if you’ve experienced it physically – this is very different from experiencing something on a two-dimensional screen. So, for example, if you did a VR experience where you were walking on a narrow plank hundreds of feet up, your brain would respond as if you were really doing that. As proof of this, check out a trailer for Richie’s Plank Experience. 

One of the primary goals of VR development is to generate a feeling of presence in users: to have your users feel that they really are there on a subconscious level. As a designer of immersive experiences, this can be a very exciting prospect. You can transport and connect with your users in a way that is impossible with traditional screen-based media. With VR, you can create more powerful, memorable, and exciting experiences for your audience.

Just listen to some of our established creators discuss what they find special about VR experiences:

As VR headsets become more widely available, people have begun to use this technology to connect in virtual worlds, meet up with friends or colleagues worldwide, attend concerts, and shop. This network of shared, virtual environments is sometimes called the Metaverse. 

As a result of this explosion in technology, it is a particularly exciting time to learn how to develop experiences for this medium. 

Although there is a lot of promise for VR, there are also significant limitations. 

It can feel exhausting to wear a VR headset for an extended period due to its weight, discomfort caused by the strap, and eyestrain from proximity to the screens. Also, many users report feelings of motion sickness, even after only short periods. 

VR often requires a sizable unobstructed area, which is not an option for everyone. Most VR designers account for this and ensure their apps are usable in a stationary, seated environment.

Because of the immersive and physical nature of VR, you cannot do it while doing something else, even something like drinking a glass of water. You are more cut off and isolated from the world and people immediately around you, which makes it more difficult to experience VR with people in the same physical space. 

Finally, HMDs are still fairly expensive and therefore inaccessible for many people. 

You should now understand what’s currently popular in VR and have some ideas about the opportunities and limitations associated with developing for VR. Next, you’ll apply that knowledge as you come up with a concept for your own unique personal VR project.  

The VR software landscape

1. Overview

2. What makes for a great VR experience?

3. Explore the VR landscape

4. What’s so great about developing for VR?

5. The limitations of VR

6. Next steps

Complete this tutorial