Virtual reality (VR) is a fast-growing, exciting field with a lot of career opportunities in related disciplines. In this first tutorial, you will learn all about the VR Development pathway, a guided learning experience that prepares you for work in VR development.

In this official course from Unity, you will learn to design and develop your own Virtual Reality (VR) applications. You will create prototypes, attempt challenges, and complete quizzes to build and solidify your skill set. At the same time, you will be guided through creating your own unique VR project from start to finish, beginning with a blank design document and ending with a fully functional project. Whether you want to create an interactive walkthrough of an ancient ruin, a product configurator for a car manufacturer, a simulator for operating dangerous machinery, or any other experience, this course will help you bring those ideas to life in VR. Thanks to Andrew, creator of the VR with Andrew YouTube channel, for collaborating with us on this course. Educators who want to bring this curriculum into their classroom should refer to Create with VR for Educators.

A marker-based app is an application that can recognize images (called markers) in the real world and then make content appear in the app. You may have seen applications that use this kind of technology to make AR content for movie posters, product labels, card games, and even business cards. In this project, you’ll make a marker-based app with a user interface that lets the user control a 3D model, text, and audio.

In this tutorial, we’ll explore Interactors and Interactables in the XR Interaction Toolkit. Interactors allow the user to interact with the virtual world. Interactables are GameObjects with which the user can interact.

In this tutorial, you’ll dive into the world of visionOS development using Unity. You’ll start by learning about the core concepts behind visionOS and the capabilities of Apple Vision Pro. The tutorial will guide you through setting up your development environment, including the Unity Editor and essential packages for visionOS development. By creating a simple application, you’ll learn about the different modes and use cases for each one, such as Mixed Reality (MR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Windowed Mode. This practical, hands-on experience will culminate in building an Xcode project and testing your application using the visionOS device simulator. By the end of this tutorial, you’ll be able to do the following: Grasp the core concepts of developing for visionOS and the capabilities of Apple Vision Pro. Install the appropriate version of the Unity Editor that is compatible with visionOS development. Understand and install visionOS and PolySpatial packages using the Package Manager. Install the correct version of Xcode for visionOS development. Recognize the significance of developing apps with different entry points: Windowed, MR, and VR. Set up a simple scene in Unity to allow for basic user interactivity in a visionOS app. Configure build settings accurately and build your project to Xcode. Navigate and utilize the visionOS device simulator effectively.

In this course, you will learn to create your own augmented reality (AR) face filter apps using Unity. You will create multiple face filter projects from start to finish that are compatible with both Android and iOS devices. The first app you’ll create will overlay textures, animated 3D models, particles, and other effects on the user’s face. The second app is more interactive and will allow the user to select, customize, and visualize different pairs of glasses. To implement this functionality, you will use Visual Scripting: a graphical programming system that does not require any written code. Along the way, there are also quizzes and challenges to help solidify your skills and build your portfolio. AR apps have never been in higher demand. Whether you just want to create cool face filters or pursue this industry as a potential career, this course is the perfect place to start

In this tutorial, you’ll set up a VR Menu in World space and configure it so users can interact with it accordingly. By the end, you will be able to set the color of a panel by pointing at a button and pulling the trigger on the handset.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to configure VR-specific settings in Unity and the XR plug-in for your target XR headset. For a faster start, you’ll apply these settings to the XR Interaction Toolkit example VR project to verify that everything is installed correctly.

In this project, you’ll create an AR app that makes use of plane detection technology. iOS and Android devices have the ability to detect flat surfaces — or planes — in your physical environment. This includes horizontal planes like the floor or a table, and vertical planes like the walls. You will create an app where the user will be able to tap on a plane in order to place a portal onto it. This portal will be a window into a virtual 3D environment that the user can peer into and explore. You will also complete a challenge where you design an app that allows the user to place a character on a table and interact with it.

What is XR? It’s shorthand for a related set of new technologies that are changing the way we interact with the world and with each other: Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Mixed Reality. To understand XR, you need to understand the technologies that enable it. If you understand the available technologies, how they are used, and what their future holds, you’ll be well equipped to deal with XR as it rapidly evolves and converges. In this course, we will present an introduction to XR using a broadly chronological approach, focusing on how all of the underlying technologies came together at key moments in the history of XR to launch the concepts of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality into the mainstream consciousness. Throughout the course, we’ll give a brief description of each of the supporting technologies, some history about when it first came into use, limitations and future potential for improvement, and how it’s used for AR, VR, and MR. As you learn about the technology, you’ll also develop hands on experience in the field along two tracks. First, you will use Unity to build and run two simple XR applications on your own smartphone: a “VR Museum” app and a handheld Augmented Reality app. Second, you will brainstorm, define, visualize, and iterate your own original concept for an XR application, ending the course with a thorough and peer-reviewed XR Product Brief that you could use as the basis for future development. This is the first of three planned courses in Unity's XR Specialization, which include the Mobile VR App Development with Unity course as well as a future course focused on developing Augmented Reality (AR) applications with Unity.