Book Image

Complete Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Development with Unity

By : Jesse Glover, Jonathan Linowes
Book Image

Complete Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Development with Unity

By: Jesse Glover, Jonathan Linowes

Overview of this book

Unity is the leading platform to develop mixed reality experiences because it provides a great pipeline for working with 3D assets. Using a practical and project-based approach, this Learning Path educates you about the specifics of AR and VR development using Unity 2018 and Unity 3D. You’ll learn to integrate, animate, and overlay 3D objects on your camera feed, before moving on to implement sensor-based AR applications. You’ll explore various concepts by creating an AR application using Vuforia for both macOS and Windows for Android and iOS devices. Next, you’ll learn how to develop VR applications that can be experienced with devices, such as Oculus and Vive. You’ll also explore various tools for VR development: gaze-based versus hand controller input, world space UI canvases, locomotion and teleportation, timeline animation, and multiplayer networking. You’ll learn the Unity 3D game engine via the interactive Unity Editor and C# programming. By the end of this Learning Path, you’ll be fully equipped to develop rich, interactive mixed reality experiences using Unity. This Learning Path includes content from the following Packt products: • Unity Virtual Reality Projects - Second Edition by Jonathan Linowes • Unity 2018 Augmented Reality Projects by Jesse Glover

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Complete Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Development with Unity
Jesse Glover | Jonathan Linowes
Apr, 2019 | 11 hours 8 minutes
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Table of Contents (24 chapters)
Title Page
Title Page
Copyright
Copyright
About Packt
About Packt
Contributors
Contributors
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Virtually Everything for Everyone
Virtually Everything for Everyone
What is virtual reality to you?
Types of head-mounted displays
The difference between virtual reality and augmented reality
Applications versus games
How virtual reality really works
Types of VR experiences
Technical skills that are important to VR
Summary
2
Content, Objects, and Scale
Content, Objects, and Scale
Getting started with Unity
Creating a simple diorama
Measurement tools
Using third-party content
Creating 3D content with Blender
Creating 3D content in VR
Editing Unity in VR with EditorXR
Summary
3
VR Build and Run
VR Build and Run
Unity VR Support and Toolkits
Enabling Virtual Reality for your platform
Building for SteamVR
Building for Oculus Rift
Building for Windows Immersive MR
Setting up for Android devices
Building for GearVR and Oculus Go
Building for Google VR
Setting up for iOS devices
Summary
4
Gaze-Based Control
Gaze-Based Control
Ethan, the walker
Go where I'm looking
If looks could kill
Short intro to Unity C# programming
Summary
5
Handy Interactables
Handy Interactables
Setting up the scene
Basic button input
Polling for clicks
Using scriptable objects for input
Using Unity events for input
Really using your hands
Interactable items
Summary
6
World Space UI
World Space UI
Studying VR design principles
A reusable default canvas
Visor HUD
The reticle cursor
The windshield HUD
The game element UI
Using TextMeshPro
Info bubble
An in-game dashboard with input events
Pointing and clicking with VR components
Building a wrist-based menu palette
Summary
7
Locomotion and Comfort
Locomotion and Comfort
Understanding Unity characters
Using glide locomotion
Adding comfort mode locomotion
Techniques for teleportation
Teleportation toolkits
Resetting center and position 
Managing VR motion sickness
Summary
8
Playing with Physics and Fire
Playing with Physics and Fire
Unity physics
Bouncy balls
Managing game objects
Headshot game
Paddle ball game
Shooter ball game
Juicing the scene
Summary
9
Animation and VR Storytelling
Animation and VR Storytelling
Composing our story 
Timelines and Audio tracks
Using a Timeline to activate objects
Recording an Animation Track
Using the Animation editor
Animating other properties
Using Animation clips
Using Animator Controllers
Making the story interactive
Summary
10
What AR is and How to Get Set up
What AR is and How to Get Set up
Available AR packages 
Advantages and disadvantages of the different AR toolkits available
Building our first AR applications
Summary
11
GIS Fundamentals - The Power of Mapping
GIS Fundamentals - The Power of Mapping
What is GIS?
Statistics used with GIS
The implications of GIS in society
GIS and augmented reality
Applications of GIS
Gaming and GIS
Summary
12
Censored - Various Sensor Data and Plugins
Censored - Various Sensor Data and Plugins
Project overview
Getting started
Sensors
Summary
13
The Sound of Flowery Prose
The Sound of Flowery Prose
Project overview
Getting started
Conceptualizing the project
Setting up the Unity project
Code implementation details
Working with XCode
Summary
14
Picture Puzzle - The AR Experience
Picture Puzzle - The AR Experience
Project background
Project overview
Installing Vuforia
Differences between macOS and Windows setups
Windows project setup
macOS project setup
Summary
15
Fitness for Fun - Tourism and Random Walking
Fitness for Fun - Tourism and Random Walking
Background information on Mapbox
Project overview
Setting up Mapbox
Summary
16
Snap it! Adding Filters to Pictures
Snap it! Adding Filters to Pictures
Project overview
What is OpenCV?
Installing and building OpenCV
OpenCV with Unity
Summary
17
To the HoloLens and Beyond
To the HoloLens and Beyond
What is Mixed Reality, and how does it work?
Getting Mixed Reality ready
Project overview
Playing with Mixed Reality
Summary
Other Books You May Enjoy
Other Books You May Enjoy
Leave a review - let other readers know what you think
Index
Index

Advantages and disadvantages of the different AR toolkits available

In this section, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of ARCore, Vuforia, ARToolKit, and ARKit.

ARCore

ARCore is a platform for building augmented reality apps for Android devices. ARCore uses three key technologies to integrate virtual content with the world through the camera. It uses motion tracking, environmental understanding, and light estimation. ARCore works by tracking the position of the device as it moves and builds its own understanding of the real world. It is able to identify interesting points and readings from the phone's sensors and has the ability to determine both the position and the orientation of the phone as it moves. ARCore only has a few supported devices at the present time, which are as follows:

  • Google Pixel
  • Pixel XL
  • Pixel 2
  • Pixel 2 XL
  • Samsung Galaxy S8

If you don't own one of these devices, you are stuck using the Android Emulator for testing purposes. This is a very obvious downside, since...

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