Book Image

XR Development with Unity

By : Anna Braun, Raffael Rizzo
2 (1)
Book Image

XR Development with Unity

2 (1)
By: Anna Braun, Raffael Rizzo

Overview of this book

The drastic surge in the demand for XR development has led to an imminent need for comprehensive resources, learning material, and overall know-how in this area. This one-stop resource will ensure that professionals venturing into XR development can access all XR-related techniques to build appealing XR applications, without relying on Google every step of the way. This book is your guide to developing XR applications with Unity 2021.3 or later versions, helping you to create VR, AR, and MR experiences of increasing complexity. The chapters cover the entire XR application development process from setting up an interactive XR scene using the XR Interaction Toolkit or AR Foundation, adding physics, animations, continuous movement, teleportation, sound effects, and visual effects, to testing and deploying to VR headsets, simulators, smartphones, and tablets. Additionally, this XR book takes you on a journey from the basics of Unity and C# to advanced techniques such as building multiplayer applications and incorporating hand- and gaze-tracking capabilities. By the end of this book, you'll be fully equipped to create cutting-edge XR projects for engaging individual, academic, and industrial use cases that captivate your audience.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)
Free Chapter
1
Part 1 – Understanding the Basics of XR and Unity
4
Part 2 – Interactive XR Applications with Custom Logic, Animations, Physics, Sound, and Visual Effects
10
Part 3 – Advanced XR Techniques: Hand-Tracking, Gaze-Tracking, and Multiplayer Capabilities

Getting to know the Unity Editor and its interface

If you’re new to Unity, the editor’s interface can be a bit overwhelming at first. But don’t worry—we’ll guide you through the Unity Editor and show you how to navigate its various menus and panels. Experienced users can also benefit from staying current with the latest best practices and techniques, as designing for VR presents unique challenges that may require a different approach than traditional game development.

Exploring the Unity interface

Upon launching a new Unity project, you’ll be greeted by the Unity Editor. This multifaceted workspace is composed of several distinct windows known as panels.

Figure 2.2 shows the window layout for the sample scene project we just created.

Figure 2.2 – The window layout for the sample scene project

Figure 2.2 – The window layout for the sample scene project

Figure 2.2 showcases a number of panels, namely: (1) Scene view, (2) Game view, (3) Hierarchy, (4) Inspector...