I am new to VR application development with unity using SteamVR. I haven't the capability to buy an expensive headset for my studies. So Can I test my unity application with RiftCat.
The Windows Mixed Reality Simulator allows you to run UWP and SteamVR applications and use virtual motion controllers.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/mixed-reality/using-the-windows-mixed-reality-simulator
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To allow sales people to meet clients in the COVID19 era without travelling, busienss wants to create a virtual meeting room .
The clients will get Oculus Quest as Hololens is hard to procure right now where as business wants to use Hololens on their end.
Will an application /experience created for Hololens using Unity work as is on Oculus Quest or does it make sense to have the same device on both end?
I am new to this area, so not sure if this question makes sense, but is it something like developing 2 versions of code, one for iOS and one or Android and using something like Xamarin to make the process easy ?
Does Unity have features to make applications compatible between Hololens and Oculus Quest ?
MRTK makes it easy to make multiplatform XR applications.
https://microsoft.github.io/MixedRealityToolkit-Unity/Documentation/GettingStartedWithTheMRTK.html
Unity will allow you to run most applications on both Windows on ARM (HoloLens 2) and Android (Quest).
MRTK even has hand tracking support on both platforms.
https://microsoft.github.io/MixedRealityToolkit-Unity/Documentation/CrossPlatform/OculusQuestMRTK.html
I am trying to track an object by using vuforia and the headset camera of vive. (Vive pro) using Unity3d.
Vuforia lists "Vive" as supported camera. But at the same time a project that is using Vuforia does not work on PC( just target mobiles and tablets ).
So how can I build my project to work with Vive.
I am confused! It Doesn't support PC and at the same time it supports vive!!!
Any solution??
Good day.
I am trying to understand the VR platform stack of Vive, and how it's games are developed.
I am struggling to understand where exactly does openVR, steamVR and Unity fit into picture.
My understanding so far has been that:
openVR - Hardware independent layer providing APIs for peripheral access.
That is it can provide access to either Oculus or Vive hardware via
a defined interface.
SteamVR - Provides access to hardware to games developed either in unity or
unreal.
Unity3D - A game engine to develop games.
If anyone can correct me, I will be much grateful.
Or if my understanding is correct, then why can't games being developed in unity 3D access hardware directly via openVR.
OpenVR is an API and runtime that allows access to VR hardware from multiple vendors without requiring that applications have specific knowledge of the hardware they are targeting (ref1), SteamVR is the customer facing name that we use for what users actually use and install (for details check this video: Using Unity at Valve)
Also Check to see that can you use the Vive with OpenVR without Steam ??.
Lets finally look all these terms, thanks to Reddit post:
How a Game Appears on your Head Mounted Display(HMD):
A game renders an image, sends it to it's corresponding runtime. The runtime then renders it to the HMD:
Rendered Image using the :
[OVR/OpenVR] SDK -> [Oculus/SteamVR] Runtime -> [Rift/Vive]
SDKs:
SDKs are used to build the games. A game can either implement OVR or OpenVR or both. This means that the game has access to native functionality in it's corresponding runtime. SDKs do not handle async timewarp or reprojection, those are handled by the runtime!
OVR: Made by Oculus for the Oculus Rift. Current version (14th May 2016) is 1.3.1 and can access all features of the Oculus runtime.
OpenVR made by Valve and supports Vive and Rift via the SteamVR runtime
Sidenote to SDK's and Unity games: Unity 5.3 currently has optimizations for VR in their native mode. The native mode supports Rift, Gear and PSVR, but not SteamVR. A game compiled with Unity 5.3 can use those optimzations with the Oculus SDK but not the OpenVR SDK. The OpenVR SDK has it's own optimizations, which may or may not result in similar performance. However, the upcoming Unity 5.4 will support SteamVR natively and performance should be more or less identical. Please note: this is Unity specific and other engines might have similar or different optimizations for some or all headsets.
Runtimes
Oculus Runtime responsible for async timewarp and handles device detection, display, etc. It (the runtime service) needs to be running for Oculus Home to launch
SteamVR Runtime responsible for reprojection and supports Rift and Vive
Software Distribution Platforms
Oculus Home needs to be running for the Rift to work. By default only supports apps from the store (checkbox in the settings of the 2d desktop client to enable other sources). It downloads games and runs them. It also handles the Universal Menu on the Xbox button
Steam/SteamVR technically does not need to run when launching OpenVR games, but highly recommended (room setup and config is pulled from there). Also handles overlay menu on the Xbox button, or when running on the Rift, it launches by pressing the select/start button in the Oculus Universal Menu
Finally worth reading.
I am building my first VR game for the Gear VR(Since I got it for free). The question I have is there a way I can plug in the GearVR and run it on unity that way I can see what is going on in the game, while the game is being played? Currently the way I am testing my game is by building it, transferring it to my phone, installing it, then testing it. Which is very tedious. Here is my setup in case it helps:
unity 5.5
Android Studio
Oculus Mobile SDK
Unity should be able to load the code and profile it without you manually installing. If you follow the instructions from oculus all you need to do is check the box for "Development Build" and "Autoconnect profiler"
You also may want to enable Developer Mode on the phone so the app can be run without it being in the vr headset.
I have background in android and have developed few apps of my own. Now I want to explore VR app development for android. Going through forums etc., first thing I understand is that I need to have basic infrastructure like unity 3d sdk, cardboard sdk, cardboard device etc. I am not able to understand roles these individual components play in overall bigger picture.
Like, why do I need unity 3d sdk if I have android sdk and cardboard sdk, and android studio as dev environment?
Then, if I plan to develop for something like Oculus then what all sdks and devices are needed, and which programming language I can work with?
Your options depend on which device you'll target:
Game engines like Unity: You need Unity and some plug ins and of course the device you will target too:
Google Cardboard / Daydream
Samsung Gear VR
From scratch application: Your language is java and you need to download the sdk for your target device:
Google Cardboard / Daydream SDK
Samsung Gear VR, Oculus Mobile SDK
Regards
I think there is a lot of promise in web-based VR. Of course, the app will not be as high fidelity as a native application built in Unity or Java but you get the benefit of being able to target many platforms out of the box. ReactVR is a cool project coming out of facebook that is making it easier and more performant to build VR apps with web technologies.
Here is a cool starter-kit that can help you get started if you are interested: https://github.com/scaphold-io/react-vr-graphql
P.S. GraphQL is a great tool for enriching your VR apps with data no matter if you're building it with React, Unity, or Java.
You can check out A-Frame (https://aframe.io), a web framework for building VR experiences. It's been out over a year and has a strong community and ecosystem. With web-based VR, you get cross-platform support across Rift, Vive, Cardboard, Daydream, GearVR out of the box. With A-Frame, you get all of the boilerplate with a single line of HTML. You just have to grab a VR-enabled browser.
A-Frame's architecture is similar to Unity's, entity-component, but A-Frame makes it declarative and similar to web development. With effort, the fidelity can rival native (https://blog.mozvr.com/a-painter/).