Build four immersive AR and VR apps from scratch in Unity!
Start creating fluid and immersive apps in Unity as you learn to work with various AR and VR frameworks and platforms, including VRTK, ARFoundation, ARKit, ARCore, the HTC Vive, the Oculus Rift, and the HoloLens!
Note: This book is available under an early-access model. You'll receive free updates to the book as we continue to build it.
Anticipated full release date: Early 2019
The world of augmented and virtual reality has grown so much in just a few years. There are lots of options available to game developers, including the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, HoloLens, ARKit, ARCore, Windows Mixed Reality, and more!
But documentation on all these technologies can be spread far and wide and difficult to understand. That's where Unity AR & VR by Tutorials comes in!
This book is for both beginner and intermediate Unity developers interested in AR and VR, who already have some experience working inside Unity with C##.
You'll cover the following topics in the book:
After reading this book, you will have all of the tools you need to create amazing, immersive AR and VR and use them on the major hardware platforms available today.
In the first section of the book, you'll get your feet wet by learning about the various features of virtual reality.
Before diving into the deep end, take a moment to reflect on how we got to these exciting times for virtual reality. Learn about the history of VR and its humble beginnings.
Explore the different virtual reality platforms and learn about what sets them apart from each other. If you’re not sure what hardware to get, this will make your decision a lot easier.
In this section, you'll set up everything for VR and learn about VRTK and its advantages over straight up using the plugins. You'll also implement some very interesting mechanics that you can easily use in your own games and experiences. To top it all off, learn all about increasing performance and the dangers of virtual movement and its effect on the human body.
In this chapter you’ll learn about VRTK and its alternatives. You’ll also set up the needed devices and your development environment.
Moving around in VR is lots of fun, but you’ll need to keep some things in mind to prevent you and your players from getting sick. This chapter explains how to get around in a virtual space using different types of input and covers what to watch out for
A game or experience wouldn’t be worth its salt without allowing the player to interact with its surroundings in immersive ways. In this chapter you’ll learn about implementing basic interactions.
Most games need some sort of user interface, whether it’s to keep score or show a health bar. Learn how create a world space UI in this chapter.
This chapter explains how to make your games and experiences nice and snappy while avoiding motion that affects the player negatively.
If you want to take your VR skills even further, this section is for you. Delve into advanced topics like special interactions and interesting ways of getting around in the virtual space. Create natural feeling user interfaces around the player and their virtual hands. Lastly, explore how VR goes further than just entertainment.
Take your VR skills to the next level by using VRTK to create satisfying interactions with objects in the virtual world. In this chapter, you’ll dive deeper into VRTK and the tools it provides.
Now that you’ve mastered basic movement, it’s time to take a look at some other options. This chapter delves into several ways of locomotion and shows how to use them in practice.
This chapter explores more advanced ways of showing user interface elements with a curved canvas and a menu that’s attached to the controller.
VR is used in more than just games; there’s a wide range of industries out there utilizing virtual worlds and objects to save time and express concepts and ideas. In this chapter, you’ll get an introduction to different ways of using VR.
Get up to speed with the current AR technology in this section. Learn about the history of AR from its humble beginnings up to the current day and compare the available hardware so you can make a concise decision on what to use for your next project.
Explore the history of augmented reality and find out the differences with VR in this enlightening chapter.
If you’re wondering what AR hardware to get, this chapter will get you up to speed on the current options and summarizes the pros and cons for each.
In this section you'll discover what ARKit and ARCore have to offer in the AR landscape, and how Unity’s ARFoundation saves you from the low-level drudgery of working with AR APIs. Get to grips with how to prepare these platforms and how to use them to create virtual objects right in your living room. Learn how to create a dynamic user interface in AR and how to detect the physical space around you and use that in your games and experiences.
Learn what the requirements are for ARKit and ARCore and how to set it all up. In this chapter, you’ll find out what you need exactly for smooth start with AR.
Create objects and spawn them into a virtual space for your players to interact with. You’ll learn all about placing objects and interacting with them in this chapter.
Discover how to display text and other UI elements in AR. In this chapter you’ll be shown how to handle user interfaces elegantly in augmented reality.
Map out the world around you with planes and anchor game objects to them in realtime. This chapter covers world tracking and goes over the concept of planes in AR.
Explore more advanced AR topics in this section. Insert physics and lighting in your scene to add some polish. Find out how to use ARKit to do real-time face tracking and discover why scaling content may be a bad idea depending on the situation. As a cherry on top, learn how to connect your game to the web.
Ground your objects in the world with physics and lighting. This chapter covers how to use physics and add lighting and shadows in augmented reality.
This chapter discusses the advantages and disadvantages of scaling content in augmented reality.
Getting your games connected and playing with others is a wonderful experience. In this chapter, you’ll share game data and locations between devices.
The Microsoft HoloLens is an inside-out tracking AR headset with many innovative ways of handling input, sound, and room mapping. In this section you'll discover what the HoloLens and Windows Mixed Reality are and how they can be developed in Unity. You'll create a small virtual pet game from start to finish featuring a cute bear.
Find out why you should definitely consider the Microsoft HoloLens and Windows Mixed Reality for your next game or mixed reality project.
Learn about the different ways of handling input with the HoloLens. This chapter explains how to create an user interface and interact with it using gestures.
Add immersion to your AR games by leveraging sounds, animations and game states. Take it to the next level with assets and shaders in this chapter.
Explore voice input, the camera and using web services for spectacular results. Create sweet photos in AR and share them on the internet in this final chapter.
Build four immersive AR and VR apps from scratch in Unity!
Start creating fluid and immersive apps in Unity as you learn to work with various AR and VR frameworks and platforms, including VRTK, ARFoundation, ARKit, ARCore, the HTC Vive, the Oculus Rift, and the HoloLens!
Note: This book is available under an early-access model. You'll receive free updates to the book as we continue to build it.
Anticipated full release date: Early 2019
