Module 1: Setting Up the XR Interaction Toolkit

Notes on VRTK: A popular tool for working on cross-platform (Vive, Oculus, etc.) VR projects in Unity has been the Virtual Reality Toolkit (VRTK), which consists of scripts and prefabs that ease the workflow of setting up VR cameras, interactions, locomotion, UI, etc. The latest version of VRTK (v4 beta) is not currently well-documented, comes with some bugs, and so, for now, is not a great beginner's resource for VR projects using Unity's latest version (2019.3).

To learn more about VRTK and how to implement it in your VR project, see: https://github.com/ExtendRealityLtd/VRTK

Unity's In-house XR Interaction Toolkit: Recently, Unity released the XR Interaction Toolkit as a cross-platform alternative to VRTK or proprietary SDKs (like OpenVR, Google, Oculus, etc.) for VR development. It "enables you to add interactivity to your AR & VR experiences, across our supported platforms, without having to code the interactions from scratch. As of today, it’s available as a Preview package for Unity 2019.3 via the Package Manager."

XR Interaction Toolkit Tutorials: Check out the "VR with Andrew" YouTube channel for a collection of great tutorials covering the basics of the XR Interaction Toolkit.

All Channel Videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG8bDPqp3jykCGbx-CiL7VQ/videos

1. Open a new Unity project.

2. Enable "Virtual Reality Support" in Edit -> Project Settings -> Player Settings -> XR Settings (Unity will import the "OpenVR Desktop" and "Oculus Desktop" packages automatically for compatibility with Vive and Oculus hardware). If you are using the Vive, drag the OpenVR SDK above the Oculus SDK to make it the primary SDK.

* Note: The Virtual Reality Support will soon be deprecated and replaced by the new Unity XR Plugin System (Edit -> Project Settings -> XR Plugin Management). For now, XR Plugin Management only supports Oculus, Magic Leap, and Windows XR, so you need to use Virtual Reality Support to work with the Vive.

3. Install the Universal Render Pipeline (URP) and XR Interaction Toolkit from the Package Manager (Window -> Package Manager (make sure you have it set to "All packages" and "Show preview packages") -> Universal RP / XR Interaction Toolkit -> Install).

4. Create a new "UniversalRenderPipelineAsset" (right click in Project Window -> Create -> Rendering -> Universal Render Pipeline -> Pipeline Asset (Forward Renderer)).

5. Set up the Universal Render Pipeline by dragging the newly created Asset into the "Scriptable Render Pipeline Settings" slot in Edit -> Project Settings -> Graphics.

6. Right click in the Hierarchy Window and select XR -> Room-Scale XR Rig (if using a room-scale setup like the Vive; otherwise use the Stationary XR Rig) to create a Camera Rig configured for VR.

* Note: The Main Camera that Unity loads into your scene by default will disappear when you do this, as the XR Rig now holds the main camera.

7. When you enter Play Mode, you should be able to look around the empty scene using your VR headset.

* Note: If you're using the Vive, Unity will start the "SteamVR Plugin" that allows you to smoothly interface the Vive with Unity. If you do not have SteamVR installed, follow the instructions below.

1. Download the Steam application.

2. Download SteamVR within Steam.