10 Steps to Get Started with Mixed Reality Development using Unity

In this tutorial I will go over the steps to setup your environment with a physical Windows Mixed Reality headset and create a Hello VR World app. If you don’t have a headset you can still follow the steps and use the mixed reality simulator instead. Additionally there is a list of gotchas at the bottom of this tutorial. If you get stuck or have an issue check them out and you might find your answer.

1. Enable Developer mode on Windows 10

   • Search Developer Settings
   • Select Developer mode

2. Install Visual Studio 2017 - Make sure the Windows 10 SDK is installed with this. Should happen by default.

3. Download Unity

4. Select the following components:
   (If you miss any of these you can always go back and add them later)
   

5. Once Unity is installed follow these instructions to configure your environment and create your first Hello VR World app. (I only followed through Step 4)

6. Finish the beginner tutorial for adding a box to the scene (which is through Step 4).

7. Connect your Windows Mixed Reality headset.

8. Open the Mixed Reality Portal. (If you haven't setup your headset already follow the steps to set it up. If you don’t have a headset follow these steps to setup the simulator)

9. Click the play button on the Hello VR World app in Unity and put your headset on.

10. Boom! You are in your virtual world!!
    

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Some gotchas:

1. If you are trying to set the player settings to Windows and it doesn’t show up:

   • Select File > Build Settings…
   • Select Universal Windows Platform in the Platform list and click Switch Platform
   • If you missed the UWP install selection when installing unity you wont see the windows option in your player settings. The link will be displayed in the player settings window to install the prerequisite for selecting the UWP build platform. Click the link displayed in the settings window and install the package.

2. The tutorial says to select Windows Holographic but it is now called Windows Mixed Reality not Windows Holographic.

3. During the Unity install I had some errors but I either retried or continued through and I haven’t had any issues with my setup.

4. If you already had Visual Studio 2017 installed make sure you have installed all the updates and have .Net 4.7.1 installed. If you have the most recent version then you have 4.7.1.

Comments

[Irena Grigor]

Mixed reality development with Unity is becoming increasingly popular because of its ease of use and flexibility. Unity provides developers servreality.com with the tools they need to create realistic, interactive, and engaging apps.