uxdesign.cc – User Experience Design — Medium | Andrew Coyle

Use Unity3D to prototype immersive experiences for the Oculus

I have always wanted to design an app for virtual reality. I have created a number of concepts in After Effects and other design software, but I knew they were impossible to view in VR.

So when Oculus dropped the price of the Rift last week, I decided to finally buy it and figure out how to build something. I have heard great things about Unity3D, which is a cross-platform game engine that is free for personal use.

Below, I have distilled a guide (8 steps) to build a simple VR scene to be previewed with Oculus without any experience with Unity3D or building for virtual reality.

Step 1

Go to Unity3D’s website, click “get unity” in the top right, and download the free personal version.

Step 2

Download the software onto your computer, and create a Unity account.

Step 3

Create your first project and make sure “3D” is activated.

If successful your environment should look like this.

Step 4

Navigate to edit > Project Settings > Player, and go to “Other Settings” in the left panel and check “Virtual Reality Supported.”

Step 5

Create a simple scene by adding a cube on a plane. GameObject > 3D Object.

Step 6

This is where the magic starts. Go to Assets > Import Package > Characters, and import the assets. Then in the bottom panel, navigate to Standard Assets > Characters > FirstPersonCharacter > Prefab > and click and drag FPSController onto the scene.

Step 7

Click the play button and view you scene. Click “W” on your keyboard to walk forward, “S” to walk backward, and “A” and “D” to move side to side. Your mouse pointers acts as your view.

Step 8

Experiment with Unity3D. Explore the asset store. Build something awesome.

Then, go to the Oculus app on a VR enabled computer. Navigate to Settings > General, and make sure “Unknown Sources” is allowed. Then, press play in Unity, put your headset on, and immerse yourself in the virtual world you created.

Note: Unfortunately, Macs don’t have VR support at the time of writing.

I created a scene with ominous robots in the distance

Next Steps

Learn more about how to design for virtual reality with these helpful articles and review Unity’s VR documentation.

• Getting Started With VR Interface Design
• Designing Facebook for Mobile VR
• Becoming a Virtual Reality Designer
• The User Experience of Virtual Reality
• Unity – Manual: Virtual Reality
• Oculus Unity Getting Started Guide

And read everything by Gabriel Valdivia.

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