Build a cross-platform, full-featured mixed reality app with Unity. See the Unity development overview to get started with Unity development for HoloLens or Windows Mixed Reality immersive headsets.
You have several hardware and emulator options when building Mixed Reality apps with Unity. While our developer documentation focuses on HoloLens devices, you'll find device support sections with details on immersive headset deployment when applicable.
Augmented reality devices
Immersive VR headsets
- HP Reverb and Reverb G2
- Samsung Odyssey and Odyssey+
- HP Windows Mixed Reality headset
- Lenovo Explorer
- Acer AH101
- Dell Visor
- Asus HC102
- Acer OJO 500
| Tool/SDK | Description |
|---|---|
| Mixed Reality Toolkit for Unity | The Mixed Reality Toolkit for Unity is an open source cross-platform development kit built to accelerate development of applications targeting Microsoft HoloLens, Windows Mixed Reality immersive (VR) headsets and OpenVR platform. |
| Microsoft World Locking Tools | Provides a stable coordinate system and camera adjustment that minimizes the visible inconsistencies. |
| Microsoft Mesh Private Preview | Complete the Microsoft Mesh Register Interest form to stay up to date with Mesh announcements and news. With Mesh, you can enhance virtual meetings, conduct virtual design sessions, help others remotely, and host virtual meet-ups. |
There are several cloud services that can be integrated into Mixed Reality projects built in Unity, specifically Azure Remote Rendering and Azure Spatial Anchors. These services can add shared holographic content and real-time 3D rendering to your applications, making them more compelling and immersive for your users.
All of these services are covered over the course of the Unity development for HoloLens journey, which is the strongly recommended path for learning Mixed Reality with Unity. You're already on this path, so just keep reading and follow the big blue button at the bottom of the article. However, if you're at a more advanced development stage and already know you want to jump in, check out our cloud services overview or go directly to the services resources.
You can use Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides to visually tether holographic instructions to your apps virtual environment, giving your users important information when and where it's needed. This feature is also covered in the Unity development for HoloLens journey, but if you want to jump ahead you can see what's on offer by selecting the Dynamics 365 tab here.
We have several open source sample apps for you to download and play around with to get a feel for a Mixed Reality end product in Unity. There are also MRTK example scenes available for you to test out specific features:
-
Hand interaction examples scene (MRTK) for Unity - The HandInteractionExamples.unity example scene contains various types of interactions and UI controls that highlight articulated hand input.
-
Eye tracking examples (MRTK) for Unity - This page covers how to get quickly started with using eye tracking in MRTK by building on our provided MRTK eye tracking examples.
Note
Both of the MRTK example scenes require MRTK Foundation and Example Unity packages to be installed.
Build a cross-platform, full-featured mixed reality app with Unreal. See the Unreal development overview to get started with Unreal development for HoloLens.
You have several hardware, emulator, and streaming options when building Mixed Reality apps with Unreal Engine. While our developer documentation focuses on HoloLens devices, you can package your Unreal projects as x64 desktop apps and run them on immersive headsets just fine.
Augmented reality devices
Immersive VR headsets
- HP Reverb and Reverb G2
- Samsung Odyssey and Odyssey+
- HP Windows Mixed Reality headset
- Lenovo Explorer
- Acer AH101
- Dell Visor
- Asus HC102
- Acer OJO 500
| Tool/SDK | Description |
|---|---|
| UX Tools for Unreal | UX Tools is the first plugin to be released and is currently only supported on HoloLens 2. The plugin includes C++ code, Blueprints, and example assets of common UX features for input simulation, hand interactions, surface magnetism and more. |
| Graphics Tools for Unreal | Graphics Tools is a UE game plugin with code, blueprints and example assets created to help improve the visual fidelity of Mixed Reality applications while staying within performance budgets. |
When building Mixed Reality apps in Unreal, you have access to a powerful cloud service called Azure Spatial Anchors, which you can use to add, persist, and share holographic content across different devices.
Azure Spatial Anchors is covered over the course of the Unreal development journey, which is the strongly recommended path for learning Mixed Reality with Unreal. You're already on this path, so just keep reading and follow the big blue button at the bottom of the article. However, if you're at a more advanced development stage and already know you want to jump in, check out our cloud services overview or go directly to the services resources.
You can use Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides to visually tether holographic instructions to your apps virtual environment, giving your users important information when and where it's needed. This feature is also covered in the Unreal development journey, but if you want to jump ahead you can see what's on offer by selecting the Dynamics 365 tab here.
- Kippy's Escape - Kippy’s Escape is an open-source HoloLens 2 sample app built with Unreal Engine 4 and Mixed Reality UX Tools for Unreal. The game showcases the unique features of the HoloLens 2 hardware and the development power of the Mixed Reality UX Tools.
The WebXR Device API is an open specification that allows you to experience Mixed Reality apps in your browser on any platform. See the JavaScript development overview to get started building Mixed Reality apps for any platform.
Create mixed reality apps with a direct line to the Windows Mixed Reality APIs. See the Native development overview to get started with native app development using OpenXR or legacy WinRT for HoloLens 2 or Windows Mixed Reality immersive headsets. The Windows Mixed Reality API supports applications written in C++ and C#, allowing you to build your own framework or middleware in either language.
You have several hardware, emulator, and streaming options when building Mixed Reality apps with OpenXR development.
Augmented reality devices
Immersive VR headsets
- HP Reverb and Reverb G2
- Samsung Odyssey and Odyssey+
- HP Windows Mixed Reality headset
- Lenovo Explorer
- Acer AH101
- Dell Visor
- Asus HC102
- Acer OJO 500
| Tool/SDK | Description |
|---|---|
| OpenXR Developer Tools | Provides a demo scene that exercises various features of OpenXR, along with a System Status page that provides key information about the active runtime and the current headset. |
| OpenXR Spec | Describes what OpenXR is, what capabilities and features it offers, and how to implement it into your own projects. |
| OpenXR Loader | Discovers the active OpenXR runtime on the device and provides access to the core functions and extension functions that it implements. |
Feel free to play around with the sample app to get a feel for what's possible with Native development and Mixed Reality.
- BasicXrApp - Demonstrates a simple OpenXR sample with two Visual Studio project files, one for both a Win32 desktop app and one for a UWP HoloLens 2 app.
You can also watch a 60-minute walkthrough of BasicXrApp that tours all key components of the OpenXR API in Visual Studio: