Access free educational courses and explore products that enable you to seamlessly design, optimize, and deploy XR applications for games and industries.
Courtesy of Facebook Reality Labs
What is extended reality?
Extended reality (XR) is a dynamic and immersive technology that combines aspects of the physical and digital worlds, providing users an enhanced experience. XR encompasses virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR), each of which is distinct.
Virtual reality (VR) transports users to entirely computer-generated environments, creating a fully immersive and often interactive experience. Users wear a headset to explore and interact with this digital landscape.
Augmented reality (AR) overlays digital information and objects onto the real world. This technology supplements what users see with additional digital elements, often through a smartphone or AR glasses.
Mixed reality (MR) merges elements of both VR and AR, enabling users to interact with digital content while still being aware of and interacting with the real world. MR seamlessly integrates virtual and physical elements, creating a more interactive and dynamic experience.
XR has a broad range of applications, from gaming and entertainment to education, healthcare, architecture, and more. As technology continues to evolve, XR is becoming increasingly accessible and is poised to revolutionize how people perceive and interact with the world.
How does extended reality work?
Extended reality uses advanced technologies to blend the real world with digital content, creating an immersive experience. XR involves three primary components: hardware, software, and interaction techniques.
Hardware: XR hardware includes devices like headsets, glasses, sensors, cameras, and haptic feedback tools. Headsets provide the visual and auditory interface that immerses users in the virtual or augmented environment. Sensors and cameras track the user’s movements and surroundings, enabling real-time interaction.
Software: XR software is responsible for creating and rendering the digital content that users perceive. This content can range from fully computer-generated environments (VR) to overlays on the real world (AR). Developers use specialized programming languages and platforms to design XR applications and experiences.
Interaction techniques: XR utilizes various interaction methods to engage users within the virtual or augmented environment. This can include gestures, voice commands, touch controllers, and more. These techniques enable users to navigate, manipulate objects, and interact with the digital content.
By combining these elements, XR enhances education, training, entertainment, design, and numerous other fields. XR technology is evolving to deliver even more compelling and realistic experiences.
Augmented reality at work
Discover how augmented reality is being used to enhance entertainment, transportation, and more.
Enhancing Wallace and Gromit with AR
Aardman Animations, the brilliant minds behind Wallace and Gromit, partnered with Fictioneers to digitally unleash this iconic series on the real world.
Building the Childish Gambino universe – PHAROS AR
Learn how the team behind the Childish Gambino concert experience engaged fans with mobile AR to make the Gambino universe accessible to millions on a global scale.
Valerio Dewalt Train
Discover how Valerio Dewalt Train visualized the iconic 36-story Bell Tower and Bell Park Office Building for the City of Denver in just four weeks with Unity’s AR technology.
Unity for AR development
Discover tools to start developing for AR with Unity.
Unity PolySpatial
Unity is bringing its powerful authoring tools for creating immersive real-time 3D apps and simulations to Apple’s new spatial computing platform, Apple Vision Pro.
Unity Mars
Build AR apps faster with Unity Mars, a local simulation environment that enables you to simulate objects and environments for testing inside the Unity Editor, and deliver multiplatform experiences.
Image courtesy of Norconsult
AR Foundation
Carry features across AR platforms with a framework that enables you to easily integrate features on new platforms without rebuilding your app from scratch.
Virtual reality in action
Dive into how VR is making an impact on safety training, design collaboration, and more.
OutHere and Skanska
Learn how OutHere collaborated with Skanska, the world’s fifth-largest construction company, to develop highly realistic VR scenarios for Skanska’s employee safety training program.
SHoP Architects
Discover how SHoP Architects’ talented 200-person team embraced Unity’s VR technology to enhance collaboration and makeg the design process more efficient.
Medal of Honor
Learn how Respawn Entertainment has given new life to a beloved franchise, Medal of Honor, exclusively on the Oculus VR platform.
Unity for VR development
Deliver interactive experiences that drive sales, provide valuable training, and solve your toughest visualization challenges.
Immersive training
Increase workforce knowledge, skills, and competence with immersive, real-time 3D training experiences. Engage workers from any location with interactive content they retain.
Image courtesy of ABB
Cinematic VR
Pull your audience into new worlds using the leading platform for VR. With groundbreaking features like Timeline and the Post-Processing Stack, you can create truly captivating content.
Mixed reality in full swing
See how MR technology seamlessly integrates virtual objects into the physical environment across industries.
Revolutionizing car development with MR
Dive into Volvo Cars’ journey as an early adopter of real-time 3D, enthusiastically embracing mixed reality to revolutionize the sales, engineering, design, and repair of cars.
Image courtesy of Varjo
Reshaping education with MR
Learn how mixed reality is transforming the way peoplelearn and bringing novel experiences to the classroom.
Surgical training with mixed reality
Discover how VirtaMed, the Swiss-based developer of mixed reality simulators for medical education, is transforming surgical training with Unity’s digital twin technology.
Unity’s integrative MR editors by industry
Unity Pro
Simplify MR app creation across platforms and reduce iteration time with in-Editor simulation features and no-code authoring parameters.
Unity Industry
Get creation tools and enterprise-level support to transform your CAD and 3D data into immersive apps and experiences available on any device, anywhere.
Ziva
Harness Ziva’s technology to bring digital humans and creatures to life. Ziva tools power leading 3D CGI characters for films, television, and games.