A Quick Guide to Creating a VR Experience

Use Unity3D to prototype immersive experiences for the Oculus

I always wanted to design an app for virtual reality. Over the years, I created many concepts in After Effects and other design software, but I knew they were impossible to view in VR.

So, I decided to get an Oculus Rift. After spending a day in virtual reality, I got to businesses and created a simple scene with Unity3D.

Below, I distilled a guide (8 steps) to build a simple VR scene. You don’t need any prior VR design experience or knowledge of Unity.

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

Now 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 your 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.

Find me on Twitter, and Dribbble.