Set up an XR scene

To set up an XRAn umbrella term encompassing Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) applications. Devices supporting these forms of interactive applications can be referred to as XR devices. More info
See in Glossary sceneA Scene contains the environments and menus of your game. Think of each unique Scene file as a unique level. In each Scene, you place your environments, obstacles, and decorations, essentially designing and building your game in pieces. More info
See in Glossary, add an XR Rig, XR Origin, or ARAugmented Reality More info
See in Glossary Session Origin.

These objects are collections of GameObjectsThe fundamental object in Unity scenes, which can represent characters, props, scenery, cameras, waypoints, and more. A GameObject’s functionality is defined by the Components attached to it. More info
See in Glossary and components that provide a frame of reference for transforming spatial tracking data into the scene, including controlling the scene cameraA component which creates an image of a particular viewpoint in your scene. The output is either drawn to the screen or captured as a texture. More info
See in Glossary. When you add one of these objects to a scene, they control the attached camera to track the user’s head-mounted (VR) or hand-held (AR) device. In addition, the versions of these objects that contain GameObjects for controllers will move them to track the user’s controllers.

Note: These controller GameObjects do not have visual componentsA component that enables you to easily create GUI-specific functionality. More info
See in Glossary, such as a meshThe main graphics primitive of Unity. Meshes make up a large part of your 3D worlds. Unity supports triangulated or Quadrangulated polygon meshes. Nurbs, Nurms, Subdiv surfaces must be converted to polygons. More info
See in Glossary, and are not configured to receive user input other than tracking data. You must add 3D models and the components or scriptsA piece of code that allows you to create your own Components, trigger game events, modify Component properties over time and respond to user input in any way you like. More info
See in Glossary necessary to act upon user input, if desired. The XR Interaction Toolkit package provides components for handling user input.

The XR Rig and XR Origin are very similar and serve the same purpose. The name has been changed from “rig” to “origin” to better reflect the object’s role in the Unity scene. In addition, the XR Origin component has replaced the Camera Offset component and provides a few additional settings. Refer to XR Origin component for more information.

The AR Session Origin serves as the spatial origin in an AR application. Refer to AR Session Origin for more information. Note that the AR Session Origin has been replaced by the XR Origin (AR) and XR Origin (Mobile AR) options in version 5 of the AR Foundation package.

Prerequisites

Before you can set up a scene for XR, you must first:

• Set up the project for XR.
• Add the AR Foundation to the project, if you are developing an AR app.
• Add the XR Interaction Toolkit package, if you plan to use it (recommended).
• If you use the XR Interaction Toolkit, import the Starter Assets. These assets contain Input System actions and presets that you can use to configure XR controller input.

Set up a scene for XR

The basic steps to set up a scene for XR include:

1. Create or open the scene in the Unity Editor.
2. Add an XR Rig, XR Origin, or AR Session Origin to the scene with the GameObject > XR menu. You will see different options in the menu depending on which XR packages you have added to your project. See XR Origin for a description of the available XR Origin options.
3. Configure XR input. See XR input options for more information.

For AR projects, refer to Scene setup in the AR Foundation manual for additional set up steps and more detailed instructions.

For VRVirtual Reality More info
See in Glossary projects using the XR Interaction Toolkit, see General Setup in the Interaction Toolkit manual for additional information.

Detect whether XR is enabled

If you have a scene that can be used in both XR and non-XR contexts, you can use the XRSettings.enabled property to detect whether the XR subsystems are currently loaded and active. With that information you can activate or deactivate the appropriate sets of GameObjects and components.

public void CheckXRStatus()
{
    if (UnityEngine.XR.XRSettings.enabled)
    {
        Debug.Log("XR is active.");
    }
    else
    {
        Debug.Log("XR is not available.");
    }
}

Note: you can read the value of the XRSettings.enabled property to determine the XR status. However, setting the value is no longer supported and does nothing. For information about how to dynamically turn XR on and off at runtime, refer to Managing XR Loader Lifecycles Manually.