Spinning Up in VR — Part 4: Virtual Reality Software
Hi, welcome to Spinning Up in VR! I am Manorama and this is the fourth of a 9-part tutorial on Virtual Reality (VR) for beginners.
In the previous parts I have talked about the history of VR and VR hardware and in this chapter, I will introduce the modern suite of VR software. If you are interested in reading the previous or the next chapters, the links are at the bottom of this article.
VR Software
I have discussed VR development software in depth several times in my previous blogs. Please refer to my previous blogs here:-
In this chapter I will give a gentle introduction to the most widely used VR development software in recent times for development and research purposes:-
- Unity
Unity is a cross-platform game engine developed by Unity Technologies, first announced and released in June 2005 at Apple Inc.’s Worldwide Developers Conference as an OS X-exclusive game engine. Unity gives users the ability to create games in both 2D and 3D and the engine offers a primary scripting API in C# for both the Unity editor in the form of plugins and games themselves, as well as drag and drops functionality.
2. Unreal Engine
The Unreal Engine is a source-available game engine developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter game Unreal. Although primarily developed for first-person shooters, it has been successfully used in a variety of other genres, including stealth, fighting games, MMORPGs, and other RPGs. With its code written in C++, the Unreal Engine features a high degree of portability and is a tool used by many game developers today.
In the following chapters, we will learn to create elaborate VR experiences using these platforms. So more on these later. Read on!
I hope that anyone who reads the entire series in the given order you will have a clear visualization of VR technology. Please feel free to leave your comments below for feedback. You can find me on Twitter(@mnrmja007), Facebook(@mnrmja007) and Medium(Manorama Jha).
