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Google Daydream VR Cookbook: Building Games and Apps with Google Daydream and Unity

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Google Daydream VR Cookbook: Building Games and Apps with Google Daydream and Unity

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Description

  • Copyright 2019
  • Dimensions: 7" x 9"
  • Pages: 384
  • Edition: 1st
  • eBook (Watermarked)
  • ISBN-10: 0-13-484557-9
  • ISBN-13: 978-0-13-484557-9

The Complete, Up-to-Date Guide to Building AR and VR Games

Google’s new ARCore and Daydream VR platforms enable you to deliver advanced augmented and virtual reality games and apps on a wide spectrum of modern Android devices. Now for the first time, there’s a comprehensive deep dive into both ARCore and Daydream for every Android developer and designer. Multi-award-winning AR/VR developer Sam Keene takes a hands-on approach, leading you through all aspects of the ARCore and Daydream frameworks and SDKs, with step-by-step tutorials and advice for building pro-quality AR/VR games and apps.
Keene presents his material as a cookbook of recipes to get you up and running with VR/AR development as fast and as painlessly as possible. The recipes in most chapters start by assembling the essential building blocks, which are pieced together to create something larger. You are then free to take these building blocks and turn them into your own creation.
Keene also provides an extensive library of downloadable, up-to-the-minute ARCore and Daydream code to jumpstart your project. In addition, he takes you through crucial UX design principles and best practices learned from building large scale VR and AR apps at Google.

Google Daydream VR Cookbook shows you how to:

  • Install and explore the Google Daydream development tools
  • Master basic and advanced Daydream Controller techniques
  • Implement intuitive VR user interfaces
  • Integrate audio, video, and realistic physics into your VR games
  • Install and explore the ARCore SDK and development tools
  • Learn how to build AR apps that solve real user needs
  • Master AR game development using ARCore
  • Optimize VR and AR game performance

Whether you are a software developer, UX professional, visual designer, beginner, or you come from a different design field, this book is a great practical introduction to VR and AR.

Sample Content

Table of Contents

Preface     xiii
Chapter 1  VR and AR     1
Immersive Computing     2
    VR and AR     2
Media Archaeology     3
    Stereoptics     4
    Pre-Cinema Animation     6
    Computing     9
    Twentieth Century VR     10
Google VR and AR     11
    Daydream VR     12
    ARCore     14
Summary     15
Chapter 2  Daydream and Unity     17
Getting to Know Unity     18
    What Is Unity?     18
    Why Unity?     19
    Exploring the Unity Editor     19
Exploring Unity Concepts     23
    GameObjects     23
    Components     24
    Prefabs     24
    Scripts     24
    MonoBehaviour     25
    Accessing Variables in the Inspector     26
Daydream Development     26
    Daydream Development Environment     27
    Daydream Hardware     27
    Google VR SDK     28
Setting Up Your Daydream Developer Environment     29
    Installing the Android SDK and Java JDK in Unity     30
    Installing the Google VR SDK for Unity     31
    Troubleshooting Setup and Installation Issues     32
Daydream Elements     33
    Recipe 2.1: Installing Elements     34
    Recipe 2.2: Setting Up Daydream Instant Preview     35
    Recipe 2.3: Setting Up a Daydream Controller Emulator     36
    Recipe 2.4: VR Developer Options     37
Core Daydream Components     38
    GvrEditorEmulator (Prefab)     38
    GvrControllerMain (Prefab)     39
    GvrControllerPointer (Prefab)     39
    GvrEventSystem (Prefab)     39
    GvrPointerPhysicsRaycaster (Script)     39
    GvrPointerGraphicsRaycaster (Script)     40
Setting Up a Player in VR     40
    Recipe 2.5: Building a VR Player in the First Person     41
    Recipe 2.6: Traveling via Teleportation     43
    Recipe 2.7: Customizing the Teleportation System     45
    Recipe 2.8: Setting Up the Chase Camera     45
    Recipe 2.9: Using a Tunneling Effect to Combat Motion Sickness     48
Summary     52
Chapter 3  Getting to Know the Daydream Controller     53
Getting to Know the Daydream Controller     54
    Why the Controller?     54
    How the Controller Works     54
    Controller Support     58
Controlling the Controller     60
    Handling the Controller API     61
    Basic Interaction     66
    Visualizing the Controller     78
Summary     89
Chapter 4  Building UI in VR     91
Designing User Interfaces in VR     92
    User Experience Design in VR     93
    Ergonomics     94
    Daydream’s Design System: dmm     95
UI, Unity, and the Google VR SDK     97
    Canvas     98
    Rect Transform     99
    Rect Tool     99
    GvrPointerGraphicsRaycaster     100
Building the UI     100
    Recipe 4.1: Adding a Canvas in dmms     101
    Recipe 4.2: Adding an Image     103
    Recipe 4.3: Adding Text     105
    Recipe 4.4: Adding a Button     107
    Recipe 4.5: Implementing a Game Menu     110
UI Layouts in VR     117
    Recipe 4.6: Creating an Animated Cell     117
    Recipe 4.7: Cell Tilt and Hover Effect     120
    Recipe 4.8: Cell Masking Animation Effect     125
    Recipe 4.9: Horizontal Layout     129
    Recipe 4.10: Nested Layouts     131
    Recipe 4.11: Grid Layout     133
    Recipe 4.12: Multipanel Scrolling Layout     135
Summary     136
Chapter 5  Video and Audio     137
Video in Daydream     138
    Video in VR     138
    Streaming Video     141
    Daydream and Video     141
Audio in Daydream     161
Summary     172
Chapter 6  Physics Games     173
Physics, Games, Daydream, and Unity     174
    Unity Physics     174
    Rigidbody Component     174
    Colliders     176
    Handling Collision Events     176
    Fixed Update     177
    Profiling     177
Building the Games     178
    Recipe 6.1: Intro to Physics—Flipping Pancakes     179
    Recipe 6.2: Building a Pop Gun Mechanic     186
    Recipe 6.3: Building a Grenade Mechanic     188
    Recipe 6.4: Weapon Selector     192
Building an Alien Shooter Game     193
    Recipe 6.5: Building the Core Mechanic     193
    Turning It into a Game     200
    Recipe 6.6: Building the UI and Finishing the Game     210
Where to Go from Here     217
Summary     217
Chapter 7  ARCore     219
Augmented Reality     220
    AR and UX     220
    Lessons, Principles, and Practice     221
Key Technologies in ARCore     225
    Motion Tracking     226
    Environmental Understanding     226
    Light Estimation     227
ARCore and Unity     227
    ARCore Classes     228
    ARCore Unity Components     230
ARCore Recipes     231
    Recipe 7.1 Installing and Running ARCore     232
    Recipe 7.2 Building an ARCore Template Scene     234
    Recipe 7.3 Selecting and Dragging Objects along a Plane     240
    Recipe 7.4 Dragging Objects with Physics Weight     243
    Recipe 7.5 Selecting an Object and Rotating It     251
    Recipe 7.6: Creating a Target Below the Landing Position of the Dragged Object     253
    Recipe 7.7 Retrieving All GameObjects Attached to an Anchor     257
    Recipe 7.8 Retrieving All GameObjects Attached to a Trackable     258
    Recipe 7.9 Hiding the Tracked Surface Visualization     258
    Recipe 7.10 Getting the Y Position of the Lowest Plane     259
    Recipe 7.11 Attaching Objects to Non-Horizontal Surfaces     260
    Recipe 7.12: Customizing the Surface Visualization     260
    Recipe 7.13 Pinching to Scale a GameObject     261
    Recipe 7.14: Handling AR Tracking State     262
Summary     264
Chapter 8  AR Apps     265
AR Applications     266
    Building User-Centered AR Apps     266
    Recipe 8.1: Creating an AR Drawing App     266
ARCore and the Poly Toolkit     271
    Poly Toolkit and Poly API     271
    Recipe 8.2: Integrating the Poly Toolkit with ARCore and Unity     272
    Recipe 8.3: Using Poly Toolkit Runtime     273
    Recipe 8.4: Creating an AR Shopping Catalogue App     280
Summary     292
Chapter 9  AR Games     293
Types of AR Games     294
AR Game Lifecycle     295
Recipe 9.1 AR Tabletop Game     296
    Building the Loader Scene     297
    Building the Level Scene     305
Summary     325
Chapter 10  Optimization and Performance     327
Optimization Strategy     328
    Isolating Bottlenecks     328
    Fixing Bottlenecks     329
    Profile Early, Profile Often     329
Tools for Analyzing and Optimizing     329
    Analyzing     329
    Optimizing: Daydream Renderer     331
Optimizing Frame Rate     333
    Draw Calls     333
    Texture Memory     334
    Polygon Count: Geometry     335
    Lighting     336
    Culling     336
    Other Tricks and Tips     337
Summary     338
Index     339

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