Collaborations in VR - where are we at?

Hi. I am an education researcher and I see the potential for collaborations within specifically designed VR spaces (built by Unity).
I have seen vrchat and the concept is cool, but I want to have learners (say, 3 or 4) login remotely to a VR space for specific education purposes .. and be private /protected.
We used to do this on our designed OpenSim virtual worlds, but now I want to research the collaborations with HMD-enabled VR.
Is the technology available for us to do this in Unity yet?
If so, can you point me to some resources. I would be most grateful.
Thank you very much.
Michael

 

You seem to be confusing tools with apps. Unity is a development tool. Of course it has the technology to do what you describe; you would only need to build it.

But it sounds to me like you're looking not to build an app, but to find an app built by somebody else that already does what you need to do. There are a number of social VR apps out there, some of which allow for private spaces. I've only dabbled at them and am no expert on that space, so I can't recommend any one in particular, but I suspect something suitable may exist.

 

Thank you for the post.
I am wondering how to set up a Unity Project that can be used as a social space where a number of remote students can login and collaborate. And what resources are available at present.
Thanks.
Michael

 

I don't quite understand. You don't just "set up a Unity project" for that; it is a major development effort. It will take a skilled developer 6 months, at least, or a team of ordinary developers a year or more. You're talking about creating a sophisticated piece of software; that's not something you get just by clicking some widgets in Unity and pressing Play.

I mean, I could describe for you the first step in setting up the project (set platform to your chosen VR platform, enable the VR SDK, install must-have assets like Script Inspector 3, etc.), but your question seems to suggest that you may not realize this would be only step 1 of a very long development effort.

If you don't have the development skills to create such a software app, and you need it to exist, then your best role would be as producer. Spec out what you want, and hire a skilled developer (or teach of ordinary developers) to create it for you. Be sure your spec is as detailed and accurate as you can make it (though a good developer will help you to do that, if you haven't done it already).

 

Hi Michael. As Joe has pointed out, building a custom VR application with Unity which would allow for 3 to 4 players to work together in a private / protected network VR space could be a monumental undertaking, depending on the talent available and the sophistication required.

However being familiar with VR and the landscape, I can share three alternatives, which while not necessarily easy in each's own right, could get you closer to your goal far more quickly and more easily than building a Unity project from scratch - and could potentially be accomplished with a team of earnest students within a semester.

1) AltspaceVR - Easily the simplest approach. Now owned by Microsoft, AltspaceVR was for a few years the best social meeting space for VR events, both public and private. The company shut down for a time due to lack of funding before being purchased by Microsoft. While not as popular as it once was, it is still an excellent option for building VR meeting spaces (Worlds) which can be accessed across a range of popular PC and mobile VR headsets.

While not obvious from the main page of their website, it is possible to create private worlds, as described in the Advanced Features section of the following help article: How do I manage my Worlds?

Now this is not a complete turnkey plug 'n play system, though it is far easier to setup and manage than OpenSim, which I do have experience with as well, so know what is involved there.

At one time, AltspaceVR allowed for custom development through Javascript; yet it appears that this new Microsoft variation no longer allows for custom scripting, rather limiting customization to either the built-in World building items on offer or through the World Building Tookit, or Unity Uploader, which allows for uploading of basic Unity scenes as templates for constructing Worlds. So there is still a role for Unity with choosing AltspaceVR, if one wants to go there; however it is not necessary for setting up a meeting space in VR.

https://altvr.com/
Documentation: https://help.altvr.com/hc/en-us

2) High Fidelity - founded and directed by Philip Rosedale (I attended an OpenSim Community Conference keynote of his within an Oculus DK2 where he presented High Fidelity as an evolution of OpenSim), High Fidelity is a far more complex and resource demanding OpenSim-like metaverse built around VR at its core, though they are now moving into non-VR access due to lack of uptake of VR hardware in the consumer marketplace.

Of the options I'm sharing here, High Fidelity is the most like OpenSim in structure and approach. It has two major flaws however: a top-of-the-line PC with a high-end GPU can still struggle to run High Fidelity smoothly in VR, so a mid-range PC can be a frustrating experience; and the developer community is similar to the OpenSim developer community, with all of the pros and cons that entails, in my opinion.

Having said that, if one has access to high-end PC desktop VR hardware, High Fidelity is currently the most advanced evolution of an OpenSim metaverse built with VR at its core, solving the problem of low latency audio over a network, while offering a cryptocurrency based economic marketplace for devs and creators.

https://www.highfidelity.com/
Documentation: https://docs.highfidelity.com/en/rc82/home.html

3) Unity Editor XR + Scene Fusion - this is a somewhat advanced alternative to developing a Unity application through to completion, yet could allow for multiple people to work together within VR inside of an unfinished Unity project.

Editor XR allows for working within a Unity project from within XR (VR/AR/MR), offering a limited subset of the Unity interface, though most of the things one would need to access from within VR are available. Editor XR is in an experimental stage, constantly changing and not guaranteed to become a part of the official Unity editor.

Scene Fusion is a third-party commercial tool which allows developers to work together simultaneously within a single Unity project and offers experimental support for Unity XR. That support began back when Unity XR was called Unity VR, and I have no idea if Scene Fusion currently supports the latest build of Editor XR or not.

This option is going to require someone who knows what they are doing with Unity.

https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/EditorVR
http://www.kinematicsoup.com/scene-fusion/kb

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My recommendation...

AltspaceVR would be the best option for ease of use and getting a stable VR meeting space up and running quickly, across mobile VR and mid-range PC desktop VR hardware.

High Fidelity would be the best option for a university level study program with a similar feel to OpenSim, if one has access to multiple high-end PC desktop VR hardware stations.

Editor XR with Scene Fusion would be the best option for one who wants to dive down the rabbit hole of Unity XR development and doesn't mind if things get broken or abandoned along the way.

I hope that this was helpful and brought some clarity to what can be an overwhelmingly complicated decision and process, and wish you and your students success on your journey.

 

Joe and Akshara, Thank you very much for your detailed information. This is EXACTLY what I was looking for. I am not a Unity developer but I have students in my lab who program and design in Unity everyday for a number of projects. As an educator I have this ‘vision’ of a future VR for remote collaborations in specific ‘learning’ spaces for training and communication.


Joe’s feedback highlights the complexity of such an undertaking at present and I appreciate the honesty and candor explaining the challenges given my competencies (or lack thereof).


The details from Akshara are informative and I thank you very much. I will look into these options and become more knowledgeable of the challenges. The links are appreciated, as are your evaluations.


From this information I realize I now have a case for preparing a research proposal for funding to undertake such a project, knowing that I would need funds for external developer support until students acquire the ability themselves to produce a ‘social VrR space’ integrated to my VR training scenario. This, I now appreciate, is a major undertaking … and that will be reflected in my research funding application.


I will post an update when this endeavor begins


I can’t thank you enough… cheers.