Building the application

To experience this simulation in VR, we need to have our scene run on a head-mounted display as a stereoscopic display. The app needs to compile the proper viewing parameters, capture and process head tracking data, and correct for visual distortion. When you consider the number of VR devices we would have to account for, the task is nothing short of daunting.

Luckily, Google VR facilitates all of this in one easy-to-use plugin.

The process for building the mobile application will depend on the mobile platform you are targeting. If you have previously built and installed a Unity app on a mobile device, many of these steps will have already been completed, and a few will apply updates to your existing software.

Note: Unity is a fantastic software platform with a rich community and an attentive development staff. During the writing of this book, we tackled software updates (5.5 through 2017.3) and various changes in the VR development process. Although we are including the simplified building steps, it is important to check Google's VR documentation for the latest software updates and detailed instructions:

Android
: https://developers.google.com/vr/unity/get-started

iOS
: https://developers.google.com/vr/unity/get-started-ios