Solo Creators Guide: How and where to learn VR (virtual reality)

Last year two big VR companies: Jaunt and IMAX  downsized their VR operations due to cost restraints. However,  learning to develop for VR is still a good bet for the coming future. Cheaper headsets and 5G networks will extend VR’s popularity. 2018 ended with a record number of headsets registered on Steam.  This attests to the growing popularity of Virtual Reality.

Currently VR’s popularity is seen in:

1. Education/training
2. Entertainment

VR PATHWAY

I remember when I was just getting into web development, deciphering the ecosystem was hard because the concept/usage of “Pathways” was not common and Treehouse, Codeacademy and other learning platforms weren’t using learning pathways back then to systematically categorize learning tools, materials and outcomes. So basically you had to Google it and connect the dots.

This guide functions as a pathway to getting up and running with VR as an independent creator.

VR DEV ECOSYSTEM

Currently the VR ecosystem is comprised of:

Development:

1. Headset:  VR headsets such as Oculus Rift, Magic Leap, HoloLens and HTC Vive
2. Software: Design + Code
3. Computers: Gaming computers with Windows OS (v.10 and later)
4. Gaming Engines: Unity, Unreal Engine and  Lumberyard (Amazon) are the most common

Education:

1. Education platforms to learn VR:  Treehouse, Plurasight, Udacity and my own company Let’s JavaScript!

Content Distribution:

1.  Content platforms:  Such as Steam

DEVELOPMENT

Hardware:

In order to develop for VR you need a rig that has enough processing power to handle VR. For independent creators the rig consists of:

Computer:  A “gaming laptop” is what you will use for developing VR content. The official requirements from Oculus Rift are:

• CPU: Intel Core i3-8100
• GPU: RX 570 (or GTX 1060 3GB)
• Motherboard: ASRock Z370 Pro4
• Storage 1: Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD
• Storage 2: None (or Crucial MX500 250GB SSD)
• Power Supply: Seasonic S12II 620
• RAM: 8GB DDR4
• Case: Corsair 200R
• CPU Cooler: Stock (or Deepcool Gammaxx 400)
• Operating System: Windows 10

The cost will range between $800 – $4000 dollars. Here is a list of some gaming laptops.

Headset:  These are some of the better known headsets as of 2019 to use if you’re getting into VR Dev:

• Oculus Rift $349
• HTC Vive $499
• HoloLens $3000
• Magic Leap Headset $2,295

Gaming Engine:

You need to use a game engine as game engines update state as the user interacts with your program.

• Unreal Engine 4 (UE4)
• Unity
• Amazon Lumberyard

Software:

Coding languages:

• Unreal Engine: C++. Though you can use UE4’s visual scripting language, Blueprints.
• Unity Engine: 3 languages are supported: C#, UnityScript, also known as JavaScript, and Boo.
• Amazon Lumberyard: C++ and Lua

Design:

Though you can buy many ready made design assets, incase you want  to design your own 3D modeling and animation assets, here are a few tools:

• Blender (you can get started with Blender only)
• 3DS Max
• Maya
• Cinema 4D

VR EDUCATION

Here is a list of VR courses that you can do:

1. PluralSight: There is a list of VR courses on PluralSight
2. Udacity : Udacity has 3 pathways: VR Foundations, VR High Immersion, VR Mobile 360
3. Udemy: Here is one of the many courses on VR with Unreal Engine.
4. Coursera: A couple of courses with certification
5. EdX: 4 courses on VR with certification
6. VR Dec School: FREE courses mainly using Unity
7. Zenva: Zenva’s VR mini degree using mainly Unreal, C#
8. LinkedIn: A couple of classes mostly by Craig Barr
9. Circuit Stream: One on one courses on VR development with Unity and AR
10. BitDegree:Learn how to make VR games from scratch: A simple Unity VR Tutorial
11. Unity: Introduction to XR: VR, AR and MR
12. Unreal: Unreal Engine’s online learning platform. Suggested if you’ve made up your mind about Unreal Engine
13. Learn XR: A short course to get up and running with VR using Unity3D
14. Microsoft Mixed Reality Toolkit https://microsoft.github.io/MixedRealityToolkit-Unity/Documentation/GettingStartedWithTheMRTK.html

CONTENT DISTRIBUTION

Here are some platforms on which you can put up stuff you’ve made in VR:

1. VR-Steam
2. Unity Game Store
3. Unreal Engine Market Place
4. Oculus

EXTRA

 VR communities:

1. Reddit
2. Facebook 48K members
3. Oculus Discussion Forum
4. Unity Forum

Online Mags:

1. RoadToVr
2. Virtuality by Futurism
3. Vvroom
4. VR Today Magazine
5. Upload VR
6. A List of 50 VR blogs and online magazines