Unity development platform to support Microsoft HoloLens

By Rebecca Gibson on 30 April 2015

Unity development platform to support Microsoft HoloLens

Unity Technologies is to support Microsoft HoloLens in its Unity development platform, which can be used to create interactive 3D and 2D experiences.

Supported by Windows 10 – the world’s first holographic computing platform – Microsoft HoloLens is a wireless augmented reality headset that allows users to view holograms in high definition and hear them in surround sound. With its advanced sensors, the headset intelligently maps the area around it, can detect what the user is looking at and understands voice commands and hand gestures.

Unity Technologies will work with Microsoft to make Unity an optimal development engine and authoring solution for HoloLens with customised tools, workflows and optimisations.

This will enable developers to develop apps, games and other virtual reality solutions and experiences using both the Unity platform and HoloLens features, such as spatial mapping, gaze, gesture, voice recognition and the ability to anchor holographic objects to specific locations in the real world.

“Microsoft HoloLens unshackles game and app designers from traditional screens creating a freedom to completely reimagine how we view and interact with information, education, entertainment, creative tools, social networks, remote healthcare and more,” said Steffen Toksvig, vice president of Strategic Technology at Unity Technologies. “Our work will ensure a seamless and efficient development experience that takes full advantage of the unique features and capabilities of Microsoft HoloLens.”

Unity Pro and Unity Personal Edition users will be able to access the Unity tools for Microsoft HoloLens at no additional cost.

“Expanding our relationship with Unity Technologies was a natural next step in bringing content to Microsoft HoloLens,” said Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice president of Marketing, Business and Strategy in Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Division. “We are very excited to unveil this partnership and look forward to the possibilities it will open for developers creating experiences for Microsoft HoloLens.”