Author: <Nathan Kassai> Email: kassan@unlv.nevada.edu
Date: Last modified on <01/19/2023>
Keywords: <Virtual Reality, Tutorial, Step-by-Step>

Time to complete - 30 minutes

By the end of this tutorial, you will have created a basic 3D environment in Unity, and successfully rendered the environment to our Varjo XR3 Headset!

Here is the final product after this tutorial:

Before starting this tutorial, the author assumes you either:

• Understand how to install/upload packages into Unity
• Have SteamVR pre-installed and ready for VR integration (including BaseStation setup)
• Followed the previous Unity Crash Course tutorial which goes over everything mentioned above to prepare you for this tutorial

Additionally, the Varjo XR3 Headset has the following system requirements:

This tutorial's goal is to teach you how to set up the Varjo XR3 Headset, Varjo Base, and how to get the headset working in Unity. The rest of this tutorial is presented as follows:

• Hardware
• Connections
• Software (get local copy of varjo base)
• Varjo Base
• Connecting the Varjo XR3 to Unity
• Final Words

To complete this tutorial, you'll need the following items (shown in image below from left to right). I've also included amazon links to purchase any missing cable:

• A Varjo XR3 Headset (1) (Approximately $7050 as of 1/20/2023)
• B Display Cable (2) DisplayPort Cables
• C USB 3.0 Cable (2) USB 3.0 Cables
• D Link Box (1) (If missing, please email me so that I may locate it, or get in contact with Varjo Support for a replacement)
• E 12V 3.0A AC Adapter (1) (barrel jack type)

This section gives step-by-step instructions along with photos to ensure you make the proper connections to your link box.

Step 1 Grab the two long USB-C cables from the headset and connect them to their respective slots on the Link Box (connect A to A, B to B).

Step 2 Connect the two USB 3.0 Cables from the back of the link box to two available USB 3.0 slots on your PC

Step 3 Connect the two Display Cables from the back of the link box to two available DisplayPort slots on your PC

Step 4 Once everything is properly connected to the link box, grab the 12v 3.0A AC Adapter, and connect it to the link box (connection is found on the side with the two USB 3.0 and DisplayPort cables), and connect the AC Adapter to an available wall outlet.

The headset is now powered on! Time to install/run the necessary software.

To get the headset running, you must install Varjo Base! Go to the following link:

https://account.varjo.com/login

And login to DASL’s Varjo Base Account (For security purposes, the account information will only be provided in the lab. Account information will be located in the VR area)

Once you’ve logged in, you may hit download:

After the executable has downloaded, run it, and follow through the installation process (Note: If it asks which headset you are using, specify Varjo-XR3)

Once the software has been installed properly, you should see the following:

Note: There are two types of tracking that the Varjo XR3 uses:

• Inside-Out Tracking
  • Utilizes the Front-facing cameras to draw virtual boundaries around the player
• SteamVR
  • Utilizes HTC Vive 2.0 Base Stations to track the position of the headset

You can use either or, however, since our lab has Base Stations, we will use SteamVR

To change the tracking type, go to Varjo Base, click on System, and under Headset Tracking, change it to SteamVR.

• Calibration with SteamVR will not be shown in this tutorial. Tutorial for any headset utilizing SteamVR will be shown here (Add link for SteamVR calibration).

In order to get our headset connected to Unity, we will require the following packages:

• SteamVR
• Varjo's Unity SDK

Before installing the above-mentioned packages, please create a new Unity 2020+ 3D project and name it Varjo_XR3_Intro.

Once the project has opened, go to the Asset Store, download SteamVR (if not already downloaded), and import it into your project.

Once SteamVR has finished installing, you may now install the Varjo SDK for Unity

Copy this Github link: https://github.com/varjocom/VarjoUnityXRPlugin.git

Go back to Unity and press Window. Then scroll down to Package Manager. When the package manager opens, press the top left (+) icon and select add package from git URL. Paste the above GitHub link into the text box and press add.

After a few minutes, the package should have installed the Varjo SDK into Unity!

In the Asset section, search for the Player GameObject and drag it into the Hierarchy.

And finally, hit play and put on the headset!

It will look bland since there isn't anything besides a camera and a bottomless void surrounding you, so feel free to add whatever you'd like to your scene to make it fun! I have installed a separate package that comes with a pre-configured scene from the Asset Store (called MidPoly Retro Rooms).

This tutorial's objective was to allow you to render your 3D environment into a Virtual Reality Headset. Go ahead, play around with your environment! Add more objects to your scene and make it come to life! In the next tutorial, we will look at integrating another piece of tech into our Unity scene; the Quantum MetaGloves!

For questions, clarifications, etc, Email: kassan2@unlv.nevada.edu