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Home > Mobile > Augmented Reality > HoloLens Beginner???s Guide
HoloLens Beginner???s Guide
HoloLens Beginner???s Guide

HoloLens Beginner???s Guide: Join the AR revolution with HoloLens

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$29.99 $43.99
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eBook Apr 2017 376 pages 1st Edition
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Table of content icon View table of contents Preview book icon Preview Book

HoloLens Beginner???s Guide

HoloWorld

In this chapter, we will take a look at all the steps necessary to get your first Holographic app from just an idea to a hologram. This being the first tutorial, we will spend a good deal of time detailing each and every step. As the book progresses, certain knowledge will become assumed or referenced back to previous chapters.

Here, we will open a fresh project and ensure that our scene is HoloLens ready. We will also cover the following topics:

  • How to set up the camera so that the HoloLens can use it
  • The basic concepts of a scene
  • Basics of object creation and components
  • How to move, rotate, and scale objects
  • Touch on the basics of Materials
  • Create 3D text and apply physics to the objects
  •  Building our project and seeing it in action

Hello World!, as its customary

A long held tradition in programming is to write a simple program called "Hello, World!" as your very first program. This program normally prints the words "Hello, World!" on the screen, and is used as a starting point to understanding the basics of a new programming language or development environment. This is a tradition that dates back to at least 1972, but potentially even further back to 1967.

Here, we will create a "Hello, World!+". We will use it to further familiarize you with Unity, beyond the basic layout of the preceding chapter. In an effort to avoid repeating steps, we will build onto this project throughout the rest of the book.

The layout of a HoloLens project

The most basic Unity...

Saving the scene

Now that we have a place to save the files, let's save our scene. A project in Unity is often made up of many scene files. Knowing this, and in an effort to avoid repeating the starting steps many times, I save two copies of my default scene. I name one as default and the other as main.

Here is how to do that:

  1. First, click on File on the main menu, and then click on Save Scene:
  1. The Save Scene dialog will appear. In the File name field, enter default; then, click on the Save button:
  1. Now, you would want to click on File one more time. Type main into the File name input field and click on the Save button again. If everything went according to the plan, the bar across the top of the window should look like this; the name of your project--HoloLens Beginners Guide--and the name of your scene--main.unity--should both be present.

OK, now we are ready to go; but...

Objects and components

Before we get to the heart of building our project, let's take a few minutes to talk about objects and components. I wish I had understood some of these ideas much earlier on; it would have sped up my overall understanding of Unity. We will only lightly touch on these subjects for now. We will go into greater detail in later chapters.

Objects

Objects or GameObjects are what make up nearly everything in Unity. The characters, camera, 3D text, and lights are all a very basic-level GameObjects. Everything you see in a Unity-developed project is either GameObjects, or connected to them.

It should be pointed out that some things that you cannot see are GameObjects as well. A common practice is to create empty GameObjects so that we can apply...

First project

Now that we have a basic understanding of objects and what they are made of, we will begin the creation of our first project with a series of GameObjects. 

For this step in our "Hello, World!+" project, we will need to create a platform for the words Hello, World! to hover over, using the following steps:

  1. Click on the Hierarchy tab inside the Unity Editor, and then click on the Create button. This will bring up the Create menu:
  1. Now, with your mouse, hover over the 3D Object label. A submenu will pop up. Click on Cube:

Our cubism period

Now, we have a blank cube in our scene and, we are ready to have some fun. However, where is it? Here, we will use the transform component to change this cube into our...

Hello World!, as its customary

A long held tradition in programming is to write a simple program called "Hello, World!" as your very first program. This program normally prints the words "Hello, World!" on the screen, and is used as a starting point to understanding the basics of a new programming language or development environment. This is a tradition that dates back to at least 1972, but potentially even further back to 1967.

Here, we will create a "Hello, World!+". We will use it to further familiarize you with Unity, beyond the basic layout of the preceding chapter. In an effort to avoid repeating steps, we will build onto this project throughout the rest of the book.

The layout of a HoloLens project

The most basic Unity project is made up of at least one scene. Any new scene will contain a directional light and main camera. The HoloLens uses this camera as the user's point of view, so we will need to make a few changes to the default starting scene to suit our needs.

Here, we will set...

Saving the scene

Now that we have a place to save the files, let's save our scene. A project in Unity is often made up of many scene files. Knowing this, and in an effort to avoid repeating the starting steps many times, I save two copies of my default scene. I name one as default and the other as main.

Here is how to do that:

  1. First, click on File on the main menu, and then click on Save Scene:
  1. The Save Scene dialog will appear. In the File name field, enter default; then, click on the Save button:
  1. Now, you would want to click on File one more time. Type main into the File name input field and click on the Save button again. If everything went according to the plan, the bar across the top of the window should look like this; the name of your project--HoloLens Beginners Guide--and the name of your scene--main.unity--should both be present.

OK, now we are ready to go; but, let's first talk a bit about what we will be using throughout the rest of the chapter.

Objects and components

Before we get to the heart of building our project, let's take a few minutes to talk about objects and components. I wish I had understood some of these ideas much earlier on; it would have sped up my overall understanding of Unity. We will only lightly touch on these subjects for now. We will go into greater detail in later chapters.

Objects

Objects or GameObjects are what make up nearly everything in Unity. The characters, camera, 3D text, and lights are all a very basic-level GameObjects. Everything you see in a Unity-developed project is either GameObjects, or connected to them.

It should be pointed out that some things that you cannot see are GameObjects as well. A common practice is to create empty GameObjects so that we can apply scripts or other components to it. These objects are created to perform a function, such as to keep game scores or to handle network traffic. The one common element that all GameObjects share is the Transform component:

Components

Components...

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Key benefits

  • Start developing immersive and interactive apps for Microsoft HoloLens
  • Explore the Windows Universal Development platform for HoloLens development
  • Leverage the full set of HoloLens sensors to create mesmerizing apps

Description

HoloLens revolutionizes the way we work and interact with the virtual world. HoloLens brings you the amazing world of augmented reality and provides an opportunity to explore it like never before. This is the best book for developers who want to start creating interactive and intuitive augmented reality apps for the HoloLens platform. You will start with a walkthrough of the HoloLens hardware before creating your first app. Next you will be introduced to the various HoloLens sensors and find out how to program them efficiently so that they can interact with the real world seamlessly. Moving on, you will learn how to create smart animations and add video overlay that implements real-time tracking and motion-sensing abilities to your HoloLens app. Finally, you will learn how to test your app effectively.

Who is this book for?

If you are a developer new to Windows Universal development platform and want to get started with HoloLens development, then this is the book for you. No prior experience of C# programming or of the .NET framework is needed to get started with this book.

What you will learn

  • Write an app that responds to verbal commands
  • Communicate between devices in the boundaries of the UWP model
  • Create sounds in the app and place them in a 3D space
  • Build simple apps that display holograms
  • Interact with the physical environment while taking physical boundaries into account

Product Details

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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Apr 28, 2017
Length: 376 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781786465467
Vendor :
Microsoft
Category :
Mobile
Languages :
C#
Concepts :
Augmented Reality
Tools :
Universal Development Platform

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Publication date : Apr 28, 2017
Length: 376 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781786465467
Vendor :
Microsoft
Category :
Mobile
Languages :
C#
Concepts :
Augmented Reality
Tools :
Universal Development Platform

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HoloLens Beginner???s Guide
HoloLens Beginner???s Guide
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Microsoft HoloLens Developer???s Guide
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Microsoft HoloLens By Example
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Table of Contents

10 Chapters
Welcome to the New World Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Welcome to the New World
What exactly is the HoloLens?
What you need to develop for the HoloLens
Installing the software
Unity3d quick overview
Summary
HoloWorld Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
HoloWorld
Hello World!, as its customary
Saving the scene
Objects and components
First project
Physics simulations
Building the project in Unity
Summary
I am in Control Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
I am in Control
Prefabs
Installing the HoloToolkit
User Input overview
Gaze
Gesture
Voice
Animation
Mecanim
Here is the Game Plan
Our first script
Materials, textures, and shaders
Changing the color
Time to build and test
Summary
User-Friendly Interface Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
User-Friendly Interface
Reloading
Unity C# scripting
A quick example
User interface design
The Unity camera and HoloLens
Unity UI
Any object can be an interface object
Summary
Now That Is How It Should Sound Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Now That Is How It Should Sound
Audio overview
Here is what it is all about
Unity audio components
Spatial sound and HoloLens
Let's listen to our work
Summary
Not So Blank Spaces Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Not So Blank Spaces
Spatial Mapping
Let's get into this
Spatial Mapping in practice
Our new Skeeball machine
The home stretch
Summary
The Tools of the Trade Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
The Tools of the Trade
Persistence
World Anchors
The in-game debug window
In-game menu
Summary
Share What You Have Got Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Share What You Have Got
Networking
Making the Skeeball game a shared experience
A very simple first step
Spawning our Skeeball machine
Filling in the blanks
The payoff
Summary
Putting It All Together Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Putting It All Together
Our main Prefab
Importing the RampColliders
When bounding boxes collide
Finishing the Prefab
GameBall Prefab
Finishing touches
ApplicationManager
Summary
Fixing Problems Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Fixing Problems
The Application Manager
Debugging
Profiling and fixing performance
Simplygon
Summary

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Customer reviews

Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 3
(2 Ratings)
5 star 50%
4 star 0%
3 star 0%
2 star 0%
1 star 50%
Amazon Customer Aug 28, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Another great book for the developer who wants to explore something new. Mixed Reality is the future and Jason does a great job of peeking ones interest!Thanks,MHoward
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Zbellis Jul 24, 2019
Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 1
Not the best way to learn about AR or anything Hololens related. I bought this book before an internship doing Augmented Reality and was told by my mentor this book was a waste, and I also did not like this because reading from PDF’s can get wordy and very boring. Would be better if this was taught online, or using Augmented Reality - how ironic. I’d recommend downloading Scope AR and learning from their website compared to buying this book
Amazon Verified review Amazon

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About the author

Profile icon Jason M. Odom
Jason M. Odom
Jason Odom is a game developer with nearly 20 years of experience working on titles for companies such as Activision and Take 2 Interactive, along with years of game development teaching and mentoring. He is the founder of Thought Experiment, a start-up mixed reality studio, and he is currently working on HoloQuest and CrossTrainMR properties for HoloLens. When he is not making software and applications, he is a loud and proud mixed reality evangelist with a highly active YouTube channel, and a prolific technology blogger for NextReality.
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