Where do I start with VR Developing

[suchaHassle]

I'm in high school and I'm really interested in diving deeper into programming on platforms like the HTC Vive. Right now, I'm finding it very hard to figure out where to start. I was wondering if any of you guys have some experience and can direct me in the right direction. I know a few languages and I think I have the ability to pick up more pretty quickly, but I haven't really worked with 3D objects like this before. Thanks for all the help!

[trag1c]

3 minutes ago, suchaHassle said:

I'm in high school and I'm really interested in diving deeper into programming on platforms like the HTC Vive. Right now, I'm finding it very hard to figure out where to start. I was wondering if any of you guys have some experience and can direct me in the right direction. I know a few languages and I think I have the ability to pick up more pretty quickly, but I haven't really worked with 3D objects like this before. Thanks for all the help!

If this is something you want to do you're going to be devoting a ton of time as I am assuming you want to roll your own tech because you didn't request a specific engine.

 

Picking up a book on Linear Algebra would be a good start (and very needed for any sort of development in a 2D or 3D space) From there you will want to pick a graphics API whether that be DirectX 11 or OpenGL. I personally would start with DirectX 11 as its fairly easy to use and has some very well written books for learning the API. You will also need some sort of windowing API whether that be Win32, X11 (for linux), Qt, SDL, ect. After you got a decent graphics implementation anything further will make sense on its own. 

 

For DX11 books I recommend Practical Rendering and Computation with Direct3D 11.

[The Flying Sloth]

16 minutes ago, suchaHassle said:

I'm in high school and I'm really interested in diving deeper into programming on platforms like the HTC Vive. Right now, I'm finding it very hard to figure out where to start. I was wondering if any of you guys have some experience and can direct me in the right direction. I know a few languages and I think I have the ability to pick up more pretty quickly, but I haven't really worked with 3D objects like this before. Thanks for all the help!

Unity is one of the major VR developing engines, there is a free version that is somewhat limited but for playing around it should suit your purposes. If you like it the pro version is like $40 or something

[suchaHassle]

1 minute ago, The Flying Sloth said:

Unity is one of the major VR developing engines, there is a free version that is somewhat limited but for playing around it should suit your purposes. If you like it the pro version is like $40 or something

What's the difference between DirectX 11 and Unity? I've been doing a bit of surfing on some already existing VR games (primarily Hover Junkers because they remain pretty up to date on their ventures), would it be better to start with Unity or learn DirectX first?

[trag1c]

5 minutes ago, suchaHassle said:

What's the difference between DirectX 11 and Unity? I've been doing a bit of surfing on some already existing VR games (primarily Hover Junkers because they remain pretty up to date on their ventures), would it be better to start with Unity or learn DirectX first?

DirectX 11 is an API for utilizing the GPU primarily for 3D rendering where as Unity is a complete package that contains things like input, sound, physics, rendering. An application like Unity would use DirectX 11 or similar. Unity would be a much easier approach but it would be less involved and educational IMO. 

[suchaHassle]

1 minute ago, trag1c said:

DirectX 11 is an API for utilizing the GPU primarily for 3D rendering where as Unity is a complete package that contains things like input, sound, physics, rendering. An application like Unity would use DirectX 11 or similar. Unity would be a much easier approach but it would be less involved and educational IMO. 

Oh. I did not know that haha. My skills are very limited, but thanks for helping me. I think I'll try Unity first to test the waters but DirectX 11 seems very appealing now. Thanks so much for your help!

[trag1c]

1 minute ago, suchaHassle said:

Oh. I did not know that haha. My skills are very limited, but thanks for helping me. I think I'll try Unity first to test the waters but DirectX 11 seems very appealing now. Thanks so much for your help!

Happy to help

[The Flying Sloth]

Unity is a very good all-round engine to do game builds with.