VR Developer's Toolkit: Must-Have Tools

With a projected market size of USD 165.91 billion by 2030, virtual reality is capturing the attention of businesses in diverse domains. They're harnessing its potential to craft immersive consumer experiences. Therefore, staying ahead of the curve requires businesses to understand and adopt VR development tools to develop a VR environment's many complexities.

What is VR development?

A truly immersive VR experience combines suitable hardware and good software. VR hardware components, including headset displays, external tracking systems, audio output devices, controllers, and motion trackers, allow users to feel like they are a part of the virtual world.

Meanwhile, VR development software enables developers to design, simulate, and optimize these VR applications. Some critical features needed to achieve this thriving VR environment include graphics rendering, interactivity, and cross-platform compatibility.

Which are the Best VR Development Tools?

An engaging VR app demands cutting-edge tools that seamlessly fuse innovation with functionality. These tools serve as the architects of immersive experiences, where creativity and technology combine to redefine the boundaries of imagination.

Most VR development tools differ from each other significantly in providing varied services in an app. Let’s take a look at their specifics.

Unreal Engine

Created by Epic Games, Unreal Engine provides a comprehensive suite of VR tools for developing interactive experiences.

Working with a wide variety of technologies that primarily focused on video games, its application now reaches other areas like architectural visualization, film, content creation, and much more.

Its latest version, Unreal Engine 5, is designed to work with the latest generation of PCs and consoles and has real-time rendering capabilities.

Major film projects like The Lion King and Alita: Battle Angel have incorporated this VR software into their development workflows to generate real-time visualizations of intricate structures.

Pros and Cons

• It has a good visual scripting interface.
• It is easier to achieve high-fidelity graphic quality with it.
• It has a structured infrastructure compared to other software.
• It comes with a steep learning curve.
• It has heavy software that is unsuitable for low-end PCs.

Unity

This VR software serves more than just a platform for creating 2D and 3D games; it is a versatile tool for crafting VR solutions across diverse industries such as manufacturing, transportation, automotive, media, industry, engineering, and construction.

The platform has tools to create real-time 3D images and videos, high visual fidelity, interactive 3D environments, etc., which are compatible with various platforms, including console, mobile, PC, and web.

Unity has played a significant role in creating acclaimed games like Pokémon Go and Rimworld.

Pros and Cons

• It is excellent for small projects, and it is preferred by indie developers.
• Documentation for the procedure is widely available.
• The community of developers is always happy to help out other developers.
• Its visual scripting is weak.
• Multiplayer support is almost negligible and somewhat complex.

CryEngine

This VR development tool has many features ranging from a sandbox for easily creating VR games and applications to built-in audio solutions and character development tools.

CryEngine helps to build virtual reality apps that work with popular VR platforms like Oculus Rift, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, etc.

Pros and Cons

• The visual fidelity is good.
• It is a C++-based development, so it's faster than its counterparts.
• It supports a deferred rendering model.
• It can be complex to learn.

A Frame

Based on HTML, A frame is a simple web framework for creating WebVR apps. Majorly focusing on creating fully immersive experiences that go beyond basic 360° content, A frame can also be used for augmented reality. Additionally, it supports most VR headsets such as Vive, Rift, Windows Mixed Reality, Cardboard, and Oculus Go.

Pros and Cons

• It is a cloud-based lightweight too, therefore quite suitable for low-end PCs
• It is open-source, so it is easily accessible to anyone, from individuals to companies
• Since it is based on declarative HTML, it is extremely easy to use, thereby a good option for beginners.

Conclusion

As the demand for immersive experiences continues to surge developers must use various tools in the market to stay up-to-date in the VR space. From creating realistic graphics to addressing the challenges unique to virtual reality, the tools and software outlined here serve as the building blocks for a new era of digital experiences. With so many VR development technologies lying before us, having the right software and tools can make all the difference.

IkarusVR specializes in creating top-notch VR spaces with many distinguished clients. If you want to build an immersive VR space that will engage and enchant your audience, Contact us.