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Should the HoloToolkit-Unity primarily focus on the HoloLens Platform?

edited January 2017 in Questions And Answers

Cross Platform support is nice, but should the HoloToolkit-Unity primarily focus on the HoloLens platform, or should we have a separate branch or project that supports only communication to/from the HoloLens as HoloToolkit companion applications?

I suppose the main HoloToolkit project addresses this, but this is more directed to Unity based HoloLens projects.

One alternative is that we can have a specific .unitypackage that includes just the basics for cross platforms apps to communicate with HoloLens apps that only includes bare necessities like the sharing SDK.

Because of the drastic differences in input systems, UI layouts, and capabilities, I don't really see why the HoloToolkit-Unity master branch should have cross platform support.

Stephen Hodgson
Microsoft HoloLens Agency Readiness Program
Virtual Solutions Developer at Saab
HoloToolkit-Unity Moderator

Should the HoloToolkit-Unity primarily focus on the HoloLens Platform? 10 votes

Yes-The HoloToolkit should only focus on HoloLens Platform
60%
JasonstephenhodgsonDocStrangeidealsoftBerndt73S_Lincke 6 votes
No-The HoloToolkit should be completly cross platform compatible
40%
geneawonninkAmerAmerjayhersk 4 votes

Comments

  • No-The HoloToolkit should be completly cross platform compatible

    HoloToolkit seems to have a lot of broken features with the latest unity 5.5.3f I think. Especially with stereo instanced rendering.

    http://www.redsprocketstudio.com/
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  • edited January 2017
    Yes-The HoloToolkit should only focus on HoloLens Platform

    @AmerAmer said:
    HoloToolkit seems to have a lot of broken features with the latest unity 5.5.3f I think. Especially with stereo instanced rendering.

    Actually this was just fixed with PR 393

    Also there isn't a 5.5.3. The current version is 5.5.0f3

    Stephen Hodgson
    Microsoft HoloLens Agency Readiness Program
    Virtual Solutions Developer at Saab
    HoloToolkit-Unity Moderator

  • I'm not sure that we should strive for complete cross platform compatibility. But I do think we should make sure we are not breaking some of the more major VR platform SDK's... I can definitely see where you might want a project that can be deployed out to Vive, Rift, and Holographic....

  • edited January 2017
    Yes-The HoloToolkit should only focus on HoloLens Platform

    Another alternative is that we can have a specific .unitypackage that includes just the basics for cross platforms apps to communicate with HoloLens apps that only includes bare necessities like the sharing SDK.

    Because of the drastic differences in input systems, UI layouts, and capabilities, I don't really see why the HoloToolkit-Unity master branch should have cross platform support.

    Stephen Hodgson
    Microsoft HoloLens Agency Readiness Program
    Virtual Solutions Developer at Saab
    HoloToolkit-Unity Moderator

  • No-The HoloToolkit should be completly cross platform compatible

    Cool. Will test out the latest toolkit. Yes 5.5.03f my mistake.

    http://www.redsprocketstudio.com/
    Developer | Check out my new project blog

  • utekaiutekai ✭✭✭

    Being unity centric is a mistake. Unity is very heavy weight and many apps don't need all that weight, but still need some of the features the toolkit can provide. Plane finding is an example.

  • I personally don't see the 'Holo' in HoloToolkit as representing specifically the HoloLens. I see that Holo representing Windows Holographic. So, while I wouldn't say that I see the toolkit being fully cross platform I WOULD say that I expect the toolkit to support all Windows Holographic devices (which would include the new VR devices that support said platform).

    Our Holographic world is here

    RoadToHolo.com      WikiHolo.net      @jbienz
    I work in Developer Experiences at Microsoft. My posts are based on my own experience and don't represent Microsoft or HoloLens.

  • edited January 2017
    Yes-The HoloToolkit should only focus on HoloLens Platform

    @utekai said:
    Being unity centric is a mistake. Unity is very heavy weight and many apps don't need all that weight, but still need some of the features the toolkit can provide. Plane finding is an example.

    The project mentioned in this thread is specific to Unity, there is a version of the HoloToolkit that doesn't rely on Unity here.

    Stephen Hodgson
    Microsoft HoloLens Agency Readiness Program
    Virtual Solutions Developer at Saab
    HoloToolkit-Unity Moderator

  • @jbienzms said:
    I personally don't see the 'Holo' in HoloToolkit as representing specifically the HoloLens. I see that Holo representing Windows Holographic. So, while I wouldn't say that I see the toolkit being fully cross platform I WOULD say that I expect the toolkit to support all Windows Holographic devices (which would include the new VR devices that support said platform).

    I agree with Jared here, however, I don't think that is going to be an issue, as UWP is going to be the name of the game for all Holographic Platform apps.  The cross platform requirement/request that this question was born from was actually in regards to projects that are/could be truly cross platform, ie, android, ios, etc...

  • Awesome discussion.

    Scenario: Anne is a developer who wants to ship her HoloLens app to the Windows Store. She also would like to use the same code base, extend it to work on other VR platforms and ship on their store.

    I am a supporter of ensuring HoloToolkit-Unity compiles with target platforms in the same Unity project. Also it should work for all devices that support Windows Holographic or Mixed Reality.

    However, to burden the toolkit with ensuring everything works across different platforms (like iOS / oculus etc.) is overkill for it's current majority developer audience who are still growing as the ecosystem grows.

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