Mixed reality apps, because they provide spatial awareness to the user, are excellent for viewing massive objects or areas like a map. Unlike virtual reality, mixed provides a more intuitive and natural interface for movement since the user can also physically move their position. So, what better way to fully explore MR than by using it to view a 3D map of the world. Fortunately, there is a relative newcomer called WRLD that has started to make significant waves in AR / VR and MR, because it provides an excellent and simple solution for rendering a fairly-good 3D map.
WRLD is shipped as a Unity asset right to the Asset Store, so installation is a breeze. However, before we install, we need to go to the WRLD site and get a developer account. WRLD is a commercial service that charges by usage. Fortunately, they offer free developer access for a limited, which is perfect for our tech demo. Open up a browser and complete the following:
- Browse to wrld3d.com and Sign Up for an account. Ensure that you verify the account through email.
- Return to the site and Sign In.
- Find and click on the Developers link at the top of the page. This will take you to the Developers page.
- Click on the big Access API Keys button at the top of the page.
- Enter the name for your key, HoloCore, and click on Create API Key to create the key, as shown in the following screenshot:
- Click on Copy API Key to copy the key to your clipboard. We will use it shortly.
- Return to the Unity editor and, from the menu, select Window | Asset Store. This will open a browser page inside the editor.
- Enter WRLD in the search box and click on the Search button. This will open the asset page for WRLD, offering you to Download the asset. Click on the Download button, as shown in the following screenshot:
- This will download the package. After the package downloads, you will be prompted with an asset import dialog. Just click on Import to import everything. This may take a while, so stretch your legs and grab some refreshments.
- You may get a warning prompting you that the versions don't match with your version of Unity. Accept the warning and continue.
- When you are prompted to get a key after you import WRLD, just click on Later. After all, we already have a key.
- Next, you will probably be prompted to increase the shadow distance with the following dialog:
- Click on the Skip button. We will need to adjust the lighting, materials, and shadows later manually.
This imports the WRLD asset into our project. In the next section, we will cover how to set it up and run WRLD for our MR app.