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// UX Design

What if you could disassemble a robot at a touch? Motion control opens up exciting possibilities for manipulating 3D designs, with VR adding a whole new dimension to the mix. Recently, Battleship VR and Robot Chess developer Nathan Beattie showcased a small CAD experiment at the Avalon Airshow. Supported by the School of Engineering, Deakin University, the demo lets users take apart a small spherical robot created by engineering student Daniel Howard.

Nathan has since open sourced the project, although the laboratory environment is only available in the executable demo for licensing reasons. Check out the source code at github.com/Zaeran/CAD-Demo.

The latest version of Widgets is now available through our Unity Core Assets! Version 2.1.0 introduces the Dial Picker Widget and data binding model, along with several performance optimizations.

After you download the latest demo and experiment with Widgets in your own projects, we’d like to get your thoughts as we forge ahead towards a full release. More on that later, but first, here’s what you’ll find in 2.1.0.

Hi, I’m Wilbur Yu! You might remember me from such webcasts as Let’s Play! Soon You Will Fly and Getting Started with VR. In this post, we’ll look at how we structured Widgets to be as accessible and comprehensive as possible.

One of the major features of Planetarium is the ability to travel around the globe using motion controls. While this approach is still rough and experimental, we learned a lot from its development that we’d like to share. Later on in the post, we’ll even take a look under the hood at the code involved with the movement and spinning physics that tie everything together.

In the lead-up to IndieCade East, we’re spotlighting the top 20 3D Jam experiences chosen by the jury and community votes – with a special focus on game design, interaction design, and the big ideas driving our community forward.

Martin Schubert’s Weightless won second place for its breathtaking atmosphere and fluid interaction mechanics. It’s available free for the Oculus Rift on the Leap Motion App Store.

In the lead-up to IndieCade East, we’re spotlighting the top 20 3D Jam experiences chosen by the jury and community votes. First up: Henry Hoffman’s Aboard the Lookinglass took first place thanks to its unique interaction design and compelling concept. It’s available free for the Oculus Rift on the Leap Motion App Store.

We learned so much on the ground with our developer community in 2014. Translating soothing gestures into meditative brainwaves on EEGs. Springing drones to life. Navigating new ways of thinking about user interfaces in VR.

You’ve built incredible things this year, and along the way, we’ve based many of the experiments, resources, and examples found in the Developer Portal on your feedback and feature requests. We can’t wait to keep that conversation going in the New Year. And now, for a bit of inspiration, behold – our 2014 Shortlist of Virtual Superlatives:

Who said Unity developers have all the fun? From building virtual hands in Three.js to browser-based virtual reality, we’re also developing new tools to enable truly 3D interaction on the web. This week, we’re happy to announce LeapJS Widgets – basic UI elements can be used in a wide variety of experiences. It’s a brand new library, simple enough to be used with just a few lines of code, but with near-infinite possibilities for experimentation and customization.

The choice of hand design can fundamentally make or break user experience. As a developer, a hyper-realist render in your trippy space shooter might be an intergalactic buzzkill. Conversely, if your user is playing a general in a WWII bunker, you might want to lean more human than cyborg. Hand Viewer, a brand-new release in our Examples Gallery, gives you an arsenal of onscreen hands to experiment with as you build new desktop experiences with Leap Motion.

Mozilla WebVR + Leap Motion interaction

How pervasive will virtual reality be? VR has the power to fundamentally transform the way we learn, play, share and even browse the web. Mozilla’s recent experiments combining VR and the web pave a path towards virtual presence – pushing beyond disconnected feelings of immersion and bringing us into new places with a life of their own.