08/09/2016

TheFundamentalStepsofLeapMotionCombinationinYourUnity3DProject126Kr

TheFundamentalStepsofLeapMotionCombinationinYour
Unity3DProject
Datetime:2016082307:06:12Topic:Unity3DShare

LeapMotionhasbeentryingtomakevirtualrealitymoreimmersivethaneverwithanewhandtrackingsystem.
Thefutureofhumancomputerinteractionisabouttoundergoastandardsshift.Eversincethestartofcomputing,
scientistsandappdevelopershavebeenworkingtowardcreating3Denvironments.
Weliveinveryinterestingtimes.Wearegrowingclosertomakingthesesciencefictionideasintosciencefacts.In
reality,wehavealreadydonesotosomeextent.Virtualrealityisagreattopic.OneofthemajortopicswithinVRis
theabilitytointeractwiththedigitalworld.Thisarticlewillconcentrateonthecommunicationoftheuserwiththe
digitalworld,applyingahardwaresensordevelopedbyLeapMotion.
Here,Iwillbeincludinghowtocombine&useLeapMotionhandmotionsensorwithUnity3D.

WhatistheLeapMotionController?
TheLeapMotionControllerfunctionsjustlikemovingyourhand.Itfollowsall10fingersuptoone100thofa
millimeter.It'sdramaticallymoredelicatethanexistingmotioncontroltechnology.Thatishowyoucandrawor
paintminimasterpiecesinsideaoneinchcube.

LeapMotionSetupandUnity3DIntegration
First,youwillneedtodownloadtheSDKforLeapMotion.AfteryoudownloadtheSDK,installtheruntime.The
SDKsupportsavarietyofplatformsandlanguagesthatyoucanlookinto.
AssumingyouhavealreadydownloadedandinstalledUnity5onyourmachine,thenextthingyouwillneedtodo
isgettheLeapMotionUnityCoreAssetsfromtheassetstore.
AfterdownloadingandinstallingtheLeapMotionCorecapitals,wecanbeginwithdevelopingoursimplescene
andlearninghowtocommunicatewiththeassets,extendingthemforourownpurposes.Goaheadandcreatea
newemptyprojectandimporttheLeapMotionCoreAssetsintoyourproject.

LeapMotionCoreAssets
Intheprojectwindow,yourmainfocusshouldbetheLeapMotionfolder.ThefoldersthatincludeOVRarefor
applyingLeapMotionwithaVRheadset.Wewillincludethisinafuturearticle.
Youshouldtaketimeandstudythestructuremoreimportantly,studythecontentofeachfolder.Oneofthe
maincoreassetsthatyouwillwanttobecomefamiliarwithistheHandController.Thisisthecentralbuildingblock
thatenablesyoutocommunicatewiththeLeapMotiondeviceinyourview.Itservesasthesupportpointfor
renderingyourhandsinthescene.
TheHandControllerprefabhastheHandControllerscriptconnected,whichenablesyoutocommunicatewiththe
device.Theadvantageofthisdesignisthatyoucanbuildyourownhandmodelsandusethemwiththecontroller
forvisualdesign,aswellascustomgesturesandmore.
AnotherkeypropertyistheHandMovementsystemvector.Awordofwarninghere,youwillneedtoreadthe
documentationandspecificationsforusingtheproperadjustmentsfortheparticularapplicationthatyouare
workingon.

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08/09/2016

TheFundamentalStepsofLeapMotionCombinationinYourUnity3DProject126Kr

TheHandMovementsystemvectorisusedtoimprovetherangeofmotionofthehandswithoutincreasingthe
possiblemodelsize.PlacingtheHandControllerobjectisessential.Asstated,thisistheanchorpointforyour
camera,andyourcamerashouldbeinthesameareaastheHandController.
Thefactthatyoucanreallyseeyourhandmovementinthepicturebyitselfisahugeundertakingwiththeassets
thathavebeengiven.Tomakeeverythingmoreinteresting,youwillneedtobeabletocommunicatewiththe
environmentandmodifyandmanipulatestuffwithinthescene.
Forsimplicity,wewillsetthreecubesservingasourcolorpallet.Thefirstwillbered,thesecondwillbeblue,and
thethirdonewillbeorange.(Youcanpickanycolorsyouwant,bytheway.)Weneedtoplacethecubesinaway
thatinteractingwiththemiseasyfortheuser.
Wecanputthecubesinthefollowingorder:

TheCube

(0,1,3)

RedCube

(3,1,3)

BlueCube

(0,1,3)

OrangeCube

(3,1,3)

ThenextstepistogeneratethescriptthatwillhelpuscommunicatewiththeCubeGameObjects:

Asyoucansee,thecodeisnotverycomplex,butitdoeshelpusgetwhatwewant.Therearethreepublic
variablesthatareapplied:toidentifywhethertheobjectisselectable,thecolorthattheobjectuses,andthe
selectedcolor.
ThecoreofthelogichappensintheOnTriggerEnterfunction.Wechecktoseeiftheobjectthatinteractedwiththe
Cubeistheindexfinger,thenwechecktonoticeiftheobjectisselectable.Iftheobjectisselectable,wesetthe
selectablecolortothepredefinedcolorcodeandexitthefunction.
ThissamefunctionisalsousedtoimplementtheselectedcolorwiththeCubeGameObject.Forthisspecialcase,
wegettheRendererobjectfromtheCubeandsetthematerialcolortotheselectedcolor.

HowAboutMovinganObject?
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TheFundamentalStepsofLeapMotionCombinationinYourUnity3DProject126Kr

Thisisgreat,butwhatifyouwantedtobeabletohavemorecommunicationwithyour3Denvironment.Let'slook
atasimpleexampleyouneedtopickupobjectsandmovethemaroundinthescene.
Inorderforustomakeithappen,weneedtowritemorecode!Extendingourexample,wewillimplementthe
codethatwillenableyoutopickuptheCubeobjectandmoveitaroundintheenvironment.

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08/09/2016

TheFundamentalStepsofLeapMotionCombinationinYourUnity3DProject126Kr

Virtualrealityhasalwaysbeenoneofthosetopicsintheindustrythatgetsalotofexposureatonce,thencools
down.Thistimearound,thingsareabitdifferent.ThehardwareandsoftwareecosystemthatenablesVRis
becomingmoredemocratized.Thecostofthehardware,eventhoughit'snotcheap,isatapointthatmost
developerscanafford.
ThisallowsthedevelopmentcommunitytoprovidebetterVRexperiencesandentertainment.Theideaof
integratinghandmotionandgestureswithVRappsisamust.

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