Native Development for Apple Vision Pro By James Ashley

Summary

James Ashley, a veteran Unity developer, discusses the merits of native development for Apple's Vision Pro versus using Unity. He highlights the benefits of native development, such as access to new features and APIs first, better integration with Apple's ecosystem, and the ability to create apps that look and feel truly native. However, he acknowledges the challenges of learning a new language and the costs associated with native development. Ashley also emphasizes the importance of understanding the native development process, even for Unity developers, to effectively debug and communicate with clients.

Takeaways

• 😀 James Ashley, a Unity developer with experience in AR and spatial computing, advocates for learning native development for Apple's Vision Pro.
• 🏥 James currently works at CVS Healthcare Innovation Labs, exploring new uses for the Vision Pro in healthcare.
• 🛍️ He previously led an engineering project at Walmart Store 8, creating an app for organizing store shelves, which gained recognition from Tim Cook.
• 🤝 James is collaborating with Farhan on XR Bootcamp to create masterclasses for Unity developers transitioning to Vision Pro development.
• 🔧 He emphasizes that while Unity is popular for AR development, native development for Vision Pro might be beneficial due to better integration with Apple's ecosystem.
• 📈 Native development offers early access to new features and APIs, as well as more robust documentation and support from Apple.
• 💻 The transition to native development requires learning Swift, Swift UI, and using Xcode and Reality Composer Pro, which are built specifically for Vision OS.
• 💡 James suggests that even if using Unity, understanding the native development process can aid in debugging and communicating with clients.
• 💰 There are financial considerations for developers, such as the cost of MacBooks, Apple Developer memberships, and potentially a Unity Pro license for accessing certain features.
• 🛡️ Privacy and security are highlighted as concerns for Apple, with restrictions like needing an Enterprise membership for certain functionalities.
• 🔗 James provides resources for learning native development, including Apple's developer documentation, Ray Wenderlich's tutorials, and courses from XR Bootcamp.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the discussion led by James Ashley?

The main topic of the discussion is native development for the Apple Vision Pro, particularly addressing why Unity developers might want to consider investing in learning native iOS development for the platform.

What is James Ashley's current role at CVS Health?

James Ashley is working at CVS Health Innovation Labs, exploring new ways of using the Vision Pro in the healthcare space.

What was the project that James Ashley led at Walmart Store 8?

James Ashley led an enterprise project at Walmart Store 8 that helped people organize store shelves, which was recognized and praised by Tim Cook for its innovation in the enterprise space.

What is the XR boot camp, and what is James Ashley's involvement with it?

The XR boot camp is an initiative aimed at providing master classes around Vision Pro development. James Ashley is working with Farhan and the XR boot camp to create these classes, focusing on helping Unity developers transition to iOS development.

What is the significance of the course 'Swift Development for Unity Devs' mentioned by James Ashley?

The course 'Swift Development for Unity Devs' is significant as it showcases the similarities between Swift and C#, and between development environments like Xcode and Visual Studio, to help Unity developers feel more comfortable with native iOS development.

Why might Unity developers consider learning native development for Apple Vision Pro despite their focus on Unity?

Unity developers might consider learning native development to leverage the full capabilities of the Apple Vision Pro, ensure their apps look and feel native to the Apple ecosystem, and gain early access to new features and APIs.

What are some of the challenges faced by Unity developers when transitioning to native development for Apple Vision Pro?

Challenges include learning a new language and development environment, adjusting to different tools like Xcode and Reality Composer Pro, and the potential need to pay for a Unity Pro license for accessing certain features on Vision Pro.

What is the cost implication for developers who want to develop for Apple Vision Pro?

Developers need to invest in an Apple developer membership ($99), a MacBook with an Apple silicon chip (M1, M2, M3, or M4), and potentially a Unity Pro license ($2,000/year) for accessing certain enterprise features.

What are some of the benefits of using Unity for developing applications for Apple Vision Pro?

Benefits of using Unity include a large developer community, existing knowledge and experience with spatial computing, and the potential for cross-platform development with other AR/VR platforms.

How does the speaker view the current state of Unreal Engine in relation to Apple Vision Pro development?

The speaker views Unreal Engine as being in a development phase similar to where Unity was nine months prior, with early releases that were challenging to work with. However, they acknowledge that Unreal Engine is working seriously on supporting Vision Pro and may offer a viable alternative in the future.

What is the speaker's perspective on the performance capabilities of native development versus Unity development for Apple Vision Pro?

The speaker suggests that while it is a hunch without concrete evidence, there is a general assumption that native development might offer better performance and the ability to push the device further, as evidenced by differences in video bitrate limits.

What are the licensing implications for developers using Unity for immersive applications on Apple Vision Pro?

For immersive applications, developers using Unity need a Pro license, which costs $2,000/year. Without this license, certain components required for immersive experiences will not function in the Unity project.

What are the speaker's thoughts on the future of web XR and Unreal Engine as alternatives to Unity for Apple Vision Pro development?

The speaker sees web XR as a viable alternative that is currently working, albeit with some hoops to jump through for optimal setup. As for Unreal Engine, the speaker suggests waiting to see its progress in the next few months but acknowledges its serious approach and financial stability.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Introduction to Native Development for Apple Vision Pro

James Ashley introduces the topic of native development for Apple's Vision Pro device, addressing primarily Unity developers and encouraging them to consider learning native iOS development. He shares his background, including his work at CVS Healthcare Innovation Labs and Walmart Store 8, and mentions his involvement with XR boot camp to create master classes for Vision Pro development. James emphasizes the benefits of native development despite the initial investment and learning curve.

05:01

🤔 Weighing Unity Against Native Development for Vision OS

The speaker discusses the advantages and challenges of using Unity versus native development for Vision OS. He points out that Unity is widely used in the AR/VR industry, but native development offers better integration with Apple's tools and ecosystem. James also touches on the learning curve for Unity developers transitioning to native development and the importance of creating apps that look and feel native to the Apple platform.

10:01

🛠️ Tools and Considerations for Vision OS Native Development

James outlines the tools required for native development on Vision OS, including Xcode, Swift, and Reality Composer Pro. He highlights the importance of using native tools for accessing new features and APIs first and the challenges of relying on Unity for cross-platform development. Financial considerations for developers, such as the cost of a MacBook Pro and a Unity Pro license, are also discussed, along with the potential need for an Enterprise membership for certain features.

15:03

💡 The Benefits of Learning Native Development Despite Using Unity

The speaker encourages developers to learn native tools even if they plan to use Unity, as it can provide a deeper understanding of the development process and help with debugging and optimization. He also discusses the potential for Unity developers to make changes to their projects at the native level and the importance of being able to explain technical decisions to clients.

20:04

📚 Resources for Learning Native Development for Vision OS

James provides recommendations for learning native development for Vision OS, including Apple's developer documentation, sample code, and resources from sites like Codo and XR boot camp. He emphasizes the importance of understanding Swift, Swift UI, and Reality Kit for native development and mentions upcoming courses for Unity developers to learn Swift.

25:06

🤝 Closing Remarks and Q&A Session

In the final part of the script, James concludes his presentation and opens the floor for questions. He addresses inquiries about the capabilities of Reality Kit compared to Unity, the viability of using Objective C with Unity, and the potential for higher performance with native development. James also discusses licensing considerations for Unity and the possibility of web XR and Unreal Engine as alternative development platforms.

Keywords

💡Native Development

Native development refers to the process of building applications specifically for a particular platform, using the tools and languages provided by the platform's vendor. In the context of the video, it pertains to developing apps for Apple's Vision Pro using Swift and Xcode. The speaker, James Ashley, encourages Unity developers to consider native development for the Vision Pro to leverage the full capabilities of the device and to create apps that are optimized for the Apple ecosystem.

💡Unity

Unity is a cross-platform game engine widely used for creating interactive 3D and 2D content, including video games and simulations. In the video, the speaker discusses the prevalence of Unity among developers in the augmented reality (AR) and spatial computing fields. He also addresses the challenges and considerations of using Unity for developing applications for the Apple Vision Pro, including the need for a Unity Pro license for certain features.

💡Apple Vision Pro

The Apple Vision Pro is a hypothetical advanced AR headset discussed in the video. It represents the latest technology in the Apple ecosystem for augmented reality experiences. James Ashley talks about the benefits and considerations of developing native applications for this device, emphasizing the potential for higher performance and seamless integration with Apple's ecosystem.

💡Swift

Swift is a powerful and intuitive programming language developed by Apple for iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS app development. In the video, Swift is presented as the primary language for native development on the Apple Vision Pro. The speaker suggests that learning Swift could be beneficial for developers who want to create apps that are optimized for Apple devices.

💡Xcode

Xcode is an integrated development environment (IDE) developed by Apple for macOS, used for developing software for Apple's platforms. In the context of the video, Xcode is the recommended tool for native development on the Apple Vision Pro, allowing developers to build and deploy apps directly to the device.

💡Reality Kit

Reality Kit is a framework introduced by Apple that simplifies the creation of AR experiences. It is mentioned in the video as a tool that complements Xcode for developing AR apps on the Apple Vision Pro. The speaker implies that Reality Kit is part of the native development workflow for Apple's AR ecosystem.

💡Spatial Computing

Spatial Computing is a term used to describe the intersection of virtual environments and physical spaces, often associated with AR and VR technologies. In the video, the speaker refers to spatial computing when discussing the transition from AR headset development to the broader context of spatial computing applications, emphasizing the shift in terminology and focus among developers.

💡WebXR

WebXR is a standard for creating immersive virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) experiences that work across various devices and browsers. In the video, WebXR is presented as an alternative platform for developing AR applications, suggesting it as a viable option for developers looking for cross-platform solutions.

💡Unreal Engine

Unreal Engine is a top-tier game engine developed by Epic Games, known for its high-fidelity graphics and robust toolset. The speaker briefly mentions Unreal Engine in the video, noting that it is also working on support for the Apple Vision Pro but may not be as mature as Unity or native development options at the time of the presentation.

💡Enterprise Development

Enterprise development refers to the creation of software applications for use within a company rather than for general consumer use. In the video, the speaker discusses the considerations for enterprise-level projects, such as the need for multiple high-level personnel and the potential for using just a few devices for development purposes.

💡XR Boot Camp

XR Boot Camp is mentioned in the video as an organization that offers master classes and resources for learning about the Apple Vision Pro development. The speaker, who is associated with XR Boot Camp, discusses their efforts to help Unity developers transition to iOS development for the Vision Pro.

Highlights

James Ashley, a developer with nine months of experience in Vision OS, discusses native development for Apple's Vision Pro.

Ashley emphasizes the importance of learning native development for Vision Pro, even for those primarily using Unity.

He shares his professional background, including his work at CVS Healthcare Innovation Labs and Walmart Store 8.

Ashley reveals that Tim Cook praised the Walmart app developed by his team, showcasing its success in the enterprise space.

The speaker is also involved in XR boot camp, creating master classes to help Unity developers transition to iOS development.

A course called 'Swift Development for Unity Devs' has been published to highlight similarities between Swift and C#.

Ashley argues that native development on Vision OS is crucial for leveraging the full capabilities of the platform.

He discusses the challenges and advantages of choosing Unity over native development for Vision OS.

The speaker mentions that Unity has a strong ecosystem and a large developer community experienced in AR headset development.

Ashley points out that native development provides early access to new features and APIs exclusive to Apple platforms.

He highlights the importance of documentation and learning resources available for native Vision OS development.

Ashley discusses the financial implications of choosing Unity, including the cost of a Pro license and necessary hardware.

He explains the technical requirements and costs associated with becoming a Vision OS developer, including Apple Developer membership and specific hardware.

The speaker addresses the complexities of porting Unity projects to Vision OS and the benefits of understanding the native tools.

Ashley suggests learning Swift, SwiftUI, and Reality Kit as essential skills for native Vision OS development.

He recommends resources for learning native development, including Apple's developer documentation and XR boot camp courses.

The presentation concludes with a Q&A session where Ashley addresses questions about the capabilities of Reality Kit versus Unity and the potential for higher performance with native development.

Transcripts

hey good afternoon how's lunch

everyone good well welcome back to the

desert of the

real today what I want to talk to you

about uh and we'll just let people

trickle back in that's cool I want to

talk about Native development for the

Apple Vision Pro uh I was just told

recently probably most of you are unity

people most of the people who come to

awe are unity people right uh uh so I

really want to make a good case to you

about why you want to do some investment

in learning how to develop natively and

get all the equipment put down the money

and so on in order

to basically learn iOS development even

though you have no interest in

developing for iPad or iPhone or

anything like that

right okay so who am I my name is James

Ashley I've spent about nine months so

far developing for vision OS uh I

currently work at CVS Healthcare

Innovation Labs uh trying to figure out

new ways of using the Vision Pro uh in

the healthcare space and before that uh

I can't talk about the exact dates for

various reasons but I was working at

Walmart store 8 which was Walmart's

Innovation group and we'd put together

an Enterprise project for Walmart uh I'd

led the

engineering um that basically help

people organize store shelves which is a

big deal in the big box market and what

was exciting about that is we got it out

in about two and a half months it was

very intense and uh Tim Cook ended up

really liking it and kept talking about

it in different broadcasts about how

whenever anybody asked him about you

know what's interesting in the

Enterprise he'd go oh yeah that that

Walmart app is awesome and privately

we'd all cheer like this you know um and

the other thing I'm doing is I'm working

with Farhan in the front here with XR

boot camp trying to put together some

master classes around Vision Pro

development with a special emphasis on

helping Unity devs who already

understand spatial Concepts pretty well

just sort of mastered the iOS side of

things um I think it's not too hard

there are challenges it's weird but

there are just a lot of analog so we

already published one course which is

called what do we call it Swift

development for Unity devs just to show

how many similarities there are between

Swift and C between let's say xcode and

um Visual Studio between reality

composer Pro and the UN

IDE um and I think just with that sort

of exposure everyone will eventually

feel a lot more comfortable with it um

and the important thing to know is I've

been a Unity developer forever I started

off everybody's got a number right that

year when you first got hooked on AR so

I remember mine it was late 2015 where I

sat my wife down and said honey I need

to take uh $3,000 out of out of our

savings and buy a hollow lens and it it

it will pay for itself just trust me

this is going to be the

future um yeah so I once

say I won't say I never looked back but

uh I've just kept going forward after

Hollens it was the magic leap and

because of the magic leap it was Hollens

2 then magic leap 2 I end up being in

the right place at the right time at

Walmart when Vision uh OS came along and

probably a big question people have

especially of your business people is

what sort of the investment was it take

to build a project so I'll I'll throw

some numbers I'll be a little vague but

um I let a team of six Engineers we had

three

designers we had two QA people we had

three directors and a VP who because it

was a high-profile project right so we

had more directors on the project than

we had QA people obviously um and when

we finally got devices we were able to

do it with just two devices that we

would share between all the different

teams

um and that worked out pretty well so

there there is a lean way of doing major

application development even for the

Enterprise uh around the Vision Pro just

want you to know

that okay so the first one especially if

you're Unity developer why would you do

Native right it's the Apple world uh

probably you've spent many years having

private jokes over dinner about how you

never want to do Apple development you

just want to do uh AR headset

development or something right and

suddenly Apple's thrown this thing in

front of you where the future of headset

development is actually going to require

you learn some apple stuff so an easy

way of getting around that would be

going with unity right Unity is a

fantastic game engine it's been around

forever it's been well you know nine 10

years uh Hollens uh Embrace Unity early

uh Magic leap did the same thing so if

you've been doing AR headsets we're

calling it spatial Computing now right

if you're doing spatial Computing

development it's amazing how many former

Hollow lens developers are calling them

spatial Computing people too right but

anyways um if if you're doing that then

you're used to Unity and that's where

all the 3D Concepts come in and that's

sort of your strength as a developer

who's been through all of that so what

I'm going to try to explain to you is

why you might want to go to Native um

Vision OS development your other options

of course are web XR web XR is fantastic

and we'll have the next speaker try to

make the case for why webxr be a really

good platform to work on and then

there's Unreal Engine basically

everybody knows that unreal's working on

this but every time they release

something it's not really there and

maybe to me it's it's kind of where

Unity was let's say nine months ago when

they had early releases for vision os2

and it was really hard to get it to work

and they've been cranking away to the

point where it's pretty decent now and

maybe Unreal Engine will be at that

point in five more months and we can

have this conversation ation again but

for now the I think the real two choices

are native development or Unity

development okay so it's worth making

the case for Unity first um and explain

why Unity is so important in this world

the first thing is that everyone who's

been developing for the Holland or the

magic leap or The Meta are almost let's

say 95% they've been doing it in unity

um it's a great tool people have learned

it you've got a big body of developers

out there who know how to do headset

development with unity and that's

important then you've got all these uh

anciliary um Frameworks right openxr and

mrtk and we can talk about them being

you know crossplatform but really

they're kind of unity platforms at this

point right um and

so if you start with unity there's

always a promise that you can be

crossplatform with other things that

come along later so that's a great

reason for using un also um spatial

Computing on un has been around since

2016 which means they know a lot of the

ins and outs and they have a lot of

knowledge on board about doing spatial

Computing with unity they've got the

expertise which is great um and by

comparison we can say Obviously Apple's

been working on Vision OS for a long

time but it only really got released

around 2023 right at uh dubdub last

year I didn't know it was called dubdub

I always said it the longer way WWDC but

now I say dubdub

okay so the

um how do you choose between yundi and

vision OS well here's the easy case if

you're porting an iPad app you really

should be using xcode and and and the

native tools right because basically you

hardly have to do anything you open up

xcode you check an extra box that says I

also want this deploy to Vision OS and

suddenly it's there chef's kiss to that

um on the other hand there are tons of

unity apps out there that have been

written for the uh the magic leap and

the hollow lens the hollow lens 2 the

magic leap 2 and the meta and if your

ideaas you really want to get an app up

and running quickly uh the best thing to

do is just Port it and if you can do it

with unity you should do it with unity

so but that's the easy case right here's

the harder case um when you have to

choose between the two probably your

biggest problem is you've got a bunch of

developers and they're all Unity

developers so how do you make the hard

case to them that they have to learn

this whole new language where instead of

being the kings of their domains right

the absolute Experts of their world they

get to be noobs again and have to learn

a whole new language that's that's a

tough thing to do so here's here's a few

reasons uh one is all the Apple tools

and vision OS tools are built for vision

OS development right you've got Swift

and Swift UI and you've got xcode and

you've got reality kit uh reality

composer Pro reality compos cler Pro

wasn't even used until Vision came along

so they've developed a whole uh tool

ecosystem around doing this and one of

the things that's really important to me

is just the look of it if if you're

building something for an apple platform

it should look like an Apple app right

and I think everybody knows if you build

something in unity it does not look like

an Apple app at all right so I think

Unity is giving support you can make

your app look kind of like an Apple app

and you not like the weird canvases that

are blue and everything but it takes a

lot of extra work and we all know with

developers developers tend to be uh a

little bit lazy right that'll be the

last thing that they want to do make

their application look good for Apple

consumers um but so that's that's a

really highlevel case for using the

native tools first another really good

reason is that uh obviously if you're

using the Apple platforms you receive

all the new features and the new apis

first Unity has to come in after the

fact and build on top of it and so we

just got a bunch of announcements now

about Vision OS

2.0 you know who knows maybe two or

three months it's going to come out but

even when that happens Unity has made uh

has said they're going to support Vision

OS 2 and it looks really fantastic but

you know there's a tendency that that's

going to slip to the end of the year

because they promised 2024 which means

the last possible day of 2024 is when

we're going to get the that so that's

another reason for doing native first um

documentation and learning Apple's out

there providing plenty of documentation

tools and they know that they have this

Ed education mission to teach people how

to do Vision OS development they've got

fantastic sample apps I think for Unity

where the resources on this project are

much tighter that's going to be trickier

you're going to kind of depend on you

know going to the unity forums when you

have a very difficult conversion problem

and just seeing if anybody else there is

even doing the same same thing that you

are and usually they aren't um so that's

a sort of development uh buggy trouble

that is not very pleasant so you're

going to get a lot better support and

documentation if you're doing Vision OS

first um another really tricky problem

and this depends on where you are sort

of financially are you a big Enterprise

or are you a small startup or a loan

developer is you can't even do the

vision OS SDK for un unless you pay for

a $2,000 a year Pro license right so

that's that's a huge tax on this I

understand why uni does it because

they've got to do a huge investment in

creating all these ports that you build

an app for Unity and then it all gets

converted and recompiled to sit on top

of reality kit um that ain't CH cheap

and it isn't easy but uh on the

development side it's kind of tricky to

want to pay another 2,000 a year for

that

license um especially when you're also

paying for a new Macbook and a developer

license and things like that uh another

one uh again I want to say first of all

I think uni is just an amazing company

and it's fed my family for man the last

nine years or so right so I have nothing

but gratitude to them but uh un can be

kind of unsettled at time uh we know

with their various Frameworks like dots

and things like that things are coming

out and then they don't come out and

then they do come out again and so they

miss their dates a lot and especially

right now

um with the various layoffs and stuff I

would say I'm not totally comfortable in

putting all my eggs in the unity basket

at this point in time because I I don't

know if they're going

to if things are going to get settled

soon or not um I'm sure they will um

another thing is understanding how yundi

is doing all of this yundi is basically

compiling this

uh everything

to uh reality kit and that's how Hall

lens development used to be right you

develop for in unity and then you'd push

a button instead of getting an app you

would get a a visual studio project and

then you'd have to do another hop um and

it's not quite like that it's actually

easier for the vision OS but it's a

similar thing so it's never going to be

the case as far as I know that you're

going to be able to do something in

unity that you aren't able to do in

Vision OS and it's probably always going

to be the case that there are some

things you're able to do very easily in

vision OS but it's going to be a lot

trickier if you're going from Unity to

reality kit to

deployment um and then the final thing

which I mentioned in the previous slide

is that porting iOS tablet apps iPad

apps is just so easy if you already are

comfortable with swift UI and xcode and

so

on here's some reasons for not using

Vision OS um the first one is there are

a lot of great apps out there a lot of

great developers who already know Unity

um

people should leverage those people in

those skills and that code base if you

can um another really important is Unity

has had let's say eight or nine years of

experience and you've got the ecosystem

around doing spatial Computing on Unity

that seems like something that should be

leveraged too um or at least it would

hurt to give that

up and the really important reason I

think the the reason that compels a lot

of people is making decisions is man

learning Apple development adds a lot of

additional friction when all you really

want to do is build an app right you've

got to build in the time to train these

people on what initially is going to be

a very

uncomfortable

platform um another really important

thing about the pros and contras though

are it kind of depends on who you are if

you're an indie developer let's say

where you're building your own app or

you're waiting for the Enterprises to

start hiring people um you got to be

really costc conscious and in order to

go all in on Vision OS development well

actually it's true for the uni side too

you actually do need a MacBook Pro in

order to develop uh for uni for vision

OS so that's $2,255 200 right off the

top um but then if you're Indie it

really kind of hurts to on top of that

also have to pay another $2,000 for your

pro license right if you're in corporate

development you tend to have more funds

or it's easier to justify it so if

you've got six developers you probably

can pull off buying six MacBook Pros for

your developers and licenses and so on

so it's a different story altogether and

the the people I feel a lot of sympathy

for is the people in between who are

agencies right where you've got six

developers and a designer say um but

your money is eventually going to come

from the Enterprise you want to set

yourself up to be building applications

for uh really big companies like Target

or Ikea or something like like that and

so you've got to put down all this money

first you've got to decide how to train

up your developers to go ahead and do

Vision OS development on xcode and so on

even though you don't necessarily have

the money coming in

yet okay so let's talk uh brass tax here

here's the cost of becoming a vision OS

developer first of all you need an apple

developer membership and that's $99

right off the top uh then you need a

Macbook uh MacBook mini uh Mac minu or

Mac Studio and has to have a silicon

chip which means the M1 M2 M3 or M4

level chips so if you've got an old Mac

with an Intel chip in it that's just not

going to work for

you okay and plus if you're going to buy

a Mac you kind of want a really nice one

right you want that uh M4 max if you can

um the other big thing this is free

though with your Apple developer

membership you need to get comfortable

and install xcode and reality composer

Pro which are the two big tools that

you're going to be using in order to do

Vision OS native

development and then the things you

always sort of have to bear in mind and

I keep harping on this is that $2,000 a

year Unity Pro license and the other

thing um who is it Andy this morning I

think was explaining all about the new

Enterprise features and you need to

request permission from Apple in order

to get access to say the camera which is

fantastic before you can even ask

permission from Apple to do that you

actually need an uh Enterprise

membership and not just a regular

developer membership and to get the

Enterprise license uh you need to have a

company with a 100 people right so

they're they're making it a little bit

tough I understand why they're doing it

because they're very nervous about

privacy but again if you're an indie

developer you don't have a chance there

and if you're a small Studio it becomes

very difficult for you also you have to

actually get a client first get the

client to get the Enterprise license and

get them to add you to it just so that

you can have access to that camera

buffer on the Apple Vision

Pro okay next thing to know uh and this

is just sort of a language thing in Yi

you use the yundi IDE and you use the um

Visual Studio usually as your code

editor on the Apple side you need xcode

and you need reality composer Pro um

once you can go to the developer site

once you get your $99 developer

membership and just download those to

your brand new uh M3

Mac other terms that you really need to

know and this is if you're going out and

hiring people or figuring out what you

need to train people on is Swift is the

equivalent of C that's the language

you're going to be developing on uh

Swift UI is a framework for building 2D

interfaces and that's what all your

iPhones and iPad apps is built with and

there's a 2d component in Vision OS that

works very nicely um but finally reality

kit is the other tool this would be sort

of equivalent to the unity IDE to the

extent that it allows you to work with

3D models and move them around inside a

scene and play the animations and see

what it looks like so uh again if you

start from Unity it's a whole different

uh lexicon of words that you have to

deal with and dig into and understand

what you need to know about

it okay and here's the final case let's

say that you already decided that's all

too much trouble we have Unity

developers and we've got a Unity project

that we're just going to Port so we're

not going to look at excode or Swift and

reality kit and I would still uh

encourage you if you've got that much

extra time let's say you've got a

three-month project of just porting uh

your Unity project get your people to

learn the new tools anyways because

remember you're compiling a Unity

project to Swift and reality kit uh you

can actually go into those projects and

make changes to it if you need to so

it's very good to understand what the

product is the outcome of your Unity

project that you're going to be

deploying it's going to help you debug

and in the long run as business people

uh you're going to want to go to your

customers and be able to uh explain to

them why you're

building their project and unity rather

than something else and that requires

some base knowledge about what's going

on in the native Vision OS

side okay so the other really important

thing if this helps you make your

decisions is learning so um best place

to learn is Apple developer

documentation it's fantastic but

especially the sample code uh they've

got I think seven sample projects now

that you can just download and walk

through the code to try to understand

better what's going on and what the best

practices are and they're doing heavy

documentation and as far as I can tell

they're constantly working away with it

uh working away at it another really

good source is codo which has always

done really good uh learning resources

for iOS development and they're starting

uh some Vision OS lessons which I think

are really good and they're doing a

workshop also and the final one is XR

boot camp I work with XR boot camp just

came out with a course for them on Swift

for Unity developers and we're going to

put together a couple of master classes

one for Native development and one for

Unity development to really try to help

everybody get up to speed so that we can

take you know our XR and um our spatial

Computing to the next level for

everybody whatever tools you're

using and uh yeah you can find me online

as James Ashley one on GitHub uh James

Ashley on LinkedIn and you can go to my

website imagin of

universal.com thank you so much for

listening to me and I want to take any

questions you might have now

[Applause]

hey Steve hey James thank you for that

that was really really nice overview uh

question about reality kit versus Unity

I've heard that they have a different

set of capabilities and things that if

you're going to approach a project and

look at the complexity of say an

existing Unity scene and you're going to

go to reality kit what should you expect

is say the upper limit of complexity you

can expect in comparison to building a

Unity scene for

example

um yeah I would say in general Unity is

the more mature game engine right

Apple's still playing catchup with the

Enterprise announcements They just added

a bunch of things where I thought oh

yeah that's that thing in uni I really

love and I'm glad they're they've got it

in there like the timeline and better

animations and things like that um so I

would say in terms of complexity you can

do a lot more with uh the UN IDE but

Apple's working on it and there's also

something nice about uh working with a

new platform that's not cluttered with

let's say 15 years of uh old

architecture that they just can't

abandon Thanks James and thank you

really glad to see you keeping at this

all this time it's good to see

you hi uh my my name is Joseph uh I had

a question i' I've been doing uh Unity

development for a long time uh and

started in the mobile space uh and you

know iOS was a big component of that

back in the day it was you had to roll

your own Objective C or Swift yeah like

uh kind of glue layers and if you wanted

some uh Native functionality that you

couldn't get in unity um do you think

that's still

viable in the state of unity and the

state of V like Apple's

ecosystem um moving forward I mean it's

it's viable if that's the way you like

to program uh you can do as far as I

know you can still do Objective C for

your vision OS apps if you want to you

can go to metal which is another way um

I never go down to that level I haven't

found a need yet but that's always

something that's distinguishes you as an

engineer right if you can do really hard

tasks and other people can't do because

you can go into The Objective C that's a

great thing I just mean um it doesn't

have to be objective but you don't have

to but you totally just me like um

making that like kind of just like a

single glue file that exposes the API

that you know Unity still working on

releasing the package for oh I I I

actually have no idea and I couldn't say

um the sort of like hacks while you're

waiting for Unity to catch up right mhm

don't know oh thanks I'm sorry

it's no you answer my question thank you

okay thank you James that was a great

presentation it was worth the whole

whole thing being here for that um I

have one question you mentioned that the

unity is on top of of you know the

native solution so my question is uh do

you get more power can you push the the

device further if you're not if you're

going native instead of using Unity I

noticed that there's a video bit rate

limit when you're when you're putting it

in through Unity it doesn't seem to be

there on just native um applications on

the system do you know that is that is

that is that a hunch or is that true

that you can get a little more get a

little bit more power out of the device

push things a little bit further in

terms of performance yeah yeah I would

say it's a hunch and even when I would

talk to Apple people and ask them that

question straight out uh they would

always be a little bit Cy about it right

it's just that's kind of the Assumption

everybody has okay nobody has a

particular cas where they can say you

know this gives you uh a 5% better uh

performance okay but I think it's just a

hunch that everybody has right now what

I've seen on the video bit rate is it is

it is significantly more but I don't

know about that for all the cases thank

you thank

you hey Jared hey

James so uh licensing wise um I

understand the engineering that you need

to put in for the poly spatial stuff

doesn't seem like that actually needs to

be there for immersive mode um and then

as other engines come out do you think

there will be pressure at all on

licensing on Unity to make a more coste

effective way of getting on the platform

yeah so uh about the full marive there

was a time when you could do full

imersive and you didn't need um the pro

license that time is gone right now what

happens is when you include the

components and you press uh play

suddenly uh even if you're doing a full

immersive app a VR app right um those

components just disappear off your

system because you're not licensed to

use them so that's the current state uh

I think they're just facing the problem

that it it's very expensive to do this

kind of development they really want to

do it but they have to uh fund it

somehow I I yeah I know a lot of people

are complaining about it um but it may

be the well we have Unity people here so

we can just ask them right I I shouldn't

make something up okay what what

um what you what would you say is the

the third option do you do you see web

XR coming along more unit or unreal

coming along more where would where

would you go if you had to go for a

third uh yeah if you have to do a third

then webxr is working now there's you

know you have to go through hoops in

order to get it working the way you want

you don't automatically get the app

store or anything like that but that's

absolutely a viable solution um Unreal

Engine like I said probably will'll have

to wait 5 months and see what they do

but they seem very serious about it and

they seem not to be uh sweating about

cash at all so cool

thanks I think that's all thank you very

much everyone uh just grab me in the

hall if you want to have a conversation

thank you