Welcome to your go-to guide on leveraging the power of spatial anchors to elevate your mixed reality (XR) projects! Whether you’re a seasoned XR developer or just starting out, this blog post is packed with insights on creating, saving, and loading spatial anchors using Meta’s innovative tools. Let’s make your virtual environments more dynamic and interactive!

🎉 Getting Your Unity Project Up and Running

Embarking on your spatial anchor journey starts with setting up your Unity project. Here’s a quick checklist to get you started:

1. 🆕 Creating a New Unity Project: Opt for Meta XR SDK version 60 for optimal performance.
2. 🔧 Installing the Mixed Reality Utility Kit: Essential for later demonstrations. Check out our video tutorial (link provided) for a walkthrough.
3. 🛠 Using Meta’s Project Setup Tool: Proper configuration is key to unlocking the full potential of Meta’s technologies.
4. 🏗 Setting Up Your Scene: With Meta’s Building Blocks, you only need a Camera Rig and a Passthrough Layer to get started.
5. 📌 Creating a “Spatial Anchor Manager” Game-Object: This is your command center for attaching custom scripts and components.

🌟 Creating Your First Spatial Anchor

Dive into the world of spatial anchors with a simple script:

• 📝 Anchor Placement Script: Kick things off with a script named “Anchor Placement”. Declare a public variable, “anchor prefab”, for your prefab reference.
• 👆 Detecting Input: Use OVR Input in the Update method to check if the primary index trigger on the right Oculus Touch controller is pressed, activating the “Create Spatial Anchor” method.
• 📍 Creating the Anchor: This method breathes life into your prefab at the controller’s current position and rotation, attaching an “OVR Spatial Anchor” component to finalize the creation.

💾 Saving and Loading Anchors Locally

With anchors created, learn how to keep them persistent:

1. 🔍 Extend Your Logic: Introduce a new script, “Spatial Anchor Manager”, to bring saving and loading functionalities into play.
2. 🗂 Managing Anchors: Maintain a list of created anchors and a reference to the last one for streamlined management.
3. 💽 Save and Unsave: Utilize Unity’s PlayerPrefs for storing anchor UUIDs and data. Craft logic for saving via button presses and unsaving either one by one or all simultaneously.

📊 Advanced Anchor Management

Elevate your application with advanced techniques:

• 🚫 Unsave All Anchors at Once: Craft a method to collectively unsave anchors, clearing your list and PlayerPrefs records in one fell swoop.
• 🔄 Load Anchors by ID: Develop an “Anchor Loader” script to load saved anchors using their IDs, with PlayerPrefs keeping track of those IDs.

🎨 Special Case: Wall Prefab Placing

Discover a practical use of spatial anchors:

• 🖼 Wall Prefab Placing: Switch out the “Spatial Anchor Manager” for a “Wall Prefab Placer” script to affix anchors to walls. This script patiently waits for the room model to be ready before allowing anchor placements.

🌈 Wrapping Up and Moving Forward

Congratulations! 🎉 You’ve now equipped yourself with the essential skills to integrate spatial anchors into your XR projects, thanks to Meta’s state-of-the-art tools. From initializing your Unity project to mastering advanced anchor management, these strategies pave the way for creating immersive and engaging XR experiences.

We’re excited to see the incredible projects you’ll bring to life with spatial anchors! Stay connected for more tutorials on advanced topics, including cloud saving and loading of spatial anchors for shared virtual experiences.

Happy developing! 🛠💡

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