Interoperability in XR

Port Quest apps to ThinkReality VRX

Achieving Interoperability in XR: Simple Steps to Port Your Meta Quest App to ThinkReality VRX Using Unity

Interoperability and reusable solutions are critical factors in driving widespread adoption of XR technology. With the robust XR development ecosystem supported by Unity, transitioning apps across different platforms is more accessible than ever. In this article, we’ll guide you through the straightforward process of porting your Meta Quest app to the ThinkReality VRX platform. Building on our previous discussion about authentication in XR solutions, we’ll now delve into the practical steps needed to ensure seamless interoperability between these two leading XR devices.

Quest to VRX

Next, we’ll guide you through building a simple app for Meta Quest, and then provide detailed steps to port it to ThinkReality VRX — a device that’s making significant strides in Enterprise XR.

Building a Meta Quest App

Meta Quest, developed by Meta (formerly Oculus), represent a significant leap in the world of virtual reality (VR). These standalone headsets, including the popular Quest 2 and the newer Quest 3, have revolutionized the VR landscape by offering powerful, immersive experiences without the need for a PC or external sensors. With their advanced tracking, high-resolution displays, and robust content library, Quest devices are not just tools for gaming but also for education, fitness, social interaction, and professional development.

In this section, we describe building MetaQuest App using Unity engine. You may skip this section if you have already built an app for Quest device. We assume basic knowledge of unity and working on relevant code editor. Here we used Rider. Make sure you have latest Unity and Rider (or other IDE) installed. Alternatively, you may also follow official documentation for building apps in Meta Quest, or simply follow below steps.

Step 1. Create a New Unity Project

1. Open Unity Hub.
2. Click on the “New Project” button.
3. Select the “3D” template.
4. Name your project.
5. Choose a location for your project and click “Create”.

Step 2: Configure Project Settings for VR

1. Once your project is created and opened, go to Edit > Project Settings.
2. In the Project Settings window, navigate to the XR Plug-in Management section.
3. Click on the Install XR Plugin Management button.
4. Once installed, check the Oculus checkbox under both the PC and Android tabs.

Step 3: Import Meta XR All-in-One SDK Package

1. Go to the Unity Asset Store
2. Search for “Meta XR All-in-One SDK” and add it to your assets.
3. Open the Package Manager in Unity (Window > Package Manager).
4. Select the Meta XR All-in-One SDK package from your assets and click “Import”.

Step 4: Create the Cube

1. In the Hierarchy window, right-click and select 3D Object > Cube.
2. Position the cube in front of the player (adjust the Transform component values as needed).

Step 5: Set Up the VR Camera

1. Delete the default Main Camera in the Hierarchy window.
2. In the Project window, search for the OVR Camera Rig
3. Drag the OVRCameraRig prefab into the Hierarchy window.

Select the OVRCameraRig in hierarchy tab, go to inspect tab → in OVR manager, select the device for which you want to build the spp

Step 6: Build and Deploy to Oculus Quest

1. Connect your Oculus Quest to your computer via USB-C.
2. In Unity, go to File > Build Settings.
3. Select Android as the target platform and click Switch Platform.
4. Click Player Settings and configure any required settings (e.g., company name, product name).
5. Click Build, name your APK, and wait for the build process to complete

This will generate the apk and you can install the apk on the device using adb commands . You can then launch the app in the device as follows.

Demo of running the app on Quest.

Now that we have a quest app ready to port, let’s first learn about ThinkReality VRX, and then we will port this app to ThinkReality VRX.

Lenovo’s ThinkReality VRX

Lenovo’s ThinkReality VRX is a virtual reality (VR) headset designed for enterprise use, focusing on professional applications rather than consumer gaming or entertainment. ThinkReality product line have number of XR (extended reality) devices and solutions.

VRX uses the snapdragon spaces SDK and services . The Snapdragon Spaces SDK is a software development kit provided by Qualcomm as part of its Snapdragon Spaces platform. It is designed to help developers create augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) applications for devices powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon processors. The SDK provides a range of tools, libraries, and APIs that simplify the development of immersive AR experiences, allowing developers to take full advantage of the hardware and software capabilities of Snapdragon-based devices.

Porting Quest app to VRX :

Use the same code base your meta quest app, or use the codebase from app built in last section. We will make use of the above code base built, executed on Quest and port it to VRX in simple steps as follows :

Step 1 — Remove Quest/Meta Dependencies

1. Remove Quest-Related Prefabs: In the scene hierarchy, remove any Quest-related prefabs, such as the OVR Camera Rig and OVR Interaction.
2. Remove Oculus XR Plugin: Navigate to the Package Manager.Under “Packages in Project” find the Oculus XR Plugin.Click the “Remove” button

3. Remove Meta All-in-One SDK: Remove the Meta All-in-One SDK from the project.

Step 2 — Add Snapdragon Space SDK

1. Download spaces sdk from its official website
2. Go to the Package Manager.
3. Select “Add Package from Tarball.”
4. Choose the Spaces SDK tarball to add it to the project.

Step 3 — Configure OpenXR

1. Navigate to Edit → project settings → Install XR plugin management settings → choose OpenXR
2. Select Snapdragon Spaces. Resolve any issues in project validation if encountered.

1. Under XR Plugin Management settings, go to OpenXR.
2. In the OpenXR feature group, select the Snapdragon Spaces feature.
3. Add any necessary interaction profiles.

Step 4— Build and Install on VRX

Make a build and install it on the device by connecting to USB-C over ADB.

Here is a demo on the ported app on VRX.

Demo of running the app on VRX.

You can find the above codebase here -> https://github.com/xrpractice/Quest2VRX (Please make sure to install Spaces SDK from official portal)

What’s after this ?

You can try building Meta AI apps on Quest as described in AI powered XR series :

Meta AI : Developing AI powered XR App for Meta Quest

We will share next article on porting Meta AI apps to ThinkReality VRX.

Stay Tuned! Happy Coding!