Rakesh Baruah - AR and VR Using the WebXR API: Learn to Create Immersive Content with WebGL, Three.js, and A-Frame

Any source code or other supplementary material referenced by the author in this book is available to readers on GitHub via the books product page, located at www.apress.com/978-1-4842-6317-4 . For more detailed information, please visit www.apress.com/source-code .

This book is a resource to help you become familiar with the tools to create mobile mixed reality for the Web. On July 24, 2020 the World Wide Web Consortium, the international standards organization for the World Wide Web, published its most recent version, as of this writing, of the WebXR API specification. The specification describes how Web browsers can implement support for virtual and augmented reality devices, including headsets and sensors, on the Web. The first iteration of the specification appeared in 2017 as the WebVR API. However, in 2018 the expansion of use cases for VR and AR on the Web prompted the Immersive Web Working Groupmade up of contributors from Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, and elsewhereto overhaul WebVR in favor of an API designed to embrace what the future of mixed reality may offer. By June of 2020, at least four of the leading Web browsers, including Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, and Oculus Browser, provided support for the WebXR API.

As WebXR is a new, evolving specification, resources for its development are sparse. In this book I have created a pathway to help you prepare for the future of mobile, mixed reality development. By the books end you will be familiar with the most common tools used for WebXR development today. These tools include Visual Studio Code, WebGL, Three.js, and A-Frame. Familiarity with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript is not required to benefit from the lessons in this book.

What follows is a road map for the rest of the course. Chapter provides instruction on how to import 3D models into A-Frame, animate them, and view them in augmented reality through GitHub Pages.

The WebXR API is poised to become a useful tool for XR and Web developers alike. As the lines between mobile and native, augmented and virtual blur, applications that make use of both 2D and immersive technologies will become more common. I have created the lessons inside this book with the intent to help you join the growing community of developers designing experiences for the immersive Web. No prior experience with Web development or 3D programming is assumed. As the WebXR API is such a new technology, more seasoned developers may also benefit from the instruction contained within. As the future of Web development moves into a third dimension and the principles of game development move on to the Web, more opportunities will open up for creative minds to forge the language of the new Internet. I hope you, empowered with the lessons in this course, will be among those leading the charge.

Deep thanks to the members of the Immersive Web Working Group for their support of the WebXR API. To Brandon Jones, Nell, Manish, and others whom I only know through Twitter, thank you for the attention you put into the documentation for the WebXR API and all of its features. Mr. Doob, thanks go to you and your compatriots for creating and maintaining Three.js. To the team at Google Chrome Labs, thank you for evangelizing the promise of augmented reality on the Web. To Mozilla and all who have called it an employer, thank you for everything you have done to help make the Web a more inclusive, democratic space. Thank you to the team members at Mozilla Mixed Reality, Mozilla Hubs, MDN, and A-Frame for creating, supporting, and maintaining the tools to make mobile mixed reality an opportunity for everyone in the world. An incredibly special thank you to my team at Apress for their tireless devotion to my project. Spandana Chatterjee, thank you for your support and concern for all things book related and not. James Markham, thank you for the guidance you have provided for each chapter. To Yogendra Sharma, my technical editor, thank you for keen eyes and a sharp mind that kept me honest. And finally, thank you to my primary editor, Divya Modi, for whom this is my second book. Divya, thank you for the prompt responses, clarifications, follow-ups, and forwards that made collaborating remotely a smooth, fruitful experience.