[Originally published by Vangos Pterneas, LightBuzz CEO, on pterneas.com.]
The official Microsoft Hololens SDK is out, so it’s time to start developing our own Hololens apps. First, read an introduction about Hololens.
In this blog post, I would like to inform you about the system requirements and the developer tools you need to install.
Hololens comes with a powerful Windows SDK and a powerful Unity plugin. During the development process, we’ll be using both Visual Studio and Unity3D. Unity is the most advanced 3D gaming engine; plus, it’s extremely easy to get started with it.
The complete Hololens development package includes:
- Hololens Device (order now)
- Hololens Emulator
- Hololens SDK
- Hololens Unity plugin.
That’s right… Hololens comes with an emulator, so you do not need an actual Hololens device to develop your apps! You can start developing Hololens apps right now!
Hardware Requirements
To develop for Hololens, your PC should meet the following specifications:
- 64-bit Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, or Education (The Home edition does not support Hyper-V)
- 64-bit CPU
- 8 GB of RAM or more
- In the BIOS, the following features must be supported and enabled:
- Hardware-assisted virtualization
- Second Level Address Translation (SLAT)
- Hardware-based Data Execution Prevention (DEP)
- GPU (The emulator might work with an unsupported GPU, but will be significantly slower)
- DirectX 11.0 or later
- WDDM 1.2 driver or later
Important! You need to have hardware virtualization enabled in your PC. To enable hardware virtualization, follow these instructions (yes, you’ll have to modify your BIOS settings).
Software Requirements
Since your PC meets the above specs, you can now install the software development tools:
- Windows 10, Windows 8.1, or Windows 7
- Visual Studio 2015 Update 2
- Hololens Emulator
- Unity Technical Preview
To install the tools, first download Visual Studio Update 2. Then, install the Emulator. Finally, install Unity.
The process may take some time, since you’ll need to download over 10GB of data.
Hololens Developer Resources
During the next days, I’ll be publishing blog posts, tutorials, and guides about Hololens development. I’m also expecting my precious device to ship.
In the meantime, consider checking the following resources:
Once again, read my thorough introduction to Hololens and holograms.
‘Till the next time, stay tuned!
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