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What is the VR Expansion Plugin?

VR Expansion Plugin

If you are new to this page, I have assumed you have gone through the basics such as setting up a VR rig, basic teleport, and picking up objects. If you have not it is highly recommended you do so before proceeding with this plugin!

This plugin adds a variety of features to quickly build for VR and has extremely high customization. It is different than other tool kits, such as the VR Interaction Toolkit in Unity because there are little constraints in how developers can create interactions.

Some notable example features:

  • Multiplayer (out of the box)
  • Grab and drop with advanced physics
  • Sliders
  • Levers
  • Dials
  • Buttons
  • Gesture recognition and recording
  • Encapsulation

Unity developers may notice this plugin does not come with continuous movement. Most locomotion systems are already built into Unreal by default and the VR Expansion Plugin simply builds off of these feature sets.

An Important Consideration

I have noticed when creating interactions that the author of the plugin sets default values when adding components/actors. Sometimes, these values have collisions turned off, or physics enabled in one or the other. There is a detailed explanation for this reason but the big lesson is that is important to always be testing!

From the website

The VR Expansion Plugin (VRE) was created to help facilitate advanced Virtual Reality interactions and gameplay elements in UE4/UE5. It is an MIT licensed and open source overhaul of many of the engines elements to better accommodate VR.

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