In this post, we have prepared a curated top list of reading recommendations for beginners and experienced. This hand-picked list of the best Virtual Reality books and tutorials can help fill your brain this March and ensure you’re getting smarter. We have also mentioned the brief introduction of each book based on the relevant Amazon or Reddit descriptions.
- Unity Virtual Reality Projects (2015)
- Practical Augmented Reality (2016)
- Learning Virtual Reality: Developing Immersive Experiences and Applications for Desktop, Web, and Mobile (2015)
- Virtual Reality: The Revolutionary Technology of Computer-Generated Artificial Worlds – and How It Promises to Transform Society (1992)
- Building Virtual Reality with Unity and Steam VR (2017)
- Unreal Engine VR Cookbook: Developing Virtual Reality with UE4 (Game Design) (2017)
- Virtual Reality and Computer Graphics (2017)
- Understanding Augmented Reality (2013)
- Story Structure and Development (2017)
- Augmented Human (2017)
- Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality: Designing and Developing Augmented and Virtual Environments (2014)
Unity Virtual Reality Projects (2015)
Explore the world of Virtual Reality by building immersive and fun VR projects using Unity 3D. If you’re a non-programmer unfamiliar with 3D computer graphics, or experienced in both but new to virtual reality, and are interested in building your own VR games or applications then this book is for you. Any experience in Unity is an advantage. What is consumer “virtual reality”? Wearing a head-mounted display you view stereoscopic 3D scenes. You can look around by moving your
Author(s): Jonathan Linowes
Practical Augmented Reality (2016)
This is the most comprehensive and up-to-date guide to the technologies, applications and human factors considerations of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) systems and wearable computing devices.
Author(s): Steve Aukstakalnis
Learning Virtual Reality: Developing Immersive Experiences and Applications for Desktop, Web, and Mobile (2015)
As virtual reality approaches mainstream consumer use, a vibrant development ecosystem has emerged in the past few years. This hands-on guide takes you through VR development essentials for desktop, mobile, and browser-based applications. You’ll explore the three go-to platforms—OculusVR, Gear VR, and Cardboard VR—as well as several VR development environments, programming tools, and techniques.
Author(s): Tony Parisi
Virtual Reality: The Revolutionary Technology of Computer-Generated Artificial Worlds – and How It Promises to Transform Society (1992)
Imagine being able to “walk” into your computer and interact with any program you create. It sounds like science fiction, but it’s science fact. Surgeons now rehearse operations on computer-generated “virtual” patients, and architects “walk through” virtual buildings while the actual structures are still in blueprints. In Virtual Reality, Howard Rheingold takes us to the front lines of this revolutionary new technology that creates computer-generated worlds complete with the sensations of touch and motion, and explores its impact on everything from entertainment to particle physics.
Author(s): Howard Rheingold
Building Virtual Reality with Unity and Steam VR (2017)
This book takes a hands-on approach to getting up and running with virtual reality using the Unity game engine. By utilizing the free SteamVR libraries, the book and its example code is compatible with the main virtual reality head mounted displays currently available. The book also takes a look at some of the main issues surrounding virtual reality, such as motion sickness and performance issues, and providing practical ways to reduce their impact to make better VR experiences.
Author(s): Jeff W Murray
Unreal Engine VR Cookbook: Developing Virtual Reality with UE4 (Game Design) (2017)
For game developers and visualization specialists, VR is the next amazing frontier to conquer–and Unreal Engine 4 is the ideal platform to conquer it with. Unreal ® Engine VR Cookbook is your complete, authoritative guide to building stunning experiences on any Unreal Engine 4-compatible VR hardware.
Author(s): Mitch McCaffrey
Virtual Reality and Computer Graphics (2017)
The 2-volume set LNCS 10324 and 10325 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Computer Graphics, AVR 2017, held in Ugento, Italy, in June 2017. The 54 full papers and 24 short papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 112 submissions. The papers are organized in the following topical sections: virtual reality; augmented and mixed reality; computer graphics; human-computer interaction; applications of VR/AR in medicine; and applications of VR/AR in cultural heritage.
Author(s): Lucio Tommaso De Paolis, Patrick Bourdot
Understanding Augmented Reality (2013)
Understanding Augmented Reality addresses the elements that are required to create augmented reality experiences. The technology that supports augmented reality will come and go, evolve and change.
Author(s): Alan B. Craig
Story Structure and Development (2017)
Professor Craig Caldwell’s Story Structure and Development offers a clear approach to the essentials of story. It lays out the fundamental elements, principles, and structure for animators, designers, and artists so they can incorporate these concepts in their work. As a practical guide it includes extensive insights and advice from industry professionals. Readers will learn the universal patterns of story and narrative used in today’s movies, animation, games, and VR.
Author(s): Craig Caldwell
Augmented Human (2017)
Augmented Reality (AR) blurs the boundary between the physical and digital worlds. In AR’s current exploration phase, innovators are beginning to create compelling and contextually rich applications that enhance a user’s everyday experiences. In this book, Dr. Helen Papagiannis—a world-leading expert in the field—introduces you to AR: how it’s evolving, where the opportunities are, and where it’s headed.
Author(s): Helen Papagiannis
Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality: Designing and Developing Augmented and Virtual Environments (2014)
The total of 1476 papers and 220 posters presented at the HCII 2014 conferences were carefully reviewed and selected from 4766 submissions. These papers address the latest research and development efforts and highlight the human aspects of design and use of computing systems.
Author(s): Randall Shumaker, Lackey Stephanie
You might also be interested in: ASP.NET MVC, Sharepoint, Java, CSS, Typo3, C++, Selenium, Typescript, Scala, Codeigniter Books.
Best Virtual Reality Books You Should Read
We highly recommend you to buy all paper or e-books in a legal way, for example, on Amazon. But sometimes it might be a need to dig deeper beyond the shiny book cover. Before making a purchase, you can visit resources like Library Genesis and download some Virtual Reality books mentioned below at your own risk. Once again, we do not host any illegal or copyrighted files, but simply give our visitors a choice and hope they will make a wise decision.
Basics of Virtual Reality: From the Discovery of Perspective to VR Glasses
Author(s): Armin Grasnick
ID: 3181300, Publisher: Springer, Year: 2022, Size: 171 Mb, Format: epub
Virtual Reality and Light Field Immersive Video Technologies for Real-World Applications (Computing and Networks)
Author(s): Gauthier Lafruit, Mehrdad Teratani
ID: 3181984, Publisher: The Institution of Engineering and Technology, Year: 2022, Size: 8 Mb, Format: epub
Basics of Virtual Reality From the Discovery of Perspective to VR Glasses.
Author(s): Armin Grasnick
ID: 3185314, Publisher: Springer Berlin / Heidelberg, Year: 2022, Size: 19 Mb, Format: pdf
Please note that this booklist is not definite. Some books are truly best-sellers according to The New York Times, others are written by unknown authors. On top of that, you can always find additional tutorials and courses on Coursera, Udemy or edX, for example. Are there any other relevant books you could recommend? Leave a comment if you have any feedback on the list.