v1.3 Installation Instructions

Requires Unity 2020.3 +

This guide will walk you through adding the required components to a scene to enable your Unity project for Igloo compatibility.

If you prefer to work from an existing scene, included in the package is the Example Scenes located in IglooToolkit\Resources\Scenes.

Refer to the Reference for a more in-depth look at the components that make up the Igloo camera toolkit, and how it can be customised for certain use cases.

If you are new to Unity, we recommend exploring some of Unity's interactive tutorials to familiarise yourself with the Unity interface and concepts before continuing. More information on Unity can be found at their Learn Site.

Pages within this section

Project Setup

1 Pages within this section
2 Project Setup
- 2.1 Package Import
- 2.2 Applying Igloo Settings
3 Adding the Igloo Manager to your Scene

Package Import

It is recommended that you first import the camera package into a new Unity project, this helps eliminate potential issues during installation.

To import the camera package from within the Unity Editor go to Assets > Import Package > Custom Package and open the file with the ‘.unitypackage’ extension.

The package import window will now pop up, just click Import at the bottom.

We do recommend deleting any Igloo Toolkit package you may already have installed from your project.

We’ve changed so many files, and added a lot more stuff into this new package, that it might not import correctly and result in a lot of errors.

Once it’s imported, there is one additional step required before you can drop the Igloo Manager prefab into your scene.

The Igloo Toolkit uses two external plugins that required a lot of effot to maintain internally within the package, however with Unity 2020.3; The addition of Scoped Registries has made it possible to remove the plugins from the Igloo Toolkit, and have them downloaded directly to your system.

This is done automatically via the next step.

Applying Igloo Settings

The Igloo camera package requires some settings to be adjusted within the editor to work correctly. In the previous iterations of this project, a long guide was required to walk you through this process. However, it’s 2022, and it’s now automated.

To start the process, navigate to the Tools Menu on the top bar of the Unity Editor, and click Igloo → Apply Igloo Settings within the dropdown.

Igloo Settings within the Tools tab

Immediately you will get a notification regarding the additional packages required for the Igloo camera Toolkit. You can choose which you need, and then the packages will install.

Once you’ve selected an option; Click anywhere in your project or click off Unity and back onto it. It should start loading in the background, and then a loading bar will appear. Do not worry, this is the packages being downloaded from the web.

If you do not have an internet connection, it is recommended you wait until you do before progressing, as these packages are vital to the correct working of the Igloo Toolkit.

Another popup will then appear informing you of the downloaded packages.

And one of your Unity windows may have opened the Project Settings on the Package Manager tab, showing you the new installed plugins: Unity NuGet, and Keijiro.

Unity NuGet is responsible for downloading the packages and installing them.

Keijiro creates the Klak Spout and Klak NDI plugins we use within the Igloo Toolkit

The final preparation before adding the Igloo Manager is to create a settings file.

When using URP you will, need to add a render feature to any renderers you intend to use in your project.

Find the renderer you intend to use, in my case it’s a default forward renderer
Select the Add Render Feature button, and click Blit Material Feature

Leave the Name as NewBlitMaterialFeature as it helps our script locate it.
Set the values within the feature to the following:
Material - URPCameraBlend
Material Pass Index - 0
Render Event - After Rendering
Now this is complete, when you use the Warp & Blend and Window features, the Universal Render Pipeline will successfully create an external window using the Igloo Warper warps grids.

Adding the Igloo Manager to your Scene

The final step, is to add the Igloo Manager prefab into your scene and set it up.

This prefab is responsible for reading the Igloo Settings xml, and creating the Igloo camera rig based on it’s instruction.

We’ve made this quick and easy.

Click the Tools menu on the top bar, then Igloo → Spawn Igloo Manager

The Igloo Manager Prefab can also be found in:

Packages → Igloo Toolkit → Runtime → Resources → Prefabs

If you are using the Igloo Player system, this will be the starting location for the player.

If you are not using the Igloo Player, then it doesn’t matter where the camera system is placed in the world, as it will always follow either the Main Camera or and object of your choice. This is examined further in the example scenes.

Setting up the IglooManager

To output to the Igloo Core Engine, the Igloo camera rig uses a protocol called Spout, which you would have downloaded via the Apply Igloo Settings button.

The final step in this process is to check the SpoutResources are installed on the Igloo Manager. 9/10 times this will be already in place, but it’s always worth checking.

I ‘ready to play’ Igloo Manager with Spout and NDI resources installed into the component slots.

If the Spout (or NDI) resources aren’t in place. There will be a button to add them automatically so you don’t need to find them in Packages.

If you can’t see the button, or the Spout Resources Variable, it’s because you’ve not yet downloaded Klak Spout from the scoped registries system, and you need to re-visit the previous section on Applying Igloo Settings

Creating a Default Settings File

Click the Igloo button on the top menu, and select Settings Wizard

Change the configuration type to Equirectangular Full then select Create Default Configuration

Then finally Close the window to Save

Viewing the Output

Once that is complete, you will be able to preview the output to the Igloo when you hit Play using the Igloo Preview tool that would have been bundled within the IglooUnityToolkit zip.

You can read more about it here: Igloo Preview Tool

Or you can use the Spout2 SpoutReceiver executable available HERE.

Universal Rendering Pipeline Additional Steps

When using URP in the later toolkit version, it is not necessary to add scripting defines. This is handled automatically by the Igloo Assembly Reference within the Toolkit’s root folder. More information regarding this file, and what it means for extending the Igloo Toolkit can be found HERE.

You will, however, need to add a render feature to any renderers you intend to use in your project.

Find the renderer you intend to use, in my case it’s a default forward renderer
Select the Add Render Feature button, and click Blit Material Feature

Leave the Name as NewBlitMaterialFeature as it helps our script locate it.
Set the values within the feature to the following:
Material - URPCameraBlend
Material Pass Index - 0
Render Event - After Rendering
Now this is complete, when you use the Warp & Blend and Window features, the Universal Render Pipeline will successfully create an external window using the Igloo Warper warps grids.