Google Cardboard VR gets native Unity support

Native Unity support will be coming to Google's entry-level virtual reality product, Google Cardboard.

The news was broken at Unity's inaugural Vision Summit, and means Cardboard developers will be able to use Unity without the need for plugins or separate installs. 

Making the announcement was Google's VP of virtual reality, Clay Bavor, who also revealed that Cardboard Design Lab - an app built to introduce budding VR devs to the principles of good design in mobile VR - is going open source. 

According to Bavor, Google wanted to make Design Lab open source so it could teach developers about the technical aspects of VR design, as well as the creative. 

"All of the assets, all of the source code are there," said Bavor. "You're going to get VR UI elements, things like depth-aware reticles and teleportation paths, assets that are mobile friendly, source code for doing procedural generated terrain, for more expansive environments, and even more mobile-optimized source code."

That open source version of Cardboard Design Lab will go live on GitHub later today.