| name | passthrough-mr |
| description | Use when setting up or tuning Mixed Reality in Ankhora — enabling Meta Passthrough so the learner sees their real room with virtual content composited in, configuring underlay/overlay, depth/occlusion, or deciding MR-vs-VR for a scene. Triggers: passthrough, mixed reality, MR, see-through, OVRPassthroughLayer, composite, occlusion, depth, real room, see the real world, environment. |
Passthrough / Mixed Reality (Meta)
Ankhora is MR training, not VR: the learner stands in their real workshop/kitchen and
sees virtual ghost hands + annotations composited over the real world. That requires
Passthrough, built on OVRPassthroughLayer and passthrough enabled in OVRManager.
Verify the API/config first via meta_get_config_information and context7/Meta docs —
passthrough support flags and the OVRPassthroughLayer surface depend on the SDK version
(com.meta.xr.sdk.all 201.0.0). Don't guess field names.
Setup order
meta_get_config_information — confirm Passthrough Support is enabled in the
project config; check the camera rig's clear flags.- Add/enable an
OVRPassthroughLayer (an underlay — virtual content renders on top
of the real-world feed). Set the camera background to transparent (clear color alpha 0)
so the real world shows through.
- Manifest: passthrough capability via
meta_update_android_manifest if the SDK version
requires it; verify against the config.
Key decisions for Ankhora
- Underlay vs overlay: annotations and ghost hands are virtual content over reality →
underlay passthrough, content on top. Overlay only for deliberate "tint the world" effects.
- Occlusion / depth: if virtual content must hide behind real objects (a tool occluding
a ghost hand), you need the Depth API / scene mesh. This is costly on Quest — only add
it if the masterclass genuinely needs occlusion; for the MVP, simple composited content
without depth occlusion is usually enough. Decide explicitly.
- Comfort & legibility: content read against a bright real room needs strong contrast
and emissive (see
xr-ui-design and urp-shadergraph). No full-screen passthrough tints
that wash out content.
Verify
- On device / Meta XR Simulator: the real world is visible, ghost hands + annotations
composite correctly, no black background bleeding through. Mac Editor Play Mode cannot
render passthrough — verify on device or simulator and say which.
Unity_SceneView_Capture2DScene for a static sanity check of layer setup.Unity_ReadConsole: no passthrough/layer errors.
Out of scope
Scene understanding at scale, room-mesh-driven physics, dynamic relighting — V2. Keep MVR
passthrough to "real room + composited content."
