HoloLens 2 Development Edition is now available in the United States
After strong demand for HoloLens 2, we are excited to announce availability of HoloLens 2 Development Edition in the United States. We are expanding to Canada, Germany, France, UK, Ireland, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Italy by the end of the year.
Welcome to the Microsoft Mesh Creator discussion space: a hub for developers, artists, and creators
Greetings and a warm welcome to the Mesh Creator discussion space! I'm Milena Paumen, and I'm absolutely thrilled to usher in this exciting new chapter in our shared journey. As we prepare for the launch of the Discussion Space for the Mesh Dev/Creator Community, I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself and convey my deep enthusiasm for this remarkable community. We are delighted that you've chosen to be a part of this inclusive community, where you'll discover a unique opportunity to stay informed about product updates, delve into upcoming sessions, access valuable resources, and engage with fellow professionals who are dedicated to crafting software solutions using Microsoft's Mesh. Within this space, you'll uncover the immense power of connecting with other technologists who, like you, are navigating the intricacies of project creation. Please feel free to initiate and nurture discussions on subjects that pique your curiosity. As our community of customers and partners continues to grow, we hope you find immense value in forging meaningful connections, and we eagerly anticipate your feedback. We encourage you to extend invitations to your team members to join us here. And don't forget to take a moment to introduce yourself to the collective; we'd love to get to know you better. Allow me to share a bit more about myself: In my role as a CXPM within the Mesh Engineering team, I've had the privilege of working closely with our exceptional engineers who meticulously craft our products. My primary focus is to ensure that we provide the highest level of support possible to developers within our customer and partner organizations. My journey at Microsoft also encompassed contributing to the development of the Microsoft Surface portfolio. While I have since embarked on new horizons, my appreciation for the transformative power of community remains steadfast. Beyond the realm of technology, I'm an enthusiastic traveler, a part-time professor, and I deeply cherish the moments spent with my family. As we embark on this new chapter with the launch of the Mesh Dev/Creator Community's Discussion Space, I genuinely look forward to connecting with each and every one of you. Your diverse experiences, boundless creativity, and shared passion for innovation will undoubtedly propel our community to new heights. I extend my sincere gratitude for your unwavering dedication to our Mesh Dev/Creator Community. Together, let's make this launch an unforgettable milestone in our journey.Take the HoloLens 2 App Dev Fundamentals Challenge.
If you've considered exploring HoloLens development, there has never been a better time to get started. During the month of January, you can join other learners committed to taking the first step by signing up for the HoloLens 2 App Development Fundamentals Challenge. When you join the challenge, you'll be assigned to one of four teams in a competition to see who will have the most learners complete the required training by January 31, 2022. The training includes a series of step-by-step Exercises and Knowledge Checks that will show you the basics of HoloLens 2 app development including how to: Configure Unity and set up a project with the Mixed Reality Toolkit Add hand interactions to manipulate objects Position, organize and lay out objects Use solvers to create intelligent object placements Add buttons, dynamic menus, and descriptions to objects Use controls to manipulate objects Enable eye-tracking and voice commands Anchor objects to the real world Add spatial audio to an application Use speech recognition and transcription Integrate to cloud services like custom vision and bot services Create a Holographic Remoting app to visualize 3D content Sound fun? You bet! Sound challenging? Indeed. We suspect it will take around 6 hours to complete the exercises once the tools are installed and ready. The modular design of the training makes it easy to pause and resume at any time, so you'll have the flexibility to go at your own pace. Don’t delay too long, as you must finish by the end of the month to help your team win. Don't have a HoloLens 2? That's okay. While it is always the most fun way to interact with your holographic apps in the real world, you'll be able to learn the basics of developing a mixed reality application and view your progress in Unity's editor or by deploying it to the HoloLens 2 Emulator. If learning about MR (Mixed Reality) is on your to-do list, don't delay! Join the Challenge and find yourself on the leaderboard with other #holowhos, #mixedrealities, #metawhats, and #deliverators getting a jump on their 2022 skilling goals.Moving forward to OpenXR!
What an amazing ride! Earlier this year, Microsoft and Oculus started shipping conformant OpenXR runtimes to all customers, with SteamVR and HTC previewing OpenXR support soon after. Since then, we've seen wide adoption of OpenXR across the industry: from the new RenderDragon engine in Minecraft to the WebXR implementation in Edge and Chrome – from Babylon Native to Blender 2.83. With OpenXR, you can build engines and apps that target HoloLens 2 with the same API that you use to target PC VR headsets, including Windows Mixed Reality headsets, Oculus Rift headsets and (currently in developer preview) SteamVR headsets. OpenXR lets engines write code once that's then portable across hardware platforms from a wide range of VR and AR vendors.
Mesh Toolkit Update – Questions about Unity, Code Customization & Timeline
Hi everyone, I just read the recent announcement about the Microsoft Mesh Toolkit being retired as of June 24th, 2025, and I have to say it came quite suddenly. According to the message, the toolkit will be replaced with a new in-app, no-code customization experience. I have a few important questions: 1. Will Unity still be supported? Many of us (including our team) rely on Unity for creating and publishing Mesh experiences. Will this integration continue to work, or is it being phased out along with the toolkit? 2. Will code-based customization (scripting, APIs, etc.) still be possible? Or is everything moving toward a purely no-code model? That would be unfortunate—custom scripting has been essential for our more complex experiences. 3. When can we expect the new tools to be available? Is there a timeline or preview we can test? And when will we be able to migrate/update our existing environments to the new system? We currently run several meetings and collaborative sessions in Mesh spaces, so this change has a big impact on us. A clear migration plan would really help us prepare. Looking forward to hearing from the team and from others in the same boat! Best regards
