OpenXR's Open-Source Pipeline for Accessible XR Development

OpenXR, the cross-platform open standard for VR, AR, and mixed reality development (known as XR), has emerged as a cornerstone of the XR industry, enabling developers to create immersive experiences that transcend platforms and devices. In this talk, members of the OpenXR Working Group at the Khronos Group and major contributors from the open-source community will delve into the evolution of OpenXR, its significant contributions to making XR development more accessible, and its pivotal role in democratizing XR development through open-source tools and platforms. OpenXR eliminates the need for developers to rely on proprietary APIs for each hardware, instead providing a unified API that ensures compatibility across various platforms and devices, enhancing developer efficiency and broadening the scope for creating XR applications. The central discussion of this talk will focus on the establishment of a complete, free, and open-source development pipeline for XR, supported by the Khronos OpenXR Working Group. This includes tools like the Godot OpenXR game engine, Monado OpenXR runtime, and various device simulators, enabling developers and studios to develop immersive experiences without the limitations of financial costs or specific hardware requirements. Frederic Plourde, the lead of Collabora XR, and Bastiaan Olij, the core developer for XR support in Godot Engine, will discuss how this integrated ecosystem removes traditional barriers to XR development, such as expensive licensing fees and the complexity of setting up specialized XR testing devices. They will showcase how, with OpenXR's open-source development cycle, anyone can create engaging and immersive applications more easily and affordably.