ALF Interactivity Tools
The ALF tools help you build interactive XR lessons in Unity: scenes to stand in, step-by-step instructions, buttons learners can press, machines that come apart, parts that move, and more.
You don't need to be a Unity expert. New to Unity? Read Before you start first. Each tool then has short step-by-step guides. The first guide of each tool, linked under Start here below, covers what you need and the main choice to make.
The tools
| Tool | What it does | Start here |
|---|---|---|
| Scene Generation | Creates a new lesson scene, in VR or AR, with the player set up. | VR or AR, and the player setups |
| Main Menu Setup | Builds the start menu, with one button per lesson. | How the start menu works |
| Scenario Setup | Builds the lesson as a series of steps, with instructions, changes in the room, and ways to finish each step. | How a lesson is built from steps |
| XR Pre-Training | Adds a short warm-up before a lesson, so learners practise the XR controls first. | How XR Pre-Training works |
| Guidance Setup | A simpler version of Scenario Setup: instruction panels only. | When to use Guidance Setup |
| Button Injection | Adds pressable buttons to a machine, or anywhere in the room. | Kinds of buttons |
| Model Adjuster | Turns, resizes and sets a model on the ground before you place it. | When a model needs adjusting |
| Object Spawner | Puts a model into the scene, and decides whether learners can pick it up. | What you need to place a model |
| Exploded View | Pulls a machine apart into its pieces, and puts it back together. | Models that can come apart |
| Kinematic Editor Tool | Makes parts slide, swing or spin, with buttons to control them. | Starting positions and axes |
| Part Palette | A board on the wall with small models of parts. Poking one gives the learner the real part. | How the palette is built |
| YouTube Player | Adds a video screen that stays in the room. | Add a video screen |
| Graphs | Turns a CSV file or formulas into a chart that stands in the room. | Your data: CSV file or formulas |
| Syntax Highlighter | Shows program code on a board, coloured like in a code editor. | Your code: typed or from a file |
| Motion | Records how you operate a machine and replays it as ghost hands with your voice. | What you need to record |
| Planetary Lab | A falling-objects experiment with gravity and air resistance on Earth, the Moon or Mars. | What learners see and do |
| Electric Field | An electrostatics experiment with charges, field arrows, field lines and a measuring probe. | What learners see and do |
| Mesh Deformation | A bending lab for materials science: how a beam bends and where it's under stress. | Before you start |
| Positioning Setup | AR only: lines up a 3D model with a real object using printed QR codes. | How QR alignment works |
| Text Import & Export | Gets all texts of a lesson into one file to translate or reword, and lets learners switch languages. | Before you start |
| Utilities | Scene Check and Project Status: find stray cameras and check the project settings. | Scene Check |
Building a lesson, in order
- Create the scene with Scene Generation.
- Add what the learner works with: models with Object Spawner (prepared with the Model Adjuster if needed), buttons with Button Injection, moving parts with the Kinematic Editor Tool, machines that come apart with Exploded View, and so on.
- Add content to read and watch: charts with Graphs, code with the Syntax Highlighter, videos with the YouTube Player, and recorded demonstrations with Motion.
- For AR on a real object, line it up with Positioning Setup.
- Build the lesson steps with Scenario Setup, which ties everything together. Then add a warm-up with XR Pre-Training, so learners practise the controls first.
- Add the lesson to the start menu with Main Menu Setup.
- For other languages, translate the texts with Text Import & Export.
Where to find the tools
In Unity's top menu, under ALF. The tools that add things to a scene are under ALF > Interactivity.
The tool windows work in similar ways
- Many tools have a list on the left of what you've already made in the scene. Click an item to change it.
- On the right are numbered steps, one at a time. Work through them in order with Next.
- The heading above the steps tells you whether you're editing something that exists, or setting up something new.
- When you're done, save the scene with Ctrl+S.
- Stop Play mode before using a tool. Changes made while the scene is playing are lost.
New to Unity?
The Unity words used in these guides (Scene, Hierarchy, Inspector, Play mode) are explained in Before you start.