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Passthrough Loading Screen

By default, a loading screen (splash image, “3 dots”) is shown with a black background. For MR apps that launch directly into a passthrough view, the user experience is typically much better if the loading screen shows passthrough in the background. This topic describes the steps and options for achieving seamless passthrough during the transition from the system home to your app.

Overview

To benefit from seamless passthrough while your app is launching, do the following:
  • Opt-in for passthrough during system loading screen (see below).
  • Ensure that your app starts the passthrough feature and a passthrough layer when rendering the first frame. See the Overview for details.
  • If your app supports both VR and MR, we recommend to query the system on whether to default to VR or MR. See Enable Based on System Recommendation.

Best Practices

Before you start implementing the splash screen in your app, read the best practices outlined in the Splash Screen Best Practices guide.

Enable Passthrough Loading Screen

To configure the background of the loading screen the system displays while loading your app, add the following meta-data node to the <application> node in your AndroidManifest.xml:
<manifest ...>
  <application ...>
    <!-- add the following line: -->
    <meta-data android:name="com.oculus.ossplash.background" android:value="passthrough-contextual"/>
  </application>
</manifest>
You can use one of two values:
  • "black": loading screen is always displayed against black background. This is the default if the meta-data node is not present. Not recommended for MR apps.
  • "passthrough-contextual": loading screen is displayed against passthrough background if passthrough is enabled in the user’s home environment. Otherwise, it is still displayed against black background.
This setting takes effect regardless of whether a splash image is specified (as described in this blog).
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