VeleStudio

Service · XR & immersive experiences

XR development for AR, VR and mixed reality on phones and headsets

VeleStudio is an XR development studio building AR, VR and mixed-reality applications in Unity for iOS, Android, Meta Quest and Apple Vision Pro.

Talk to VeleStudio →Read the FAQ
Profile of a man wearing a VR headsetPhoto: Matthew Henry · CC0

What it is

XR development is the design and engineering of applications that blend digital content with physical space, whether by overlaying it on the camera view of a phone (augmented reality), replacing the surroundings entirely in a headset (virtual reality) or mixing rendered objects with a live view of the room (mixed reality). The term covers the whole spectrum because the same engines, tracking systems and design questions run through all three. An XR development studio turns a brief into a working application on a specific device and takes responsibility for how it behaves in real conditions.

The current device landscape is broader than it was a few years ago. Phones and tablets with ARKit and ARCore reach the largest audience and need nothing installed at a venue. Meta Quest 3 offers affordable passthrough mixed reality and fully immersive VR in one headset. Apple Vision Pro brings high-resolution spatial computing with eye and hand input through visionOS, and HoloLens-class enterprise headsets remain in use on factory floors and in medical settings where hands-free guidance matters.

VeleStudio builds across this whole range from a single Unity codebase where that makes sense, and natively where it does not. The first question we ask on every brief is which reality the problem actually needs: a phone AR layer, a room-scale mixed-reality app and a fully virtual environment are three different products with different costs, audiences and failure modes, and choosing between them early is most of the work of getting an XR project right.

What problems it solves

  1. 01

    Choosing a device before choosing a problem

    Many XR projects start with a headset someone has bought and look for a use afterwards. We start from the audience and the setting, then recommend the device class that reaches them, which is sometimes a phone and sometimes no XR at all.

  2. 02

    Prototypes that never become products

    A demo that works in a lab and a stable application that works for the public are separated by tracking edge cases, onboarding, performance and distribution. We plan for that gap from the first sprint rather than discovering it at the end.

  3. 03

    Fragmented platforms and SDKs

    ARKit, ARCore, Meta Quest SDK, visionOS and OpenXR each move on their own release cycle. We abstract what can be shared and isolate what cannot, so a change on one platform does not stall the others.

  4. 04

    Experiences people cannot learn in thirty seconds

    XR has few conventions users already know. We design interactions that teach themselves in the first moments, because a visitor in a museum or a worker on a shift will not read a manual.

Who it is for

  • Museums, cultural institutions and heritage sites
  • Manufacturers and industrial companies needing training or guided procedures
  • Brands, agencies and event producers
  • Architecture, engineering and real-estate firms
  • Universities, research centres and education providers

Example applications

Mobile AR applications
iOS and Android apps that recognise places, objects or printed material and layer 3D content, video or instructions on top of them.
Mixed-reality headset applications
Quest 3 and Vision Pro apps that place interactive objects in the user's real room, with hand tracking and scene understanding.
Virtual reality training and simulation
Fully immersive environments for rehearsing procedures, exploring places that are closed or dangerous, or evaluating designs at full scale.
WebAR and WebXR experiences
Browser-based AR and VR that start from a QR code or a link, for campaigns and venues where installing an app is a barrier.
XR for exhibitions and public spaces
Headset and tablet experiences deployed in a gallery or at an event, with the operational support that unattended public use requires.

How we approach XR Development projects

  1. 01

    Brief and reality selection

    We work out who the users are, where they will be and what they must be able to do, then recommend AR, VR or mixed reality and a target device class, with the reasoning written down.

  2. 02

    Feasibility check

    Short technical tests of the risky parts: tracking in the real venue, a performance budget on the target headset, an SDK capability we have not used before.

  3. 03

    Experience and interaction design

    Storyboards, spatial layouts and interaction flows reviewed on the device, not on slides, because distance, scale and comfort cannot be judged on a screen.

  4. 04

    Vertical slice

    One complete path through the application at production quality, used to confirm the direction with stakeholders and real users before the full build.

  5. 05

    Full build and device testing

    Iterative development with regular builds on every target device, automated checks where possible and sessions with people who have never used a headset.

  6. 06

    Release and support

    App-store submission, enterprise distribution or on-site installation, followed by updates as platforms and operating systems change.

Technology we use

Tools chosen for the experience, not the other way round. The full ecosystem is on the expertise page.

Related work

All work →
A smartphone held up on a city street showing an augmented reality layer over the buildings

01AR, Geospatial·Studio prototype, 2026

City Layer: a geospatial AR prototype for historic streets

A self-initiated prototype that anchors reconstructed facades, period photographs and narrated stops along a route in a historic Italian city centre.

  • Unity
  • C#
  • AR Foundation
  • ARCore Geospatial API
A visitor trying a VR headset inside a colourful museum exhibition

02Mixed Reality, Cultural Heritage·Studio prototype, 2026

Object Stories: a mixed reality guide prototype for museum collections

A Quest 3 passthrough prototype that recognises museum objects and anchors stories, exploded views and provenance to each one, tested in the studio with replicas.

  • Unity
  • C#
  • Meta Quest SDK
  • OpenXR

Further reading

XR · 5 min read

AR vs VR vs Mixed Reality: what is the difference?

AR overlays content on the real world, VR replaces it, and mixed reality lets virtual and real objects interact. A practical guide to choosing between them.

Profile of a man wearing a VR headset
Practice · 6 min read

How to prototype an XR experience

Why XR projects start with a prototype: a fidelity ladder from bodystorming to on-device slice, what to test at each stage and how to reach production.

A rough paper and cardboard prototype of an interface
Unity · 6 min read

Unity vs Unreal Engine for XR development

Unity and Unreal Engine compared for XR: platform support, mobile AR, visual fidelity, scripting, licensing, standalone headset performance and team skills.

A nurse wearing a VR headset next to a screen mirroring the virtual scene

FAQ

Questions about XR Development

01What does an XR development studio do?
An XR development studio designs and builds augmented, virtual and mixed-reality applications: it works out which kind of experience a brief needs, designs how people will interact with it in space, develops the software in an engine such as Unity, tests it on the real devices and in the real venues, and handles distribution. At VeleStudio this also includes the research and interaction design that precedes the code, because XR projects fail more often on the experience than on the engineering.
02What is the difference between AR, VR and mixed reality?
Augmented reality overlays digital content on a live view of the world, usually on a phone or tablet. Virtual reality replaces the surroundings with a rendered environment in a headset. Mixed reality sits between them: a headset such as Meta Quest 3 or Apple Vision Pro shows the real room through cameras and places digital objects in it that respond to walls, furniture and hands. We have written a longer comparison in our insights section.
03Which device should we build for?
It depends on who will use it and where. Phones reach the widest audience and suit public or outdoor settings, while Quest 3 is the practical choice for room-scale mixed reality and VR where a venue can manage headsets. Vision Pro suits high-end spatial applications and premium showcases, and HoloLens-class devices still matter in industrial environments. We usually recommend prototyping on one device and keeping the architecture ready for others.
04How long does an XR project take?
A focused prototype on one device typically takes a few weeks. A complete application for a public audience, including design, content, testing and store submission, more often takes three to six months depending on scope and the amount of 3D content to produce. Projects with custom hardware or several platforms take longer.
05How much does XR development cost?
The main drivers are the number of target platforms, the amount of custom 3D content and animation, the complexity of the interactions, integrations with existing systems and the level of testing a public deployment requires. A single-device prototype costs a fraction of a multi-platform application. We scope in phases so that the first commitment is small and the later ones are informed by what the prototype showed.
06Do you work with international clients?
Yes. VeleStudio is based in Italy and works remotely with organisations across Europe, the UK, the US and the Middle East, in English and Italian. Device testing is done in our studio and on site where a venue is involved; everything else runs through shared repositories, regular video reviews and builds you can install yourself.

Next step

Planning an XR project?

Describe the audience, the setting and what people should be able to do. We will tell you which reality fits, which devices to target and what a first prototype would involve.

Prefer email? mrerfansol@gmail.com

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