EDIA – A Unity XR Toolbox for Research

EDIA provides you with a set of modules (Unity packages) to facilitate the design and conduction of experimental research in XR using Unity.

EDIA Features:

🧱 Structure your experiment on multiple levels.
🗂️ Manage it using Config Files.
👁️ Unified eye tracking integration.
📤 Remotely control mobile XR experiments.
✏️ Automatically log relevant data.
🔃 Synchronize with external data.

EDIA in a nutshell

---
config:
  layout: fixed
  theme: neutral
  look: neo
---
flowchart LR
    A(["Config files"]) --> n3(["EDIA Engine"])
    n3 --> n1(["Logfiles"])
    n4(["VR User"]) <--> n3
    n5(["Experimenter"]) <--> n3
    A:::EDIA
    n3:::EDIA
    n1:::EDIA
    n4:::EDIA
    n5:::EDIA
    classDef EDIA stroke:#F2F2F2, fill:#347FA9, color:#F2F2F2, stroke-width:2px, stroke-dasharray: 0
    style A fill:#757575,color:#FFFFFF
    style n1 fill:#757575,color:#FFFFFF
    style n4 fill:#424242,color:#FFFFFF
    style n5 fill:#424242,color:#FFFFFF

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EDIA is for you if ....

• you want to build experiments which use different tasks in the same experimental session.
• you need high temporal precision to, for example, synchronize your experiment with EEG.
• you want an easy integration of eye tracking in your experiment.
• you want to use configuration files (JSON) to manage your experiment.

Getting started

For newcomers to EDIA, we recommend to follow our "Getting started" guide. This also has more detailed instructions on how to install EDIA as a package and how to set up your Unity Editor.

Installation

Unity version 6000.0.61f1 and up.

As a package (Unity package manager)

• In Unity open the package manager window → Window → Package Manager
• Use Install from GIT URL
• To install:
  • Latest release:
    https://github.com/edia-toolbox/edia_core.git?path=Assets/com.edia.core#main
  • Specific release (replace vX.Y.Z with a version from the release list):
    https://github.com/edia-toolbox/edia_core.git#vX.Y.Z
  • Development version:
    https://github.com/edia-toolbox/edia_core.git?path=Assets/com.edia.core
• Hit ADD

Unity now starts to download and install the com.edia.core package.

For development

Clone this repository.

Resources

🏠 EDIA Toolbox GitHub Organization (find other EDIA submodules here)
🖥️ EDIA Website
📖 EDIA Manual
🐣 Getting started guide
⌨️ HTML API Reference
📝 GitHub Discussion board

ThirdParty

The following assets and packages are incorporated in edia.core:

• UXF — Unity Experiment Framework (Brookes et al., 2020) ➡️ Core asset where EDIA is heavily inspired by and based upon.
• SimpleFileBrowser ➡️ Enabling selecting custom logfile storeage location.
• RoundedUICorners ➡️ Enhancement of UI items.
• Test Chamber asset from the OpenEnvironments repository ➡️ A simple, clean VR environment for our sample scene.

About

The EDIA toolbox was and is developed in the context of the Mind-Body-Emotion group (lead by Michael Gaebler) at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences.

Contribution

We are happy to receive feedback and contributions. If you want to report a bug, please open a GitHub issue. If you have questions or suggestions, please use the GitHub Discussion board. If you want to contribute code, ideally first reach out to us (e.g., via the Discussion board or email), and/or post a pull request.

Citation

If you are using the EDIA toolbox or any of its constituents, please cite this repository as Software:

Klotzsche, F. & de Mooij, J. EDIA — A Unity XR Toolbox for Research [Computer software]. https://github.com/edia-toolbox/edia_core

and this publication

Klotzsche, F., de Mooij, J., Ohl, S., & Gaebler, M. (2025). EDIA: An open-source toolbox for virtual reality-based eye-tracking research using Unity. Journal of Vision, 25(9), 2485. https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.25.9.2485