Passthrough Tutorial

Updated: Apr 15, 2026

This is a basic tutorial that lets you quickly test the Passthrough implementation. Complete this tutorial to get started with integrating Passthrough in your project.

Before You Begin

Before you begin, confirm you have the following:

A Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest 3S, or Meta Quest Pro headset with the latest software version installed.

Unreal Engine 5.4 or later.

1. Create an Unreal project

Follow the Unreal setup guide to set up Unreal and create a new project.

Go to File > New Level > Empty Open World.

2. Add 3D Objects

To add objects, use the Place Actors panel (open it from Window > Place Actors if it is not visible), or use the Quickly add to the project button in the toolbar.

Go to Shapes > Sphere, and then drag a sphere into the scene.

Select the sphere and then on the Details tab, set the Location (X, Y, Z) to (500, 0, 0) and Scale (X, Y, Z) to (0.5, 0.5, 0.5).

Go to Lights > Point Light, and then drag a Point Light into the scene, set the position (X, Y, Z) to (0, 0, 0).

In the Place Actors panel, search for Camera Actor and drag it into the scene, set the position (X, Y, Z) to (0, 0, 0).

Select the camera and then on the Details tab, set Auto Activate for Player to Player 0.

3. Integrate Passthrough

Open Edit > Project Settings > Plugins > Meta XR. In the Mobile section, enable Passthrough Enabled.

Open the Level Blueprint for your level by clicking Blueprints > Open Level Blueprint in the toolbar.

In the Event Graph, add an Event BeginPlay node if one is not already present.

Right-click in the Event Graph and search for Get Oculus XR Passthrough Subsystem. Add the node and connect it to Event BeginPlay.

Drag from the Passthrough Subsystem output pin and search for Initialize Persistent Passthrough. Add the node and connect it.

This creates a full-screen Passthrough layer rendered as an underlay by default, which means the physical world appears in the background and virtual 3D objects appear in front. Persistent Passthrough remains active throughout the app, including between level loads.

For more details on configuring Persistent Passthrough, see Persistent Passthrough.