AREnvironmentProbeAnchor

Environment textures depict the view in all directions from a specific point in a scene. In 3D asset rendering, environment textures are the basis for image-based lighting algorithms where surfaces can realistically reflect light from their surroundings. ARKit can generate environment textures during an AR session using camera imagery, allowing SceneKit or a custom rendering engine to provide realistic image-based lighting for virtual objects in your AR experience.

To enable texture map generation for an AR session, set the environmentTexturing property:

• With ARWorldTrackingConfiguration.EnvironmentTexturing.manual environment texturing, you identify points in the scene for which you want light probe texture maps by creating AREnvironmentProbeAnchor objects and adding them to the session.

• With ARWorldTrackingConfiguration.EnvironmentTexturing.automatic environment texturing, ARKit automatically creates, positions, and adds AREnvironmentProbeAnchor objects to the session.

In both cases, ARKit automatically generates environment textures as the session collects camera imagery. Use a delegate method such as session(_:didUpdate:) to find out when a texture is available, and access it from the anchor's environmentTexture property.

If you display AR content using ARSCNView and the automaticallyUpdatesLighting option, SceneKit automatically retrieves AREnvironmentProbeAnchor texture maps and uses them to light the scene.