I’m currently developing a visionOS app that includes an RCP scene with a large USDZ file (around 2GB).
Each time I make adjustments to the CG model in Blender, I export it as USDZ again, place it in the RCP scene, and then build the app using Xcode.
However, because the USDZ file is quite large, the build process takes a long time, significantly slowing down my development speed.
For example, I’d like to know if there are any effective ways to:
Improve overall build performance
Reduce the time between updating the USDZ file and completing the build
Any advice or best practices for optimizing this workflow would be greatly appreciated.
Best regards,
Sadao
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Game Controller Input Limitations in visionOS Volumetric Windows
Hello Apple Developer Community,
I'm developing a game for visionOS and have encountered significant limitations with game controller input when using volumetric windows (WindowGroup with .volumetric style). I'd appreciate clarification on whether this is expected behavior and any guidance on best practices.
🧩 Issue Summary
When using a DualSense controller with a volumetric window in visionOS, only a subset of controller inputs are available to the app. The remaining inputs appear to be reserved by the system for UI navigation.
✅ Working Inputs (Volumetric Window)
D-Pad (all directions)
L3 (left thumbstick button click)
R3 (right thumbstick button click)
Menu button
Options button
❌ Not Working Inputs (Volumetric Window)
Left thumbstick analog movement (used for UI scrolling instead)
Right thumbstick analog movement (used for UI scrolling instead)
Face buttons (Cross, Circle, Square, Triangle / A, B, X, Y)
Shoulder buttons (L1, R1)
Triggers (L2, R2)
Key observation: When moving the left thumbstick in a volumetric window, the window's UI scrolls vertically instead of sending input to my app's GameController handlers. Similarly, face buttons seem to be reserved for system UI interactions.
⚙️ Implementation Details
I'm using the standard GameController framework:
Connect to controller via GCController.controllers()
Access extendedGamepad profile
Set up valueChangedHandler and pressedChangedHandler for all inputs
Handlers confirmed registered via logging
Working inputs (D-Pad, L3, R3) trigger immediately and consistently
Non-working inputs (thumbsticks, face buttons) never trigger
🧠 Critical Finding: ImmersiveSpace Works Perfectly
When testing the exact same code in an ImmersiveSpace (.mixed immersion style), all controller inputs work perfectly:
✅ Both thumbsticks provide full analog input
✅ All face buttons trigger their handlers
✅ All shoulder buttons and triggers work correctly
✅ 100% success rate with no intermittent issues
This suggests the issue isn't with my code, but rather how visionOS handles controller input differently between Volumetric Windows and ImmersiveSpace.
🧪 Test Environment
I created a minimal test project (Controller-Playground) to isolate the issue:
A simple ControllerTester class that registers all GameController handlers
A visual UI showing real-time input state
No game logic, RealityKit physics, or other complexity
Results
In volumetric window: Only D-Pad, L3, R3, Menu, Options work
In ImmersiveSpace: All inputs work perfectly
This confirms the limitation exists at the visionOS platform level, not in app code.
🧰 Attempted Workarounds
I tried the following without success:
Setting GCSupportsControllerUserInteraction = false in Info.plist
Setting UIRequiresFullScreen = true
Changing window styles (.plain, .volumetric)
Polling vs. handler-based input approaches
Various threading models (MainActor, separate thread)
Result: The only way to enable full controller support is to switch to ImmersiveSpace.
❓ Questions for Apple
Is this input reservation behavior in volumetric windows intended and documented?
Are game controllers expected to have limited functionality in volumetric windows while full functionality is reserved for ImmersiveSpace?
Is there a way to request full controller input access in a volumetric window, or is ImmersiveSpace the only option for complete controller support?
Where can I find official documentation about controller input differences between window types?
Are there any APIs or configuration options to disable system controller shortcuts in volumetric windows?
🎯 Impact
This limitation has a significant effect on game design and architecture:
Volumetric windows offer a multitasking-friendly, less immersive experience
ImmersiveSpace provides full controller support but may be more immersive than some games require
Games that only need basic D-Pad and button input can work fine in volumetric windows
Games requiring analog sticks or face buttons must currently use ImmersiveSpace
It would be very helpful if Apple could clarify or reference existing documentation regarding controller input handling in different visionOS window types. If such documentation doesn't exist yet, it might be valuable to include this information in future developer guides or best-practice documents.
🕹 Current Workaround
For now, I'm using:
D-Pad for character movement (digital 8-direction)
R3 (right stick click) as a substitute for the "X" button
This setup allows the game to function within a volumetric window, though full controller support still requires ImmersiveSpace.
📄 Request
If this is expected behavior, I may have simply missed the relevant documentation — could you please point me to any existing resources that explain this design?
If there isn't one yet, it would be great if future visionOS documentation could:
Clearly outline controller input behavior across window types
Provide guidance on when to use Volumetric Windows vs. ImmersiveSpace for games
Consider adding an API option to request full controller access when appropriate
If this is not expected behavior, I'm happy to file a detailed bug report with sample code.
💻 System Information
visionOS: Latest Simulator
Xcode: Latest version
Controller: Sony DualSense
Framework: GameController (standard extendedGamepad profile)
Test project: Minimal reproducible example available
Thank you for any clarification or guidance you can provide. This information would be valuable for many developers working on visionOS games.
Hi. I am mixing content destined for Vision Pro. Locked to video. I have the AAX installer and the ASAF video player demonstrated in the quicktimes is nit included in the install package for pro tools. Would it be possible to post a link ?
When assigning a ManipulationComponent to an Entity SceneEvents.WillRemoveEntity will be called for that Entity.
Expected Behavior: the Entity is not (even if temporarily) removed from the Scene and no SceneEvents will be triggered as a result of assigning a ManipulationComponent.
FB20872220
Hi,
Few days ago, Apple had another "Meet with Apple" event regarding immersive video : Create immersive media experiences for visionOS | Meet with Apple days one and 2 and it is not appearing on my Developer app in Mac. The same happened to
IETF HLS Interest Day | Meet with Apple.
Any tip?
Kind regards ,
Bruno
Topic:
Spatial Computing
SubTopic:
General
I want to let users place 2D/3D “artworks” on detected walls and have them reappear in exactly the same real‑world spot after quitting and relaunching the app (like widgets do, but for my own entities).Environment: Xcode 26, visionOS 2.0, RealityKit + ARKitSession/WorldTrackingProvider Entities are parented to a holder that’s aligned to a wall via plane/mesh raycasts.
What I’ve tried:
Create a WorldAnchor at placement, save UUID + full 4×4 transform On next launch, re-create the WorldAnchor (or set the saved transform) and attach the entity Gate restore on relocalization/mesh updates and disable all raycast/search after restore Issue: After relaunch, placement still resolves relative to current device pose, not the same wall position.
Questions:
Is there a public API in visionOS 2.0 to persist app‑managed world anchors across sessions (room‑fixed), e.g., AnchorStore or equivalent?
If not, what’s the recommended pattern to reliably restore wall‑anchored content?
Are persistence features mentioned for widgets/windows available to third‑party RealityKit entities?
I want to let users place 2D/3D “artworks” on detected walls and have them reappear in exactly the same real‑world spot after quitting and relaunching the app (like widgets do, but for my own entities).Environment:
Xcode 26, visionOS 2.0, RealityKit + ARKitSession/WorldTrackingProvider
Entities are parented to a holder that’s aligned to a wall via plane/mesh raycasts
What I’ve tried:
Create a WorldAnchor at placement, save UUID + full 4×4 transform
On next launch, re-create the WorldAnchor (or set the saved transform) and attach the entity
Gate restore on relocalization/mesh updates and disable all raycast/search after restore
Issue:
After relaunch, placement still resolves relative to current device pose, not the same wall position.
Questions:
Is there a public API in visionOS 2.0 to persist app‑managed world anchors across sessions (room‑fixed), e.g., AnchorStore or equivalent?
If not, what’s the recommended pattern to reliably restore wall‑anchored content?
Are persistence features mentioned for widgets/windows available to third‑party RealityKit entities?
Topic:
Spatial Computing
SubTopic:
General
My app is getting video from UVC device, and I wish to display it in an Immersive Space. But when I open Immersive Space, the UVC capture will just stop.AI said it's due to confliction in Camera pipeline. But I don't really understand, I don't need to use any on device camera, why it conflict with my UVC...
For the M2 Apple Vision Pro, there's "a general guideline, we recommend no more than 500 thousand triangles for an immersive scene, with 250 thousand for applications in the shared space." --https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2024/10186/?time=147
Is there a revised recommendation for the M5 Apple Vision Pro?
I'm currently implementing 180° / 360° immersive video for my app.
I easily implemented 360° by just applying VideoMaterial to flipped sphere.
But I'm stuck at 180°. I'm trying to implement by applying VideoMaterial to hemisphere (half sphere). I want to make VideoMaterial to be visible half front sphere and half back sphere transparent / clear.
Would there be any advice / information / idea to implement this? Your help would be grateful.
Hi, I'm currently implementing 180° / 360° property for immersive video in my app.
I was able to implement 360° easily by just giving VideoMaterial to flipped sphere.
However, I'm bit stuck at 180°. I want to implement by setting VideoMaterial to hemisphere mesh. But since RealityKit doesn't provide default function such like MeshResource.generateHemisphere yet, I just want to apply VideoMaterial half front visible, and half back transparent. I thought this would make my sphere looks like hemisphere.
But I can't find my way to implement this method.. I would appreciate any advice / idea / information that might help.
I am testing out the Gen 2 of the developer strap on my Vision Pro M2 and I have only been able to get USB 2 speeds when connecting it to my MacBook Pro Max M3. I used the official Apple Thunderbolt 4 cable, which does get Thunderbolt speeds on my T7 Touch drive. Has anyone figured out a solution for this issue?
The Gen 2 developer strap does advertise 20 Gb/s speeds.
Topic:
Spatial Computing
SubTopic:
General
In Reality Composer Pro, why is the Sky Sphere so much larger than the Sky Dome?
By my estimate, the Sky Sphere has a radius of 100m, while the Sky only has a radius of only 12m.
Hi I know it's possible to play equirectangular VR180 video either SBS or MV-HEVC. And for fisheye video, the only way I know is to convert it into an AIVU for playback.
Is there any way to directly play fisheye video using AVPlayer? Thanks a lot!
I've been experimenting with the Muse pen and understand that it can be accessed by my app through a SpatialTrackingSession, but is there any current or planned support for devices like this as for general UI input like game controllers are? For example, using the button as a tap analogue for SwiftUI views.
Topic:
Spatial Computing
SubTopic:
General
Since updating to iOS 26.0 (and confirmed on 26.1), ARBodyTrackingConfiguration no longer detects a valid ARBodyAnchor on devices with LiDAR (e.g., iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max).
This issue reproduces in custom projects and Apple’s official sample “Capturing Body Motion in 3D”.
The AR session runs normally, but the delegate call:
func session(_ session: ARSession, didUpdate anchors: [ARAnchor])
never yields an ARBodyAnchor with valid joint transforms.
All joints return nil when calling:
body.skeleton.modelTransform(for: jointName)
resulting in 0 valid joints per frame.
Environment
• Device: iPhone 17 Pro Max (LiDAR)
• iOS: 26.0 / 26.1
• Xcode: 16.0 (stable)
• Framework: ARKit + RealityKit
• Configuration used:
config.worldAlignment = .gravityAndHeading
config.isAutoFocusEnabled = true
config.environmentTexturing = .none
session.run(config)
Also tested: with and without frameSemantics = .bodyDetection
Expected Behavior
ARBodyAnchor should be detected and body.skeleton should contain ~89 valid joints with continuous updates.
I am building a 360 photo viewer in VisionOS 26. Which allows the user to choose a 2 by 1 jpg and then renders it with a sphere mesh entity. And I use: TextureResource(contentsOf: url, options: options).
I noticed two situations here in terms of mipmaps options.
When setting "mipmapsMode: .none":
The graphic quality within the "gaze area" looks sharp and clear
The two poles (top and bottom) are perfectly rendered
Massive shimmer around the "gaze area"
When setting "mipmapsMode: .allocateAndGenerateAll":
The graphic looks slightly blurrier than in ".none" within the "gaze area"
The two poles are very blurry and hard to recognize the texture
Much less shimmer around the "gaze area"
My question would be: Is there a way to have the perfect graphic quality in ".none" without the massive shimmer?
Thank you!
Screenshots:
mipmapsMode: .none
mipmapsMode: .allocateAndGenerateAll
I have an open Feedback conversation with Apple on this topic, but I am curious if others have run into this, or want to try out my sample code in their set up.
there are two API’s for reading controller buttons, axis, and D pads: GCPhysicalInputProfile and GCControllerLiveInput. There are inconsistencies in behaviour between the two of them. Apple recommends we use GCControllerLiveInput, however, there are some capabilities on these controllers that are only accessible through GCPhysicalInputProfile, as I’ll discuss below.
PSVR2 R2/L2 buttons, a.k.a. triggers, have force input analogue values. These can only be accessed on GCPhysicalInputProfile
PSVR2 thumbstick direction values are read through “axes” on GCPhysicalInputProfile, but only “dpads” on GCControllerLiveInput
on both GCPhysicalInputProfile and GCControllerLiveInput, All pressed events of all buttons are fired properly using generic aliases ( Trigger, Grip ,Menu, Right Thumbstick, Left Thumbstick, Right Button A & B (Circle & Cross), Left Button A&B (Triangle and Square) ). Apple reserves the system button as the equivalent of a home button for the OS.
on GCPhysicalInputProfile, touch events are fired when the button is also pressed, but not for only touches.
on GCControllerLiveInput , Touch events only works for the following buttons: Left Thumbstick, Right Thumbstick, Right Button A (Circle), and Right Button B (Cross). But Right Button B touch event isn’t labelled correctly, it fires as the Right Button A event.
I observed this inside ALVR which uses a polling based approach to event processing:
https://github.com/alvr-org/alvr-visionos/blob/17b5968f9d894944b53e97134b39dfce0993302a/ALVRClient/WorldTracker.swift#L301
To simplify to see this on a very simple app, I used the Apple example TrackingAccessories application:
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/ARKit/tracking-accessories-in-volumetric-windows
I’ve attached the code that replaces the AccessoryTrackingModel class. I added code that prints out what is touched/pressed, see the trackAllConnectedSpatialControllers method:
https://github.com/svrc/TrackingAccessories
Hi,
we've developed an app for Vision Pro that utilises the GroupActivitites SDK to provide shared experiences for our users.
Remote Participation works great, but we can't get nearby sharing to work.
The behaviour we're observing:
User 1 engages share sheet from Volume, 2nd Vision Pro is visible.
User 1 starts nearby sharing
Session initialisation runs for approx. 30 seconds, then fails
Sometimes, the nearby participant doesn't show up at all after the initialisation has failed once.
As stated in the Configure your visionOS app for sharing with people nearby article, we didn't make any changes to our implementation to support nearby sharing.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Kind regards,
David
Hi, I have a hand model that is in FBX and I'm exporting it to USD in Blender. I get a skinned mesh and while I can track the whole hand how do I track each joint and assign it and animate the skinned mesh itself. All my attempts say this is not possible in RealityKit as of now. True?