Discuss spatial computing on Apple platforms and how to design and build an entirely new universe of apps and games for Apple Vision Pro.

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Custom component question
I created a custom component for composer pro in which I have several variables I need an entity to have. The idea is to add this component to some 3d models and save them as usdz’s then I load these usdz’s in code and do specific things depending on these variables. The component shows up in composer fine and I can set variables there. The problem is that the values I set in composer are different that what is shown in code. lets say in composer I set canMove = true. then when I read in code is set to false. I don’t know if I’m missing something public struct MyObjectComponent: Component, Codable { public var affectAll: Bool = false public var affectFloor: Bool = false public var canMove: Bool = false public var moveX: Bool = false public var moveY: Bool = false public var moveZ: Bool = false public var canRotate: Bool = false public var rotateX: Bool = false public var rotateY: Bool = false public var rotateZ: Bool = false public init() { } } Any help appreciated. Guillermo
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Nov ’24
Presenting images in RealityKit sample No Longer Builds
After updating to the latest visionOS beta, visionOS 26 Beta 4 (23M5300g) the ‘Presenting images in RealityKit’ sample from the following link no longer builds due to an error. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/RealityKit/presenting-images-in-realitykit Expected / Previous: Application builds and runs on device, working as described in the documentation. Reality: Application builds, but does not run on device due to an error (shown in screenshot) “Thread 1: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (code=1, address=0xb)”. The application still runs on the simulator, but not on device. When launching the app from Xcode, it builds and installs correctly but hangs due to the respective error. When loading the app from the Home Screen, the app does not load, and immediately returns to the Home Screen. This Xcode project previously ran with no changes to code - the only change was updating the visionOS system software to the latest version. visionOS 26 Beta 4 (23M5300g) Is anyone else experiencing this issue?
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181
Aug ’25
VisionOS ARKit CameraFrame Sample Parameters Extrinsics
the following documentation tells me that the CameraFrame.Sample.Parameters.extrinsics is of type simd_float4x4, great! https://developer.apple.com/documentation/arkit/cameraframe/sample/parameters/4443449-extrinsics I have read in the answer of another post that this extrinsics represents the pose of the physical camera relative to the device anchor. Did I understand correctly that the device anchor is where the scene is rendered from onto the user's display? What is the coordinate system in which this offset is defined, which axis is left, which one is up, which one is forward? The last column of the extrinsics seems to define a translation of approximately 2 cm along the x axis, -2cm along the y axis and -5 cm along the z axis. I tried to measure the physical distance between the main left and right cameras in order to find out if it's rather 2cm or 5 cm from the "middle", it looks more like 5, so I assume that the z axis is looking towards the right (from the user's perspective). Is that so? For x and y, I assume that the physical camera is approximately 2 cm to the front of the user and 2cm to the bottom, which of x and y is horizontal, which on vertical? How is the camera image indexed, is it row-major and is the origin on the top left? I am looking forward to learning about all the details on these extrinsics in order to make use of it.
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791
Jan ’25
How to move a camera in immersive space and render its output on 2D window using RealityKit
I'm trying to develop an immersive visionOS app, which you can move an Entity having a PerspectiveCamera as its child in immersive space, and render the camera view on 2D window. According to this thread, this seems to can be achieved using RealityRenderer. But when I added the scene entity loaded from realityKitContentBundle to realityRenderer.entities, I needed to clone all entities of the scene, otherwise all entities in the immersive space will disappear. @Observable @MainActor final class OffscreenRenderModel { private let renderer: RealityRenderer private let colorTexture: MTLTexture init(scene: Entity) throws { renderer = try RealityRenderer() // If not clone entities in the scene, all entities in the immersive space will disappear renderer.entities.append(scene.clone(recursive: true)) let camera = PerspectiveCamera() renderer.activeCamera = camera renderer.entities.append(camera) ... } } Is this the expected behavior? Or is there any other way to do this (move camera in immersive space and render its output on 2D window)? Here is my sample code: https://github.com/TAATHub/RealityKitPerspectiveCamera
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Feb ’25
Bones/joints data issue - USD file export from Blender to RCP
Hi, I'm developing a prototype VisionOS game. How to access the bones or joints information when exporting a USD file from Blender to RCP? The animation in RCP works fine and the joints' information is correctly embedded in the USDA file (with usdchecker). However, RCP does not read it in USDA, USDC or USDZ. It should be possible based on Apple WWDC24 (Compose Interactive 3D content in RCP). I want to attach and detach an entity to a particular bone in certain moments. So I need the bones' data. They are standard mixamo animations. My mesh is a single unified mesh. Using Blender 4.4
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Animations exported from Blender does not shoe in Reality Composer Pro
I made an animation in Blender using geometry nodes that I exported to USDC file (then I used Reality Converter to convert to USDZ) and I can see the animation when viewing from the finder but does not play after importing to RCP. Any idea how I can play the animation? Or can the animation be accessed through Xcode? Thanks!
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1k
Apr ’25
Alternatives to SceneView
Hey there, since SceneView has been marked as „deprecated“ for SwiftUI, I‘m wondering which alternatives should be considered for the following situation: I have a SwiftUI app (for iOS and iPadOS) where users can view (with rotate, scale, move gestures) 3D models (USDZ) in a scene. The models will be downloaded from web backend and called via local URL paths. What I tested: I‘ve tried ARView in .nonAR mode, RealityView, however I didn‘t get the expected response -> User can rotate, scale the 3D models in a virtual space. ARView in nonAR mode still shows the object like in normal AR mode without camera stream. I tried to add Gestures to the RealityView on iOS - loading USDZ 3D models worked but the gestures didn’t). Model3D is only available for visionOS (that would be amazing to have it for iOS) I also checked QuickLook Preview however it works pretty strange via Filepicker etc, which is not the way how the user should load the 3D models in my app. Maybe I missed something, I couldn’t find anything which can help me. I‘m pretty much stucked adopting the latest and greatest frameworks/APIs in my App and taking the next steps porting my app to visionOS. Long story short 😃: Does someone have an idea what is the alternative to SceneView for USDZ 3D models? I appreciate your support!! Thanks in advance!
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Jul ’25
Slow Auto Focus on iPhone 16 Pro with ARkit camera
I have recently started testing ARKit on an iPhone 16 Pro and I have noticed that the AutoFocus reaction on this device is much slower than other devices. For example, if I point the camera to a close object AutoFocus takes 4-5 seconds to stabilize, the focal length is adjusted very very slowly. In some cases (although this is rare) AutoFocus seems almost stuck and requires a bit of device movement to trigger. This is quite problematic when using some ARKit features like Image and Object detection as the detection algorithms struggle with out-of-focus images. This problem is limited to ARKit. AutoFocus is significantly more responsive when the standard AVFoundation Camera API is used. This behavior is easy to reproduce with any of the ARKit samples like https://developer.apple.com/documentation/arkit/arkit_in_ios/content_anchors/tracking_and_visualizing_planes Is anybody else experiencing this problem?
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Jan ’25
Projecting a Cube with a Number in ARKit
I'm a novice in RealityKit and ARKit. I'm using ARKit in SwiftUI to show a cube with a number as shown below. import SwiftUI import RealityKit import ARKit struct ContentView : View { var body: some View { return ARViewContainer() } } #Preview { ContentView() } struct ARViewContainer: UIViewRepresentable { typealias UIViewType = ARView func makeUIView(context: UIViewRepresentableContext<ARViewContainer>) -> ARView { let arView = ARView(frame: .zero, cameraMode: .ar, automaticallyConfigureSession: true) arView.enableTapGesture() return arView } func updateUIView(_ uiView: ARView, context: UIViewRepresentableContext<ARViewContainer>) { } } extension ARView { func enableTapGesture() { let tapGestureRecognizer = UITapGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(handleTap(recognizer:))) self.addGestureRecognizer(tapGestureRecognizer) } @objc func handleTap(recognizer: UITapGestureRecognizer) { let tapLocation = recognizer.location(in: self) // print("Tap location: \(tapLocation)") guard let rayResult = self.ray(through: tapLocation) else { return } let results = self.raycast(from: tapLocation, allowing: .estimatedPlane, alignment: .any) if let firstResult = results.first { let position = simd_make_float3(firstResult.worldTransform.columns.3) placeObject(at: position) } } func placeObject(at position: SIMD3<Float>) { let mesh = MeshResource.generateBox(size: 0.3) let material = SimpleMaterial(color: UIColor.systemRed, roughness: 0.3, isMetallic: true) let modelEntity = ModelEntity(mesh: mesh, materials: [material]) var unlitMaterial = UnlitMaterial() if let textureResource = generateTextResource(text: "1", textColor: UIColor.white) { unlitMaterial.color = .init(tint: .white, texture: .init(textureResource)) modelEntity.model?.materials = [unlitMaterial] let id = UUID().uuidString modelEntity.name = id modelEntity.transform.scale = [0.3, 0.1, 0.3] modelEntity.generateCollisionShapes(recursive: true) let anchorEntity = AnchorEntity(world: position) anchorEntity.addChild(modelEntity) self.scene.addAnchor(anchorEntity) } } func generateTextResource(text: String, textColor: UIColor) -> TextureResource? { if let image = text.image(withAttributes: [NSAttributedString.Key.foregroundColor: textColor], size: CGSize(width: 18, height: 18)), let cgImage = image.cgImage { let textureResource = try? TextureResource(image: cgImage, options: TextureResource.CreateOptions.init(semantic: nil)) return textureResource } return nil } } I tap the floor and get a cube with '1' as shown below. The background color of the cube is black, I guess. Where does this color come from and how can I change it into, say, red? Thanks.
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Jul ’25
Custom Component causing exc_bad_access
Hello, After watching the Work with Reality Composer Pro content in Xcode, I had created the following custom component. public struct TestComponent : Component, Codable{ public var text : String = "helloWorld" public init() {} } I had registered the custom component as suggested in App.init function init() { RealityKitContent.TestComponent.registerComponent() } The custom component is decoded and realityView shows the sphere, when I load the "Scene" from realityKitContent bundle. But if I export the scene to a separate file named "test_scene.usdz" on disk and shared to the simulator and then trying to load it load in reality view causes EXC_BAD_ACCESS #0 0x0000000194c8d508 in Swift._StringObject.getSharedUTF8Start() -> Swift.UnsafePointer<Swift.UInt8> () Printing the loaded entity, shows the customComponent but when trying to load in show realityview , crashes the app immediately. Is there a way to fix it?
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716
Jan ’25
VisionOS: Detect plane to place objects issue for animated objects
Hi, I have used the template code for Plane Detection and placing models on them from here https://developer.apple.com/documentation/visionos/placing-content-on-detected-planes This source code did not copy the animations in the preview model to the PlacedModel and hence I modified it to do a manual copy of animations and textures. There is a function called materialize() that does this and I was able to modify it to get it working where the placed models are now animating. The issue is when I apply gestures on them like drag or rotate. For those models that go through this logic I'm unable to add gestures even though I'm making sure that Collision and Input Target is set on the Placed Models. Has anyone been able to get this working or is it even a possibility? My materialize function func materialize() -> PlacedObject { let shapes = previewEntity.components[CollisionComponent.self]!.shapes // Clone render content first as we need its materials let clonedRenderContent = renderContent.clone(recursive: true) print("To be finding main model: \(descriptor.displayName)") // Find the main model in preview hierarchy func findMainModel(_ entity: Entity) -> Entity? { if entity.name == descriptor.displayName.replacingOccurrences(of: " ", with: "_") { print("Found main model: \(entity.name)") return entity } for child in entity.children { if child.name == descriptor.displayName.replacingOccurrences(of: " ", with: "_") { print("Found main model in children: \(child.name)") return child } } return nil } // Clone hierarchy preserving structure, names, and materials func cloneHierarchy(_ entity: Entity) -> Entity { print("Cloning: \(entity.name)") let cloned: Entity if let model = entity as? ModelEntity { // Clone with recursive false to handle children manually cloned = model.clone(recursive: false) if let clonedModel = cloned as? ModelEntity, let originalMaterials = model.model?.materials { // Preserve the original model's materials clonedModel.model?.materials = originalMaterials } } else { cloned = Entity() } // Preserve name and transform cloned.name = entity.name cloned.transform = entity.transform // Clone children for child in entity.children { let clonedChild = cloneHierarchy(child) cloned.addChild(clonedChild) } return cloned } print("=== Cloning Preview Structure ===") // Clone the preview hierarchy with proper structure let clonedStructure = cloneHierarchy(previewEntity) // Find and use the main model if let mainModel = findMainModel(clonedStructure) { print("Using main model for PlacedObject") let modelEntity: ModelEntity if let asModel = mainModel as? ModelEntity { print("Using asModel ") modelEntity = asModel } else { modelEntity = ModelEntity() modelEntity.name = mainModel.name // Copy children and transforms for child in mainModel.children { modelEntity.addChild(child) } modelEntity.transform = mainModel.transform } // Add collision component here let collisionComponent = CollisionComponent(shapes: shapes, isStatic: false, filter: CollisionFilter(group: PlacedObject.collisionGroup, mask: .all)) modelEntity.components.set(collisionComponent) // Create the placed object let placedObject = PlacedObject(descriptor: descriptor, renderContentToClone: modelEntity, shapes: shapes) // Set input target on the placed object itself placedObject.components.set(InputTargetComponent(allowedInputTypes: [.direct, .indirect])) return placedObject } else { print("Fallback to original render content") let placedObject = PlacedObject(descriptor: descriptor, renderContentToClone: clonedRenderContent, shapes: shapes) placedObject.components.set(InputTargetComponent(allowedInputTypes: [.direct, .indirect])) return placedObject } } My PlacedObject class where the init has the recursive cloning removed because it is handled in materialize class PlacedObject: Entity { let fileName: String // The 3D model displayed for this object. private let renderContent: ModelEntity static let collisionGroup = CollisionGroup(rawValue: 1 << 29) // The origin of the UI attached to this object. // The UI is gravity aligned and oriented towards the user. let uiOrigin = Entity() var affectedByPhysics = false { didSet { guard affectedByPhysics != oldValue else { return } if affectedByPhysics { components[PhysicsBodyComponent.self]!.mode = .static } else { components[PhysicsBodyComponent.self]!.mode = .static } } } var isBeingDragged = false { didSet { affectedByPhysics = !isBeingDragged } } var positionAtLastReanchoringCheck: SIMD3<Float>? var atRest = false init(descriptor: ModelDescriptor, renderContentToClone: ModelEntity, shapes: [ShapeResource]) { fileName = descriptor.fileName // renderContent = renderContentToClone.clone(recursive: true) renderContent = renderContentToClone super.init() name = renderContent.name // Apply the rendered content’s scale to this parent entity to ensure // that the scale of the collision shape and physics body are correct. scale = renderContent.scale renderContent.scale = .one // Make the object respond to gravity. let physicsMaterial = PhysicsMaterialResource.generate(restitution: 0.0) let physicsBodyComponent = PhysicsBodyComponent(shapes: shapes, mass: 1.0, material: physicsMaterial, mode: .static) components.set(physicsBodyComponent) components.set(CollisionComponent(shapes: shapes, isStatic: false, filter: CollisionFilter(group: PlacedObject.collisionGroup, mask: .all))) addChild(renderContent) addChild(uiOrigin) uiOrigin.position.y = extents.y / 2 // Position the UI origin in the object’s center. // Allow direct and indirect manipulation of placed objects. components.set(InputTargetComponent(allowedInputTypes: [.direct, .indirect])) // Add a grounding shadow to placed objects. renderContent.components.set(GroundingShadowComponent(castsShadow: true)) } required init() { fatalError("`init` is unimplemented.") } } Thanks
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Feb ’25
Handling user-initiated re-centering in group immersive space?
Hi, currently tinkering with a little shareplay app for the Vision Pro that allows people to facetime and shareplay to play with random 3d models (as well as move them around, which should sync the model positions for everyone in relative space). When the users start their facetime call, then open the immersive space to see the 3d models, the models load in properly in context of the group immersive space's coordinate system, and moving the models reflects the new positions real-time for each participant. The main issue comes if/when users use the digital crown to re-center their view. It appears to re-center the model and view, which is expected. However, it also seems to re-position the model/root entity to match the user's origin. Not sure if this is intentional or not, but this essentially makes it so that it "de-syncs" the model (so me moving the model next to someone does not reflect it 1:1 - it still moves properly, but the new "initial" position after re-centering makes it offset). Is there a potential solution or work-around for this such that re-centering the view doesn't de-sync the model/entity's position? Rough code for my RealityView component is below: RealityView { content, attachments in content.add(appModel.originEntity) appModel.originEntity.addChild(appModel.modelContainerEntity) appModel.setInitialModelPosition() configureGestures(forModel: appModel.modelContainerEntity) configureToolbarAttachment(content: content, attachments: attachments) } update: { content, _ in // I have modified the Apple provided gesture components to // send the app model the new positions/rotations // as well as broadcast the position/rotation to shareplay participants // When user re-centers view, it seems to also re-position the model // so that its origin is at the local user's origin, rather than // the original origin // Can we receive a notification that user has re-centered view? // Or some other work-around? appModel.modelContainerEntity.setPosition(appModel.modelState.position, relativeTo: nil) appModel.modelContainerEntity.setOrientation(.init(appModel.modelState.rotation3d), relativeTo: nil) } attachments: { Attachment(id: "customViewAttachment") { CustomView() } } .installGestures() Please let me know if anything wasn't clear or if more information is needed. Thanks!
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670
Oct ’24
Metal (Compositor Services) or RealityKit on visionOS
I am develop visionOS app. I am now very interested in Metal and Compositor Services, but I have not explored them in depth. I know that Metal has a higher degree of control freedom. I am wondering if using Compositor Services will have fewer functions than RealityKit in AR technology (such as scene reconstruction and understanding, hover effect, etc.).
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159
Jun ’25
Compose interactive 3D content in Reality Composer Pro -- Build Error
Compilation of the project for the WWDC 2024 session title Compose interactive 3D content in Reality Composer Pro fails. After applying the fix mentioned here (https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/762030?login=true), the project still won't compile. Using Xcode 16 beta 7, I get these errors: error: [xrsimulator] Component Compatibility: EnvironmentLightingConfiguration not available for 'xros 1.0', please update 'platforms' array in Package.swift error: [xrsimulator] Component Compatibility: AudioLibrary not available for 'xros 1.0', please update 'platforms' array in Package.swift error: [xrsimulator] Component Compatibility: BlendShapeWeights not available for 'xros 1.0', please update 'platforms' array in Package.swift error: [xrsimulator] Exception thrown during compile: compileFailedBecause(reason: "compatibility faults") error: Tool exited with code 1
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838
Oct ’24
A Summary of the WWDC25 Group Lab - visionOS
At WWDC25 we launched a new type of Lab event for the developer community - Group Labs. A Group Lab is a panel Q&A designed for a large audience of developers. Group Labs are a unique opportunity for the community to submit questions directly to a panel of Apple engineers and designers. Here are the highlights from the WWDC25 Group Lab for visionOS. I saw that there is a new way to add SwiftUI View attachments in my RealityView, what advantages does this have over the old way? Attachments can now be added directly to your entities with ViewAttachmentComponent. The removes the need to declare your attachments upfront in your RealityView initializer and then add those attachments as child entities. The new approach provides greater flexibility. Canyon Crosser and Petite Asteroids both utilize the new approach. ManipulationComponent looks really cool! Right now my app has a series of complicated custom gestures. What gestures does it handle for me exactly, and are there any situations where I should prefer my own custom gestures? ManipulationComponent provides natural interaction with virtual objects. It seamlessly handles translation and rotation. You can easily add manipulation to a SwiftUI view like Model3D with the manipulable view modifier. The new Object Manipulation API is great for most apps, and is a breeze to implement, but sometimes you might want a more custom feel, and that’s ok! Custom gestures are still fully supported for that scenario. I saw that there is a new API to also access the right main camera. What can I do with this? Correct, in visionOS 26, you can access the left and right main cameras. You can even access them simultaneously as a stereo pair. Camera access still requires a managed entitlement and an enterprise license, see Accessing the main camera for more details about those requirements. More computer vision and machine learning use-cases are unlocked with access to both cameras, we are excited to see what you will do! What do I need to do to add spatial accessory input for my app? First, use the GameController framework to establish a connection with the spatial accessory, and then listen for events from the controller. Then, you can use either RealityKit, ARKit, or a combination of both to track the accessory, anchor virtual content to it, and fine tune the accessory interaction with the content in your app. For more details, check out Discovering and tracking spatial game controllers and styli. By far, the most difficulty with implementing visionOS apps is SwiftUI window management…placing, opening, closing, etc. Are there any improvements to window management in visionOS 26? Yes! We recommend watching Set the scene with SwiftUI in visionOS. You can use the defaultLaunchBehavior to choose whether a particular window is presented (or suppressed) at launch. You can also prevent a window like a secondary toolbar from launching as the initial window using .restorationBehavior(.disabled). Adopting best practices for persistent UI provides a great overview of SwiftUI window management on visionOS. As for placing windows, there is still no API for an app to specify the placement of its windows other than relative placement. If that is a feature you are interested in, please file an enhancement request for it using Feedback Assistant! How to get access to the Enterprise API? First, request the entitlement and license through your Apple Developer or enterprise account. Once these have been granted, include the license and entitlement in your project. Then you can build, test, and distribute as an in-house app.
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Jul ’25