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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Request: More Fine-Grained Control in Object Capture (PhotogrammetrySession)
Hi Apple Team and Developers, First of all, I’d like to express my appreciation for the incredible results achieved using PhotogrammetrySession. I’ve been developing a portrait scanning app using Object Capture, and in many tests—especially with human models—I’ve found the reconstructed body surfaces are remarkably smooth and clean, often outperforming tools like Metashape and RealityCapture in terms of aesthetic results. However, I’ve encountered some challenges when working with complex areas like long hair overlapping the face. For instance, with female models where strands of hair partially occlude the face, the resulting mesh tends to merge the hair and facial geometry. This leads to distorted or “melted” facial features, likely due to ambiguity in the geometry estimation phase. Feature Suggestion: Would it be possible to allow developers to supply two versions of the input images: • One version (original) for texture generation • A pre-processed version (e.g., contrast-enhanced or CLAHE filtered) to guide mesh reconstruction only This would give us the flexibility to enhance edge features or shadow detail without affecting the final texture appearance. In other photogrammetry pipelines, applying image enhancement selectively before dense reconstruction improves geometry quality in low-contrast areas. Question: Is there any plan to support this kind of two-path workflow in future versions of PhotogrammetrySession? Or perhaps expose more intermediate stages or tunable parameters to developers? Also, any hints on what we can expect from WWDC 2025 regarding improvements to Object Capture or related vision/3D technologies? Thanks again for this powerful API. Looking forward to hearing insights from the team and other developers. Warm regards, KitCheng
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May ’25
Tracking over large distances
I'm developing an AR application for the iPad pro where the primary purpose is to overlay 3D design data on top of production parts. For alignment, we are using Vuforia (model targets) which work really well locally. The further the device is moved from the point of original alignment, we are seeing quite a bit of overlay error (drift?). My primary questions are: Are there any best practices to stabilize frame-to-frame tracking when using model targets? We are noticing drift as soon as the device starts moving (the drift appears to occur specifically in the direction the device is moving). After about 15 feet of movement, we are observing about 3-6" of overlay error These use cases can be over 100 feet long. In order to reset drift, we understand we'll need multiple alignment points (model targets) along the way. Is there a standard/best practice for this? Ex: have a new alignment point every x-feet? We are using plane anchors to set our alignment. Typically we attach it to the nearest plane; however, the anchor point can be very far away (the origin of the model, which often is not near where the virtual content is). Could this be the issue? The anchor is far from the plane that we attach it too. Would moving the anchor closer to the plane we attach it too improve stability? After a few steps, the plane we originally attach too will be out of FoV anyway. Thanks in advance!
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May ’25
xform called "Scene" breaks animations on Quicklook starting with iOS15
Hello, We discovered that a bunch of our old animated models were no longer animated on iOS15 and onwards. After a few days of playing spot the difference between usda files I noticed that all the broken models had an xform called "Scene". Lo and behold, changing the name of that xform fixed the issue on all the models. Even lowercase "scene" makes the animations work again. Is "Scene" a reserved keyword or something? What other keywords do we need to avoid so we can create more robust USDZ files? I'm surprised this issue isn't more widespread considering Blender wraps models in a "Scene" node. At the drive link below you can find two animated cube USDZs. The only difference is the name of one of the xforms. The one with a "Scene" xform is not animated in quicklook (replicated on iPhone 13 iOS v15.2, iPhone 13 iOS v 18.3, and various devices on Browserstack including iPhone 16 iOS v18.3). https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dch1WaM9O6mbHy29S6NGWgnSHkZkPiBf?usp=sharing
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Mar ’25
How to Implement a Curved Surface Effect for Video Playback and Allow Dynamic Width Adjustment in visionOS?
Dear Apple Engineers, I am working on a project in visionOS and need to implement a curved surface effect for video playback, where the width of the surface can be dynamically adjusted. Specifically, I want the video to be displayed on a curved surface (similar to a scroll unfolding), and the user should be able to adjust the width of this surface. I have the following specific questions: How can I implement a curved surface for video playback and ensure the video content is not stretched or distorted on the surface? How can I create a dynamic curved surface (such as a bending plane) in RealityKit or visionOS, where the width can be adjusted by the user? Is it possible to achieve more complex curved surface effects (such as scroll unfolding or bending) using Shaders or other techniques? Thank you very much for your help!
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Dec ’24
Shader Graph Material: Feather Edges Image Effect
Hi, I am trying to create a simple effect to create feather edges on the image using Reality Composer Pro. Something like this: As you can see it has softer edges on all sides that dissolves into transparency with the background. this is what I have been able to achieve on my own. I want to use the "feather" input node value (float) from 0.0 to 1.0 to increase or decrease the strength of the feather edges.
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Mar ’25
How to programmatically update Model Position Offset of GeometryModifier?
is it possible to dynamically update ModelPositionOffset of GeometryModifier with a depth map image? in my code I set up the parameter for "DepthMapTexture" universal input node and tried setting the depth map for depthTextureResource. I have 2 DrawableQueues. One for setting InputTexture, and one for setting DepthMapTexture. This only shows the part that concerns setting DepthMapTexture this is where I define the plane entity. and this is the shader graph what I noticed with GeometryModifier is that, the depthMap image has to be same as input image's dimensions. and when I applied this material to usdz file, with pre-assigned image and depth map from RCP, and loaded that Entity from code, depth map was applied correctly. what I am unsure is that if it is impossible to define a model entity from code, apply ShaderGraphMaterial from RCP, and dynamically update the image used in GeometryModifier. Maybe I'm missing something when defining Entity, something that allows geometric modifications?
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Mar ’25
Playing USDZ animation at last known location of reference object
Hi there I'm using Reality Composer Pro to anchor virtual content to a .referenceobject. However moving the referenceobject quickly causes tracking to stop. (I know this is a limitation and I am trying to embrace it as a feature) Is there a way to play a USDZ animation at the last known location, after detecting that the reference object is no longer tracked? is it possible to set this up in Reality Composer pro? I'm trying to get the USDZ to play before the Virtual Content disappears (due to reference object not being located). So that it smooths out the vanishing of the content. Nearly everything is set up in Reality Composer pro with my immersive.scene just adding virtual content to the reference object which anchors it in the RCP Scene, so my immersive view just does this - if let immersiveContentEntity = try? await Entity(named: "Immersive", in: realityKitContentBundle) { content.add(immersiveContentEntity) & this .onAppear { appModel.immersiveSpaceState = .open } .onDisappear { appModel.immersiveSpaceState = .closed } I have tried Using SpatialTracking & WorldTrackingProvider, but I'm still quite new to Swift and coding in general so im unsure how to implement in conjunction with my RCP scene and/or if this is the right way to go about it. Also I have implemented this at the beginning of object tracking. All I had to do was add a onAppear behavior to the object to play a USDZ and that works. Doing it for disappearing (due to loss of reference object) seems to be a lot harder.
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Apr ’25
Combining ARKit Face Tracking with High-Resolution AVCapture and Perspective Rendering on Front Camera
Subject: Combining ARKit Face Tracking with High-Resolution AVCapture and Perspective Rendering on Front Camera Message: Hello Apple Developer Community, We’re developing an application using the front camera that requires both real-time ARKit face tracking/guidance and the capture of high-resolution still images via AVCaptureSession. Our goal is to leverage ARKit’s depth and face data to render a captured image from another perspective post-capture, maintaining high image quality. Our Approach: Real-Time ARKit Guidance: Utilize ARKit (e.g., ARFaceTrackingConfiguration) for continuous face tracking, depth, and scene understanding to guide the user in real time. High-Resolution Capture Transition: At the moment of capture, we plan to pause the ARKit session and switch to an AVCaptureSession to take a high-resolution image. We assume that for a front-facing image, the subject’s face is directly front-on, and the relative pose between the face and camera remains the same during the transition. The only variation we expect is a change in distance. Our intention is to minimize the delay between the last ARKit frame and the high-res capture to maintain temporal consistency, assuming that aside from distance, the face-camera relative pose remains unchanged. Post-Processing Perspective Rendering: Using the last ARKit face data (depth, pose, and landmarks) along with the high-resolution 2D image, we aim to render the scene from another perspective. We want to correct the perspective of the 2D image using SceneKit or RealityKit, leveraging the collected ARKit scene information to achieve a natural, high-quality rendering from a different viewpoint. The rendering should match the quality of a normally captured high-resolution image, adjusting for the difference in distance while using the stored ARKit data to correct perspective. Our Questions: Session Transition Best Practices: What are the recommended best practices to seamlessly pause ARKit and switch to a high-resolution AVCapture session on the front camera How can we minimize user movement or other issues during this brief transition, given our assumption that the face-camera pose remains largely consistent except for distance changes? Data Integration for Perspective Rendering: How can we effectively integrate stored ARKit face, depth, and pose data with the high-res image to perform accurate perspective correction or rendering from another viewpoint? Given that we assume the relative pose is constant except for distance, are there strategies or APIs to leverage this assumption for simplifying the perspective transformation? Perspective Correction with SceneKit/RealityKit: What techniques or workflows using SceneKit or RealityKit are recommended for correcting the perspective of a captured 2D image based on ARKit scene data? How can we use these frameworks to render the high-resolution image from an alternative perspective, while maintaining image quality and fidelity? 4. Pitfalls and Guidelines: What common pitfalls should we be aware of when combining ARKit tracking data with high-res capture and post-processing for perspective rendering? Are there performance considerations, recommended thresholds for acceptable temporal consistency, or validation techniques to ensure the ARKit data remains applicable at the moment of high-res capture? We appreciate any advice, sample code references, or documentation pointers that could assist us in implementing this workflow effectively. Thank you!
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Jan ’25
Playing USDZ animation at last known location of reference object
Hi there I'm using Reality Composer Pro to anchor virtual content to a .referenceobject. However by moving the referenceobject quickly, it causes tracking to stop. (I know this is a limitation so im trying to make it a feature) IS there a way to play a USDZ animation at the last known location, after detecting that reference object is no longer being tracked? is it possible to set this up in Reality Composer pro? Nearly everything is set up in Reality Composer pro with my immersive.scene just anchoring virtual content to the Reference object in the RCP Scene, so my immersive view just does this - if let immersiveContentEntity = try? await Entity(named: "Immersive", in: realityKitContentBundle) { content.add(immersiveContentEntity) & this .onAppear { appModel.immersiveSpaceState = .open } .onDisappear { appModel.immersiveSpaceState = .closed } I have tried Using SpatialTracking & WorldTrackProvider, but I'm still quite new to Swift and coding in general so im unsure how to implement in conjunction with my RCP scene and if this is actually the right way to do it. Apologies for my lack of knowledge.
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Apr ’25
How to read a video stream that includes both the physical world and digital space when obtaining a video stream from VisionPro by applying for the Enterprise API but only reading a video stream that contains both the physical world and digital space
We have successfully obtained the permissions for "Main Camera access" and "Passthrough in screen capture" from Apple. Currently, the video streams we have received are from the physical world and do not include the digital world. How can we obtain video streams from both the physical and digital worlds? thank you!
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Apr ’25
Reality kit Entities Appearing to Lag in a Full or Progressive Style Immersive Space When Opened with Environment Turned On
PLATFORM AND VERSION Vision OS Development environment: Xcode 16.2, macOS 15.2 Run-time configuration: visionOS 2.3 (On Real Device, Not simulator) Please someone confirm I'm not crazy and this issue is actually out of my control. Spent hours trying to fix my app and running profiles because thought it was an issue related to my apps performance. Finally considered chance it was issue with API itself and made sample app to isolate problem, and it still existed in it. The issue is when a model entity moves around in a full space that was launched when the system environment immersion was turned up before opening it, the entities looks very choppy as they move around. If you take off the headset while still in the space, and put it back on, this fixes it and then they move smoothly as they should. In addition, you can also leave the space, and then turn the system environment immersion all the way down before launching the full space again, this will also make the entity moves smoothly as it should. If you launch a mixed immersion style instead of a full immersion style, this issue never arrises. The issue only arrises if you launch the space with either a full style, or progressive style, while the system immersion level is turned on. STEPS TO REPRODUCE https://github.com/nathan-707/ChoppyEntitySample Open my test project, its a small, modified vision os project template that shows it clearly. otherwise: create immersive space with either full or progressive immersion style. setup a entity in kinematic mode, apply a velocity to it to make it pass over your head when the space appears. if you opened the space while the Apple Vision Pros system environment was turned up, the entity will look choppy. if you take the headset off while in the same space, and put it back on, it will fix the issue and it will look smooth. alternatively if you open the space with the system immersion environment all the way down, you will also not run into the issue. Again, issue also does not happen if space launched is in mixed style.
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Jan ’25
目前在使用Unity进行开发时,遇到了材质(Material)和Shader在visionOS设备上无法正常渲染的问题
具体表现为:在Unity编辑器中材质显示正常,但部署到Vision Pro真机后部分材质丢失或Shader效果异常(如透明通道失效、光照计算错误等)。此问题影响了开发进度,希望得到技术支持的帮助 Specific results: The materials are displayed normally in the Unity editor, but after being deployed to the Vision Pro real machine, some materials are lost or the Shader effect is abnormal (such as transparent channel failure, antenna calculation error, etc.). This problem has affected the development progress, and I hope to get help from technical support
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Apr ’25