Flock XR projects don’t have to stay on a flat screen.
You can use augmented reality (AR) to place your 3D world into the room around you, or use Magic Window to look around a virtual world by moving your phone.
You can also use the camera as the background to create an AR-like experience on devices that don’t support full AR.
Use augmented reality
In AR, your Flock XR project appears in your real surroundings.
On a supported Android phone or tablet, open your project in Chrome. There is nothing extra to install.
Use the set XR mode to AR block near the start of your project.
When the project runs, an enter AR button appears. Tap the button to enter AR.
The browser requires the player to choose to enter AR, so Flock XR cannot start it automatically.
Once inside, you can move your device around to explore the project from different positions and angles.
What if my device doesn’t support AR?
AR on Android uses Google’s ARCore technology. Most supported Android devices can use it directly in the browser, although some devices may not have the sensors needed.
If AR isn’t available, Flock XR falls back to displaying your scene over the device’s rear camera.
You’ll still be able to see your Flock XR world in front of your surroundings, but the objects won’t stay fixed in a particular place in the room as you move your device.
AR on iPhone and iPad
Safari on iPhone and iPad does not currently support the web technology Flock XR needs to place a project into the room using full AR.
Instead, Flock XR displays your project over the picture from the rear camera.
This creates an AR-like view of your project and surroundings, but the virtual scene does not stay fixed in the room as you move the phone or tablet.
Use AR in a headset
Headsets that support showing the real world through their cameras can also run Flock XR projects in AR.
Instead of looking at a small model through a phone screen, you can place your Flock XR scene into the room around you.
You can even experience the scene at life size.
Controllers and supported hand tracking continue to work, so you can interact with the project while seeing your real surroundings.
Use Magic Window
Magic Window gives you another way to explore a Flock XR world using a phone.
Use:
set XR mode to Magic Window
Hold your phone up and turn around to look around the scene.
Instead of placing virtual objects into your real room, the phone acts like a window into the virtual world. Point it in a different direction and your view of the Flock XR world changes with it.
There is no enter button for Magic Window. It starts when the block runs.
Magic Window needs access to the device’s motion sensors. If those sensors aren’t available, Flock XR falls back to showing the scene over the rear camera instead.
On a desktop computer there is no phone movement to track, so Magic Window does not change the view.
In a headset, Magic Window becomes a full VR view because the headset can already track the movement of your head.
Change the size of your AR scene
Your Flock XR world doesn’t have to appear at its original size.
Use the set AR scene scale block to turn an entire world into a small model.
You can control:
- Scale — how wide the scene appears
- Distance — how far in front of you it appears when AR starts
- Height — how far above the floor it appears
For example, you could shrink a landscape down and place it on a table so that you can walk around it and look at it from different sides.
Make your scene life size
Set scale to 0 to keep the scene at life size.
Instead of looking down at a model, you can then stand inside the Flock XR world and explore it at its original scale.
This can create a very different experience from viewing the same project as a miniature model.
Place a model in your room
The default AR scene scale block starts with a scene that is:
- 80 cm wide
- 30 cm in front of you
- Sitting on the floor
Change height if you want the model to appear higher up.
For example, raising a small scene can make it look as though it is sitting on a real table rather than on the floor.
If you don’t use the scale block, Flock XR chooses a suitable default for the device. On a phone, the scene is shown as a model. In a headset, it appears at life size.
What happens to the ground?
When you shrink a scene into a model, a large flat ground could look strange sitting in the middle of your real room.
Flock XR therefore gets flat ground out of the way when a scene is reduced in size.
It can still provide an invisible surface for shadows, helping your virtual objects look as though they are sitting on a real surface.
Terrain created using a heightmap is part of your 3D world, so it remains visible.
Use a camera as the background
You can also put the picture from a device’s camera behind your Flock XR scene.
Use the use camera as background block and choose:
- user — use the front or selfie camera
- environment — use the rear camera
This works on phones and can also work with a webcam on a computer.
It is useful for creating an AR-like experience without using full AR.
For example, you could place a Flock XR character over a live view from the camera.
Interact with projects in AR
On a phone or tablet, you interact with your project by tapping the screen.
You don’t have a VR controller and pointer, so simply tap objects to interact with them.
Your normal user interface also stays on the screen. Buttons, sliders and text panels remain in place while you move the phone and can be tapped in the same way as they can in a normal Flock XR project.
In an AR headset, you can continue to use controllers and supported hand tracking.
Move around in AR
You don’t need VR movement controls to explore an AR scene.
You move by physically moving.
Walk around a model to see another side, move closer to inspect something, or move around your room to explore a life-size experience.
VR features such as teleporting are therefore not used in AR.
Design for AR
The same Flock XR world can feel very different depending on how you present it.
A world that works well on a screen might become:
- A miniature model sitting on a table
- A landscape you can walk around
- A life-size environment
- An interactive object in your room
- A world you explore using your phone as a window
Think about how large the scene should be and where you expect the player to view it from.
Try different sizes
Test your project at the size you expect people to use.
Something that looks clear as an 80 cm model can feel completely different when experienced at life size.
Give small scenes somewhere to sit
Small AR models can be easier to explore when they appear at table height rather than on the floor.
Use the height setting to position the scene somewhere comfortable to view.
Think about lighting and colour
Your real surroundings are still visible in AR.
Dark or subtle virtual objects can be difficult to see in a brightly lit room. Strong shapes and clear, well-lit colours can make important parts of your scene easier to distinguish.
Remember your surroundings
When using AR, you may be moving around a real space while looking at a screen or virtual content.
Make sure you have enough clear space around you and stay aware of real objects, furniture and other people while you explore.