Platform: visionOS 2.6
Framework: RealityKit, SwiftUIComponent: ImagePresentationComponent
I’m working with the new ImagePresentationComponent from visionOS 26 and hitting a rendering limitation when switching to .spatialStereoImmersive viewing mode within a WindowGroup context.
This is what I’m seeing:
Pure immersive space: ImagePresentationComponent with .spatialStereoImmersive mode works perfectly in a standalone ImmersiveSpace
Mode switching API: All mode transitions work correctly (logs confirm the component updates)
Spatial content: .spatialStereo mode renders correctly in both window and immersive contexts.
This is where it’s breaking for me:
Window context: When the same RealityView + ImagePresentationComponent is placed inside a WindowGroup (even when that window is floating in a mixed immersive space), switching to .spatialStereoImmersive mode shows no visual change
The API calls succeed, state updates correctly, but the immersive content doesn’t render.
Apple’s Spatial Gallery demonstrates exactly what I’m trying to achieve:
Spatial photos displayed in a window with what feels like horizontal scroll view using system window control bar, etc.
Tapping a spatial photo smoothly transitions it to immersive mode in-place.
The immersive content appears to “grow” from the original window position by just changing IPC viewing modes.
This proves the functionality should be possible, but I can’t determine the correct configuration.
So, my question to is:
Is there a specific RealityView or WindowGroup configuration required to enable immersive content rendering from window contexts that you know of?
Are there bounds/clipping settings that need to be configured to allow immersive content to “break out” of window constraints?
Does .spatialStereoImmersive require a specific rendering context that’s not available in windowed RealityView instances?
How do you think Apple’s SG app achieves this functionality?
For a little more context:
All viewing modes are available: [.mono, .spatialStereo, .spatialStereoImmersive]
The spatial photos are valid and work correctly in pure immersive space
Mixed immersive space is active when testing window context
No errors or warnings in console beyond the successful mode switching logs I’m getting
Any insights into the proper configuration for window-hosted immersive content
General
RSS for tagDiscuss Spatial Computing on Apple Platforms.
Selecting any option will automatically load the page
Post
Replies
Boosts
Views
Activity
Hi I have a monitoring app, that will take input video from uvc and process it using Metal, and eventually get a MTLTexture.
The problem I'm facing is I have to convert MTLTexture to CGImage then call TextureResource.replace, which is super slow. Metal processing speed is same as input frame rate(50pfs), but MTLTexture -> CGImage -> TextureResource only got 7fps...
Is there any way I can make it faster?
Topic:
Spatial Computing
SubTopic:
General
Tags:
Media Player
Frameworks
Media Accessibility
Core Media
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
Is there any way to detect if an entity is being looked at in a RealityView. I know it is possible to add a "HoverEffectComponent()" which will highlight the entity a little when you gaze on it, but there doesn't seem to be any way to call a function from this. There is also no GazeGesture or anything similar.
I'm developing a VisionOS app with bouncing ball physics and struggling to achieve natural bouncing behavior using RealityKit's physics system. Despite following Apple's recommended parameters, the ball loses significant energy on each bounce and doesn't behave like a real basketball, tennis ball, or football would.
With identical physics parameters (restitution = 1.0), RealityKit shows significant energy loss. I've had to implement a custom physics system to compensate, but I want to use native RealityKit physics. It's impossible to make it work by applying custom impulses.
Ball Physics Setup (Following Apple Forum Recommendations)
// From PhysicsManager.swift
private func createBallEntityRealityKit() -> Entity {
let ballRadius: Float = 0.05
let ballEntity = Entity()
ballEntity.name = "bouncingBall"
// Mesh and material
let mesh = MeshResource.generateSphere(radius: ballRadius)
var material = PhysicallyBasedMaterial()
material.baseColor = .init(tint: .cyan)
material.roughness = .float(0.3)
material.metallic = .float(0.8)
ballEntity.components.set(ModelComponent(mesh: mesh, materials: [material]))
// Physics setup from Apple Developer Forums
let physics = PhysicsBodyComponent(
massProperties: .init(mass: 0.624), // Seems too heavy for 5cm ball
material: PhysicsMaterialResource.generate(
staticFriction: 0.8,
dynamicFriction: 0.6,
restitution: 1.0 // Perfect elasticity, yet still loses energy
),
mode: .dynamic
)
ballEntity.components.set(physics)
ballEntity.components.set(PhysicsMotionComponent())
// Collision setup
let collisionShape = ShapeResource.generateSphere(radius: ballRadius)
ballEntity.components.set(CollisionComponent(shapes: [collisionShape]))
return ballEntity
}
Ground Plane Physics
// From GroundPlaneView.swift
let groundPhysics = PhysicsBodyComponent(
massProperties: .init(mass: 1000),
material: PhysicsMaterialResource.generate(
staticFriction: 0.7,
dynamicFriction: 0.6,
restitution: 1.0 // Perfect bounce
),
mode: .static
)
entity.components.set(groundPhysics)
Wall Physics
// From WalledBoxManager.swift
let wallPhysics = PhysicsBodyComponent(
massProperties: .init(mass: 1000),
material: PhysicsMaterialResource.generate(
staticFriction: 0.7,
dynamicFriction: 0.6,
restitution: 0.85 // Slightly less than ground
),
mode: .static
)
wall.components.set(wallPhysics)
Collision Detection
// From GroundPlaneView.swift
content.subscribe(to: CollisionEvents.Began.self) { event in
guard physicsMode == .realityKit else { return }
let currentTime = Date().timeIntervalSince1970
guard currentTime - lastCollisionTime > 0.1 else { return }
if event.entityA.name == "bouncingBall" || event.entityB.name == "bouncingBall" {
let normal = event.collision.normal
// Distinguish between wall and ground collisions
if abs(normal.y) < 0.3 { // Wall bounce
print("Wall collision detected")
} else if normal.y > 0.7 { // Ground bounce
print("Ground collision detected")
}
lastCollisionTime = currentTime
}
}
Issues Observed
Energy Loss: Despite restitution = 1.0 (perfect elasticity), the ball loses ~20-30% energy per bounce
Wall Sliding: Ball tends to slide down walls instead of bouncing naturally
No Damping Control: Comments mention damping values but they don't seem to affect the physics
Change in mass also doesn't do much.
Custom Physics System (Workaround)
I've implemented a custom physics system that manually calculates velocities and applies more realistic restitution values:
// From BouncingBallComponent.swift
struct BouncingBallComponent: Component {
var velocity: SIMD3<Float> = .zero
var angularVelocity: SIMD3<Float> = .zero
var bounceState: BounceState = .idle
var lastBounceTime: TimeInterval = 0
var bounceCount: Int = 0
var peakHeight: Float = 0
var totalFallDistance: Float = 0
enum BounceState {
case idle
case falling
case justBounced
case bouncing
case settled
}
}
Is this energy loss expected behavior in RealityKit, even with perfect restitution (1.0)?
Are there additional physics parameters (damping, solver iterations, etc.) that could improve bounce behavior?
Would switching to Unity be necessary for more realistic ball physics, or am I missing something in RealityKit?
Even in the last video here: https://stepinto.vision/example-code/collisions-physics-physics-material/ bounce of the ball is very unnatural - stops after 3-4 bounces. I apply custom impulses, but then if I have walls around the ball, it's almost impossible to make it look natural. I also saw this post https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/759422 and ball is still not bouncing naturally.
Hi,
we've been through the Explore Object Tracking for visionOS and worked through the sample code ExploringObjectTrackingWithARKit.
What we'd really like to see is Object Tracking for iOS using devices with either LiDAR or the TrueDepth/RGB cameras.
I'm trying to run a PhotogrammetrySession based on photos taken in an AVCaptureSession and stored as .heic files.
When I load the files I'm always seeing the error "Sample 0 missing LiDAR point cloud!" showing up for each individual sample.
Debugging shows that sample.depthDataMap is populated, also the .heic contains depth data which can be extracted using e.g. heif-convert on my Mac.
Comparing the .heic I created to one of the ObjectCaptureSession which doesn't show the LiDAR warning, I noticed the only difference being the HEIC information here:
So my questions are:
Are these the missing information in my manual capture causing this warning?
Can I somehow add these information in an AVCaptureSession?
Do these information allow better photogrammetry results?
Hello,
There are odd artifacts (one looks like an image placeholder) appearing when dismissing an immersive space which is displaying an ImagePresentationComponent. Both artifacts look like widgets..
See below our simple code displaying the ImagePresentationComponent and the images of the odd artifacts that appear briefly when dismissing the immersive space.
import OSLog
import RealityKit
import SwiftUI
struct ImmersiveImageView: View {
let logger = Logger(subsystem: AppConstant.SUBSYSTEM, category: "ImmersiveImageView")
@Environment(AppModel.self) private var appModel
var body: some View {
RealityView { content in
if let currentMedia = appModel.currentMedia,
var imagePresentationComponent = currentMedia.imagePresentationComponent {
let imagePresentationComponentEntity = Entity()
switch currentMedia.type {
case .iphoneSpatialMovie:
logger.info("\(#function) \(#line) spatial3DImmersive display for \(String(describing: currentMedia))")
imagePresentationComponent.desiredViewingMode = .spatial3DImmersive
case .twoD:
logger.info("\(#function) \(#line) spatial3DImmersive display for \(String(describing: currentMedia))")
imagePresentationComponent.desiredViewingMode = .spatial3DImmersive
case .visionProConvertedSpatialPhoto:
logger.info("\(#function) \(#line) spatialStereoImmersive display for \(String(describing: currentMedia))")
imagePresentationComponent.desiredViewingMode = .spatialStereoImmersive
default :
logger.error("\(#function) \(#line) Unsupported media type \(currentMedia.type)")
assertionFailure("Unsupported media type \(currentMedia.type)")
}
imagePresentationComponentEntity.components.set(imagePresentationComponent)
imagePresentationComponentEntity.position = AppConstant.Position.spacialImagePosition
content.add(imagePresentationComponentEntity)
}
let toggleViewAttachmentComponent = ViewAttachmentComponent(rootView: ToggleImmersiveSpaceButton())
let toggleViewAttachmentComponentEntity = Entity(components: toggleViewAttachmentComponent)
toggleViewAttachmentComponentEntity.position = SIMD3<Float>(
AppConstant.Position.spacialImagePosition.x + 1,
AppConstant.Position.spacialImagePosition.y,
AppConstant.Position.spacialImagePosition.z
)
toggleViewAttachmentComponentEntity.scale = AppConstant.Scale.attachments
content.add(toggleViewAttachmentComponentEntity)
}
}
}
I am getting the error "Initializing hosting entity without a context" in the console when I build and run my game in XCode 16.0 beta, targeting Vision Pro OS 2.0 (22N5252n).
Not sure where the error is originating.
We've recently discovered that our app crashes on startup on the latest visionOS 2.0 beta 5 (22N5297g) build. In fact, the entire field of view would dim down and visionOS would then restart, showing the Apple logo. Interestingly, no app crash is reported by Xcode during debug.
After investigation, we have isolated the issue to a specific USDZ asset in our app. Loading it in a sample, blank project also causes visionOS to reliably crash, or become extremely unresponsive with rendering artifacts everywhere.
This looks like a potentially serious issue. Even if the asset is problematic, loading it should not crash the entire OS. We have filed feedback FB14756285, along with a demo project. Hopefully someone can take a look. Thanks!
Hey,
I'm building an interior design app In Vision OS 2.0. I'm fetching the planes detected by ARKit and I then proceed to add them with an "OcclusionMaterial" to make sure my object are occluded accordingly. However, I'm facing two problems with this:
The ground shadows are completely disabled as soon as an occlusion material is added, even if I inset the planes doing the occlusion. I've looked into this: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/shadergraph/realitykit/shadow-receiving-occlusion-surface-(realitykit) but when I tried to use it, it behaved exactly as "OcclusionMaterial".
The planes are also occluding all windows (mines and the system ones), which is a behavior I'd like to avoid. I only want to occluded the Entity I added. Is there a way to achieve this?
Thanks in advance
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.
Hello everyone,
I am currently developing an experience for visionOS using RealityKit and I would like to achieve volumetric light effects, such as visible light rays or shafts through fog or dust.
I found this GitHub project: https://github.com/robcupisz/LightShafts, which demonstrates the kind of visual style I am aiming for. I would like to know if there is a way to create similar effects using RealityKit on visionOS.
So far, I have experimented with DirectionalLight, SpotLight, ImageBasedLight, and custom materials (e.g., additive blending on translucent meshes), but none of these approaches can replicate the volumetric light shaft look shown in the repository above.
Questions:
Is there a recommended technique or workaround in RealityKit to simulate light shafts or volumetric lighting?
Is creating a custom mesh (e.g., cone or volume geometry with gradient alpha and additive blending) the only feasible method?
Are there any examples, best practices, or sample projects from Apple or other developers that showcase a similar visual style?
Any advice or hints would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!
Topic:
Spatial Computing
SubTopic:
General
Tags:
RealityKit
Reality Composer Pro
Shader Graph Editor
visionOS
I would like to translate info in a three.js based web app as a 3D model in a volumetric window. Is it possible to do this in a similar manner as loading a web page in a WKWebView?
Sorry for the cross-post but it's now two days in and this isn't fixed.
If you try to use Xcode 16.3b3 with visionOS, it won't download the visionOS SDK, gives a 'network error' so you can't use the latest beta for Apple Vision Pro.
FB16927025
FB16917874
FB16910449
Hello,
A lot of the RealityKit APIs (Ex. LowLevelMesh, LowLevelTexture, etc.) are marked with MainActor so they needed to be accessed on the main thread.
This creates issues when we need to perform expensive GPU related operations since now we need to perform those on the main thread. This results in bottlenecks and hangs in our application. We would like to use a multi-threaded approach to solve these problems which is difficult to do here. We are constantly streaming data whether the app is just appearing or the user is interacting with our application so we need to be able to perform these operations on a separate thread.
Any advice on how to achieve this using RealityKit?
Thank you.
Hi, I would like to train Gaussian splats from my object captures. So I need a pointcloud and camera positions together with the original photos taken to train GS In an app like postShot.
I could do this with Reality Capture, which supports exporting pointclouds and camera position but it does not do well with turntable photogrammetry.
While the Apple object capture API does produce really solid results with turntable images.
so my question is, can I export camera data from my object captures to use in another application? Or is there may be a plan to at this feature in the future?
It would be really helpful in creating ultra realistic, 3-D objects in Gaussian splat format.
Thanks for any isuggestions…
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!
We're developing an iOS application that integrates RoomCaptureSession with ARSCNView for room scanning. Our implementation differs from the standard RoomCaptureView because we need custom UI guidance with 3D dots placed in the scanning environment to guide users through the capture process.
Bug Description:
The application crashes when users attempt to scan multiple rooms or apartments in sequence. The crash specifically occurs with the following pattern:
User successfully scans first room with multiple hotspots (working correctly)
User stops scanning, moves to a new room
In the new room, first 1-2 hotspots work correctly
Application crashes when attempting to scan additional hotspots
Technical Details:
Error: SLAM Anchor assertion failure in SlamAnchor.cpp:37 : HasValidPose()
Crash occurs in Thread 27 with CAPIDetectionOutputFwdNode
Error suggests invalid positioning when placing AR anchors
Steps to Reproduce:
Start room scan
Complete multiple hotspot captures in first room
Stop scanning
Start new room scan
Capture 1-2 hotspots successfully
Attempt additional hotspot captures -> crashes
Attempted Solutions:
Implemented anchor cleanup between sessions
Added position validation before anchor placement
Implemented ARSession error handling
Added proper thread management for AR operations
Environment:
Device: iPhone 14 Pro (LiDAR equipped)
iOS Version: 18.1.1 (22B91)
Testing through TestFlight
Crash Log Details:
Exception Type: EXC_CRASH (SIGABRT)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000
Exception Note: EXC_CORPSE_NOTIFY
Triggered by Thread: 27
Thread 27 Crashed:
0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00000001f0cc91d4 __pthread_kill + 8
1 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x0000000228e12ef8 pthread_kill + 268
2 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00000001a86bbad8 abort + 128
3 AppleCV3D 0x0000000234d71a28 cv3d::vio::capi::SlamAnchor::SlamAnchor
Question:
Is there a recommended approach for handling multiple room captures with custom ARSCNView integration? The standard RoomCaptureView implementation doesn't show this behavior, but we need the custom guidance functionality that ARSCNView provides.
Crash Log
Code and full crash logs can be provided if needed.
When using RoomPlan to collect data and processing it with StructureBuilder, the app crashes.
Crash thread:
RoomScanCore.offlineFloorPlanGeneration
How should I deal with this issue? I’ve already implemented crash capture, but no crash was logged—the app just crashes directly.
RoomScanCore.offlineFloorPlanGeneration