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WebXR

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Re: WebXR

#51

Post by jimmySixDOF »

jayd16 wrote: post #30
hoc wrote: post #10

For me the main advantage of WebXR is that one can create complex 3D objects at runtime/on the fly without havjbg to load them as assets or compiling them into the binary. Any thougts on the best way to do this in classic runtimes like Unity or Unreal (which scripting plugins, which base construction objects/assets?)? The main issue I have with WebXR, though, is it being canvas-based instead of being page/HTML-based,…

For Unity, I think you can just dynamically load DLLs as long as you're not on a plane form that requires AOT (iOS). Even then, for both Unreal and Unity there are many options to use scripting languages like js or lua or what have you.

Unity support for WebXR has been at the back of thier roadmap Under Consideration [1] for years and the valiant community driven efforts (@DePanther) are just too hard to keep current so lot of key Unity release improvements are missing.

[1] https://unity.com/roadmap/unity-platform/arvr

Re: WebXR

#52

Post by rchaud »

zmmmmm wrote: post #45

It's going to be really interesting to see if Apple's headset will support WebXR. If so it will probably be the only way to get open VR/AR content on there and could drive a huge expansion in its use. Which would be a great thing because it's much nicer to work with (from my admittedly, very meagre experience) than having to build things in Unity etc.

It won't, for the same reasons that web apps weren't allowed on the App Store 15 years ago.

Re: WebXR

#53

Post by rchaud »

te_chris wrote: post #17
prophesi wrote: post #7

Won't be touching WebXR again until iOS implements it. There's an experimental feature flag to enable it, so hopefully this actually happens soon.

Not sure why you’re being downvoted. Not being able to deploy to the most powerful devices is a real constraint of actually using the API

What bottlenecks have you come across that would solved if it ran on an iPhone?

Re: WebXR

#54

Post by rchaud »

diegocg wrote: post #8

This is the kind of thing that makes me lose any hope in web browsers. Normal browsing is getting worse, web apps are still unable to provide a truly native-like experience. But instead of fixing these core problems, let's add yet another corner case API...

Normal browsing is fine; the good stuff is just paywalled. The non-paywalled stuff is getting worse to browse through, for obvious reasons.

Re: WebXR

#55

Post by marcellus23 »

rchaud wrote: post #52
zmmmmm wrote: post #45

It's going to be really interesting to see if Apple's headset will support WebXR. If so it will probably be the only way to get open VR/AR content on there and could drive a huge expansion in its use. Which would be a great thing because it's much nicer to work with (from my admittedly, very meagre experience) than having to build things in Unity etc.

It won't, for the same reasons that web apps weren't allowed on the App Store 15 years ago.

What does the App Store have to do with it? Apple supported adding web apps to the Home Screen from the very first iPhone OS.

Re: WebXR

#56

Post by hoc »

andybak wrote: post #49
hoc wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heh. What would be your favourite thoughts/combo here? Sorry for not being clear on the code part. I assumed USD and the like would be the norm now. "Complex objects" is not really helpful in this context, though.

USD is fairly widely used. But it's not "code" in the sense that I mean it. It's (mostly) declarative (like HTML) so I lump it in with obj, fbx and gltf. I am assuming code means "executable code" - I know the boundaries are fuzzy here and some file formats are Turing complete - but I guess what I'm saying is that I'm still not sure what you're asking!

Code that I can create during runtime. Ideally interactively.

Re: WebXR

#57

Post by hoc »

andybak wrote: post #50
hoc wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok. will look into scripting plugins then for now, probably bridging some introspected interfaces. Would be nice if one could add/integrate existing JS libs but that's outside the Unity context.

I'm keeping a close eye on WASM as a way to hotload code in Unity and as a way to access libraries from a variety of ecosystems.

Good point.

So many great exec environments already for WASM. Is there already something available for Unity? Maybe even with a source language and compiler built in?

My focus currently is on creating code inside a running app (by the user) with references to selected Unity objects and their methods. While WebXR is great for this, the first (and sometimes only) SDK implementations for certain devices are usually in Unity.

WASM probably ist great for hotloading but would need a more complex toolset available at runtime to edit and create. Interactivity and incremental code creation would also be better in a scripting envirnment.

Re: WebXR

#58

Post by hoc »

gregfagan wrote: post #39
Uehreka wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just a heads up, when folks say “complex 3d objects”, it’s usually assumed that they’re talking about things like GLTF files, which contain geometry, materials, lighting elements, animations, etc, and which Unity/Unreal can absolutely load/unload at runtime or even stream from a media server online (so they don’t have to be in the binary). However, once you cross over into scripting code, you are in fact crossing a b…

I wrote up a post on my R3F based WebXR hot reloading setup here: https://github.com/gregfagan/blog/blob/main/xr-remote-displa... You don’t actually need this if you’re just working on graphics, as usually a flat projection is fine, but it is quite nice to work inside your own XR app while iterating on the interaction.

Nice. I also started looking into possible WebRTC sources and servers since at least this could be integrated quite well into WebXR.

Unfortunately I find myself cycling thru needed components for interactivity these day and being stuck between competing SW and HW constraints.

Will give it a closer read next week.

Re: WebXR

#59

Post by hoc »

stavros wrote: post #47
Uehreka wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just a heads up, when folks say “complex 3d objects”, it’s usually assumed that they’re talking about things like GLTF files, which contain geometry, materials, lighting elements, animations, etc, and which Unity/Unreal can absolutely load/unload at runtime or even stream from a media server online (so they don’t have to be in the binary). However, once you cross over into scripting code, you are in fact crossing a b…

Is hot-reloading code useful past the development stage? In what way? (I'm not familiar with 3D development at all).

For me it's about allowing more than plain UI interaction and about interactively building immersive working enviroments and tool-spaces.

Re: WebXR

#60

Post by stavros »

hoc wrote: post #59
stavros wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is hot-reloading code useful past the development stage? In what way? (I'm not familiar with 3D development at all).

For me it's about allowing more than plain UI interaction and about interactively building immersive working enviroments and tool-spaces.

Ah, that's an interesting option, thanks!
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