Scene Viewer

Scene Viewer is the Android equivalent of AR Quick Look. A product page opens a GLB model through an intent, and the phone usually shows it first as an object and then, on tapping the AR button, placed in the camera view on the floor at real size. It is built into the Google app on Android and uses Google Play Services for AR, which most Android phones of the last several years have.

The page needs the GLB file and the correct link. Scene Viewer handles surface detection, lighting estimation and scale.

Because iPhone and Android use different files, a product page serves the USDZ or the GLB depending on the device that asks.

What happens when the shopper taps View in AR

The product page holds a link of a particular form, an Android intent, that names the model file and the mode. Chrome on Android hands the link to Scene Viewer, which downloads the GLB, shows it against a plain background with the option to go to AR, and then opens the camera. The shopper points the phone at the floor, Scene Viewer finds the surface, and the model is placed on it at the size the file says. They can walk round it, move it and take a photo. Closing it returns them to the product page.

The link can ask for AR straight away, for the 3D view only, or for AR where the phone supports it and the 3D view where it does not. The page can also give a fallback address for phones that cannot open the viewer. Google documents the link format on its Scene Viewer page.

What the model needs

A GLB file served over HTTPS, with the model built at real size: one unit in the file is one metre. A sofa that is 2.1 metres wide must be 2.1 units wide in the file, or it is placed in the room at the wrong size. The file should be as small as the page can get it, because it is downloaded on a mobile connection when the shopper taps; the entries on 3D model optimisation and Draco compression cover how.

Scene Viewer shows the model with the lighting of the room, estimated from the camera, so the materials have to be built to respond to light; a texture with the lighting painted in looks wrong in the room. The PBR materials entry explains the difference.

Which phones

Scene Viewer runs on Android phones that have the Google app and Google Play Services for AR, which Google keeps a supported devices list for; most mid-range and flagship phones of the last several years are on it. Phones without it get the 3D view or the fallback. On iPhone and iPad the same button opens AR Quick Look instead, which needs the model as a USDZ file. A product page does not need to tell the two apart. Our viewer serves the GLB to Android and the USDZ to iPhone from the same View in AR button, with nothing to install; the web AR entry covers that setup. The 3D product viewer page has the prices and a demo you can open on an Android phone. The four products in our viewer article can be tried on either phone.

Questions

What is Google Scene Viewer?

Google's AR viewer on Android. A web page opens a GLB model in it through a link, and the phone shows the model placed in the room at real size through the camera.

Does Scene Viewer need an app?

No app to install. It is built into the Google app and uses Google Play Services for AR, which most recent Android phones have. The shopper taps a button on the web page and the viewer opens.

What file does Scene Viewer use?

A GLB file, the binary form of glTF, built at real size with one unit per metre. iPhone uses a USDZ file in AR Quick Look instead, so a product page keeps both.

Why does my model appear the wrong size in Scene Viewer?

The file is not built at one unit per metre. Scene Viewer places the model at the size the file says, so a model exported in centimetres appears a hundred times too large.