As far as I can tell, there is no way for a visionOS app to place 3D content in the real world while also allowing other apps to show their windows. So users cannot, for example, have a fireplace in one corner of the room, a confetti cannon in the other corner, and then browse Safari in the meantime.
We have volumetric windows, but they seem to act mostly like regular windows. I’d like to mix non-full immersive experiences with windows from other apps.
@simonbs As discussed in Slack, that is technically possible. The user can place either kind of window anywhere. But they get repositioned in front on crown double tap, or on reboot.
But this is only possible with volumetric windows, right? They seem to move freely around and the app can’t restrict their XYZ-movement, like forcing a Y-position of zero to put the object on the floor. Or am I missing something?
Yeah, it’s not possible in an immersive space. You can pretend that the full space acts like you’re positioning items in the real world, but you’re fighting against the OS’s treatment of windows as positioning relative to the user.
@its_john_davis@mitchwinn@helge Yeah, that’s what I’m seeing too. That doesn’t provide for a good AR-experience. It’s more like… A regular app window with a 3D object and a transparent background 🤷♂️
@simonbs@its_john_davis@mitchwinn Well, the windows do stick where people leave them. You can place the cannon in the kitchen, walk away and come back to it.
Either way I expect snaps (to walls/objects) and pinning of windows to become a thing.
@helge@its_john_davis@mitchwinn Yah, I think it’s the snapping I miss. Specifically, I want to snap to the floor. To me, that feels more like “real AR”.
@simonbs@its_john_davis@mitchwinn v1 🙂 I think the problem with letting apps place objects arbitrarily in a shared space is that they may conflict. Overlap scale etc. My expectation is that we'll just have windows in shared for a while. Though window management might improve (i.e. being able to pin a window to a physical position permanently).
With "snap" I mean something else, "snap" would click windows onto walls like magnets, so you don't have to position them precisely in a manual way.
@simonbs@helge@its_john_davis Is ARKit available outside of immersive spaces? ARKit has WorldAnchors but I don't have a device yet to try if that "feels" like snapping when moving an object around.
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