hey,
i just started to work with needle engine.
my goal is to program a little webxr game that is supposed to played via mobile phone using ar features for a school project.
currently my mobile phone is not supporting arcore and i looking for a way to emulate a mobile phone on my pc for development.
i found out about android studio and its feature to create a virtual device and i did that but i can’t seem to get the ar feature working when using the virtual devices browser to open an glitch with ar featues for example.
does someone know how it might can be done? can it even be done in android studio or do i have to go another route?
thanks in advance
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When it comes to testing AR features, it is generally challenging to emulate them accurately on a PC, because AR requires a combination of hardware and software that is specific to mobile devices, such as cameras and sensors for motion tracking and environment understanding.
Android Studio emulators do allow you to test regular mobile applications, but they typically do not support ARCore or equivalent AR frameworks because these require access to a physical device’s camera and sensors, which cannot be accurately simulated in an emulator. The emulators in Android Studio are intended for testing standard Android applications, but they lack the necessary hardware support for AR.
For development purposes, you can try the following approaches:
Use an actual AR-supported device: This is the most reliable way to test AR features. You may want to consider borrowing an AR-enabled device for your development and testing purposes if you do not own one.
Mock AR interactions: Develop your game with mock interactions or placeholder objects that simulate AR functionality, which can be replaced or enabled when using an actual device. This can be done within the Needle Engine environment, allowing you to progress with other aspects of your game.
WebXR Emulator Extension: For quick WebXR API testing, consider using a WebXR emulator browser extension that can simulate some device inputs for XR sessions in the browser.
Please note that despite these suggestions, there’s no complete substitute for testing on a real device, especially if you want to ensure a good user experience with accurate tracking and performance. Testing on an actual mobile device is vital before releasing an AR application.
You can find additional information about Mobile AR development on the Needle Engine docs at: thread_73kWKYIiLlG366eFal2s7op3
Not all WebXR apis can be tested with it (e.g. you can’t test image tracking) but the general cycle like placing content, moving around in the scene and interacting with objects work great
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