Step Into Newsletter – March 2, 2025

Teleportation, progress on Dark Spaces, Example Code, Labs, and checking in with Project Graveyard.

Let’s dive into a quick review of the example code and labs from the past two weeks.

Example Code

There are new posts in RealityKit Basics and Spatial SwiftUI. I also worked on an updated version of drag gesture that works better when a user is moving.

RealityKit Basics: update closure – The update closure will run when any referenced state changes. We can reach into our RealityView content to modify entities or components.

RealityKit Basics: attachments – We can create 2D SwiftUI attachments and add them to out 3D scenes as entities.

RealityKit Basics: Where is the Origin? – Windows, Volumes, and Spaces each have an origin for 3D content.

Spatial SwiftUI: Model3D – Model3D is a simple view that can load a USD or `.reality` file and display it in your SwiftUI view.

Spatial SwiftUI: Background UI for Volumes – We can use the back anchors for ornaments to to display user interfaces and data related to our content.

Gestures: Drag Gesture with Pivot – We can use the location3D values of the gesture to improve dragging when the user turns to face another direction.

Check out the Learn visionOS page for these examples and many more.

From the Labs

We have two new labs with ideas for teleportation in RealityKit. Both involve tapping on an entity to move to a new position. With waypoints, we keep the users orientation in the scene. With viewpoints, we adopt the orientation of the tapped entity.

I like to think of waypoints as useful for moving down a path. Viewpoints would be more useful in a virtual museum or gallery, when we want to focus attention on a subject.

Lab 034 – Teleport to waypoints – We can teleport to fixed locations without changing the users orientation in the scene.

Lab 035 – Teleport to viewpoints – We can adjust the users orientation in the scene by rotating a pivot entity. This will let us take on the viewpoint of a target entity.

Lab 036 – Virtual “Reality” Glasses – What if we could put on a pair of glasses that let us see out a virtual space back into reality? I had a little too much fun with this one.

DEVLOGS

I’m making slow but steady progress on the Dark Spaces project. I’ve collected a number of materials and shades and started working with Spatial Audio. I also started work on the first actual space. Most of the work until now has been about testing ideas and gathering resources. With Stacks, I have a basic scene on which I can build.

Dark Spaces – Devlog 004 – Captivity in a null space.

Dark Spaces – Devlog 005 – Starting work on the first space, Stacks.

I also wrote a longer devlog post about Project Graveyard. I’m going to publish new devlogs for this project on Step Into Vision. I thought it would be a good idea to write a summary of the first couple of versions.

Project Graveyard – Devlog 001 – The development journey so far.

Resources & Community

Shader Graph Examples by Yasuhito Nagatomo – A collection of advanced materials built with Shader Graph in Reality Composer Pro. I’ve been using a a few of these in Dark Spaces.

Voices of VR Podcast – Kent Bye is an oral historian and podcaster who has spent more than a decade documenting rise of immersive technology.

Vision Pros Podcast Episode 35 – Step Into Vision with Joseph Simpson – I joined Tim again to talk about Step Into Vision, Dark Spaces, and a year of working with Apple Vision Pro.

Launched: Aegis Core – I’ve been following the development of this game for some time. Mike B. launched it this week. He also came to Office Hours on Friday to share a few details about the development process.

Updated: Vibescape 3.0 – Gregory W. has updated his amazing app with a new birch grove environment. I spent some time there this week. If you have Apple Music, I suggest pairing this space with this meditation from Elena Brower, found on Flow State from Above & Beyond.

You know I love a good milestone and today I have two that I can mention. I finished another month where I posted on Step Into Vision every day. I have posted every day of January and February. This newsletter is also the 150th post of the site.