WebXR polyfill with examples

This repository holds a polyfill and sample code for a proposed API for building AR and VR applications in web browsers.

We initially created this polyfill when the community group was calling the specification "WebVR", so using "WebXR" was not confusing. Now that the community group is working towards changing the name of the spec, this repo is a bit confusing. So, we're working to bring this repo's master branch in line with the community group's draft spec and will use a separate branch for experimental features like AR support.

That work is not yet complete.

In the meantime, you can compare the two from the community group's draft spec and our experimental API description.

WARNING

THIS SOFTWARE IS PRERELEASE, IS NOT READY FOR PRODUCTION USE, AND WILL SOON HAVE BREAKING CHANGES.

NOTHING IN THIS REPO COMES WITH ANY WARRENTY WHATSOEVER. DO NOT USE IT FOR ANYTHING EXCEPT EXPERIMENTS.

There are a lot of pieces of the polyfill that are stubbed out and throw 'Not implemented' when called.

Running the examples

The master branch of this repo is automatically built and hosted at https://examples.webxrexperiments.com

The develop branch is hosted at https://develop.examples.webxrexperiments.com

Building and Running the examples

Clone this repo and then change directories into webxr-polyfill/

Install npm and then run the following:

npm install   # downloads webpack and an http server
npm start     # builds the polyfill in dist/webxr-polyfill.js and start the http server in the current directory

Using one of the supported browsers listed below, go to http://YOUR_HOST_NAME:8080/

Portable builds

To build the WebXR polyfill into a single file that you can use in a different codebase:

npm run build

The resulting file will be in dist/webxr-polyfill.js

Writing your own XR apps

The WebXR polyfill is not dependent on any external libraries, but examples/common.js has a handy base class, XRExampleBase, that wraps all of the boilerplate of starting a WebXR session and rendering into a WebGL layer using Three.js.

Look in examples/ar_simplest/index.html for an example of how to extend XRExampleBase and how to start up an app.

If you run these apps on Mozilla's ARKit based iOS app then they will use the class in polyfill/platform/ARKitWrapper.js to get pose and anchor data out of ARKit.

If you run these apps on Google's ARCore backed browser then they will use the class in polyfill/platform/ARCoreCameraRenderer.js to use data out of ARCore.

If you run these apps on desktop Firefox or Chrome with a WebVR 1.1 supported VR headset, the headset will be exposed as a WebXR XRDisplay.

If you run these apps on a device with no VR or AR tracking, the apps will use the 3dof orientation provided by Javascript orientation events.

Supported Displays

• Flat Display (AR only, needs VR)
• WebVR 1.1 HMD (VR only, needs AR)
• Cardboard (NOT YET)
• Hololens (NOT YET)

Supported Realities

• Camera Reality (ARKit on Mozilla iOS Test App, WebARonARCore on Android, WebARonARKit on iOS, WebRTC video stream (PARTIAL))
• Virtual Reality (Desktop Firefox with Vive and Rift, Daydream (NOT TESTED), GearVR (Not Tested), Edge with MS MR headsets (NOT TESTED))
• Passthrough Reality (NOT YET)

Supported Browsers

• Mozilla WebXR Playground iOS App using ARKit
• Google ARCore Test Chrome on Android
• Google ARKit Test Chrome on iOS
• Desktop Firefox with WebVR 1.1 HMDs
• Mobile Safari, Chrome, and Firefox (PARTIAL, Daydream NOT TESTED)
• GearVR Internet (NOT TESTED)