ARKit node disappear after 100m - swift

I'm currently working on ARKit (SceneKit) app. I've noticed that if I put a node at 100m, the node will show just fine but if I set it to 101m or farther, it won't show.
Is this the distance limit?
var translation = matrix_identity_float4x4
translation.columns.3.x = 1
translation.columns.3.y = 1
translation.columns.3.z = -100
let transform = simd_mul(currentFrame.camera.transform, translation)
let anchor = ARAnchor(name: "test", transform: transform)
sceneView.session.add(anchor: anchor)
Is there any way to increase this range?

For increasing a Camera's range use Far attribute in Z Clipping area of Attributes Inspector.
The default value is 100 meters.
var zFar: Double { get set }
Excerpt from Developer Documentation: The far value determines the maximal distance between the camera and a visible surface. If a surface is farther from the camera than this distance, the surface is clipped and does not appear. The default far value is 100.0.
let camera = SCNCamera()
camera.zFar = 1000
This post provides an important info.

Looks like there is no way to update the Z maximum range for SpriteKit. Only SceneKit allows you to modify this by updating the zfar property from the camera. Thanks to Gigantic for your help!

Related

Where a shadow plane should be defined in Scenekit

It's so confusing to me, would be grateful if anyone help me on it.
I have a shadow plane to show the shadow below the AR object. I read some article that they define this shadow in viewDidLoadand add it as the child bode to sceneView.scene. The question is, it should be defined only once for the floor surface?
for instance, I can add the shadow plane to renderer(_:didAdd:for:), it call it once when a new surface is detected. That is so cool for me. But the position of the shadow plane should be changed as well? can someone explain it to me that where it should be defined and wehere/when it should be updated?
here how I define the shadow plane
private func addShadowPlane(node: SCNNode, planeAnchor: ARPlaneAnchor) {
let anchorX = planeAnchor.center.x
let anchorY: planeAnchor.center.y
let anchorZ = planeAnchor.center.z
let floor = SCNFloor()
let floorNode = SCNNode(geometry: floor)
floorNode.position = SCNVector3(anchorX, anchorY, anchorZ)
floor.length = CGFloat(planeAnchor.extent.z)
floor.width = CGFloat(planeAnchor.extent.x)
floor.reflectivity = 0
floor.materials = [shadowMaterialStandard()]
node.addChildNode(floorNode)
}
func shadowMaterialStandard() -> SCNMaterial {
let material = SCNMaterial()
material.lightingModel = .physicallyBased
material.writesToDepthBuffer = true
material.readsFromDepthBuffer = true
material.colorBufferWriteMask = []
return material
}
The issue you might run into is: Do you want one single shadow plane in a kind of initial defined position and then remains there (or can be repositioned). Or do you want a lots of shadow planes, like on any surface captured with the ARKit? The problem might be, that all those planes will not be exact and accurate to the surfaces on top they are created (just more or less). You can make more accurate shapes for surfaces, but they are built up in an ongoing process and need more time to complete (imagine you scan a table by walking around). I also did some ARApps with Shadow planes. I usually create one single shadow plane (like 20x20 meters) on my request using a focus square. I fetch the worldPosition from the focus square, then I add a plane to that location using Scenekit (and not the Renderer for plane anchors). Keep in mind, there are many ways to do this. There is no best way.
Try to study this Apple Sample App for more information on placing objects, casting shadows etc:
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/arkit/environmental_analysis/placing_objects_and_handling_3d_interaction

Rejecting gravity effect SceneKit

This's my first project using SpriteKit.
I'm using these nodes
let physicsBody = SCNPhysicsBody(type: .dynamic, shape: nil)
physicsBody.isAffectedByGravity = true
physicsBody.mass = 1
geometryNode.physicsBody = physicsBody
let force = SCNVector3(0, 9.8, 0)
let position = SCNVector3(0, 0, 0)
geometryNode.physicsBody?.applyForce(force, at: position, asImpulse: false)
scnScene.rootNode.addChildNode(geometryNode)
My goal is to see the object stuck in the centre of my scene.
As read within SceneKit's documentation, SceneKit uses SI so Mass 1 means 1 kg.
Gravity force applied to the mass centre of this object is -9.8N ( 1kg * 9.8 m/s^2 ) on the Y-axis.
Applying 9.8N to the mass centre should bring the resultant force equal to 0 so no one force is applied and the object should be stuck in the centre but in my project, it falls down.
Where am I wrong?
It looks to me like you apply the force when you create the node.
From the developer docs on applyForce:
Discussion This method accelerates the body without imparting any
angular acceleration to it. The acceleration is applied for a single
simulation step (one frame).
I think you need to move your applyForce call to your update method in the scene. so that the force is constantly applied.

Getting SCNNode Bounding Size in Meters

I'm trying to wrap an SCNPlane around a SCNNode. I'm using ARKit so everything is measured in meters, but when I get the boundingBox, I get measurements in some other unit. I looked at Apple's documentation, and they don't specify what the units are.
For example, one of nodes is roughly 3 meters wide, but it says its 26 units.
I could do a rough division to get a constant and use that to do the unit conversions, but I was wondering if there's a less hacky way to do it?
let textContainerSize = textBodyNode.boundingBox
let xSize = textContainerSize.max.x - textContainerSize.min.x
let ySize = textContainerSize.max.y - textContainerSize.min.y
print("size")
print(xSize, ySize) // <-- returns (26,2)
let planeGeometry = SCNPlane(width: xSize, height: ySize)
One SceneKit unit is one meter in ARKit but the boundingBox is defined in the nodes local coordinate system. So your node probably has a parent with a scale different from 1.

ARKit: Placing an SCNText at a particular point in front of the camera

I've managed to get a cube (SCNNode) placed on a surface where the camera is pointed, however I am finding it very difficult to do the simple (?) task of also placing text in the same position.
I've created the SCNText and subsequent SCNNode, however when I add it to the rootNode the text always seems to be added above my head and off the camera to the right (which tells me thats the global origin point).
Even when I use the exact same values of position I used for the the cube, the SCNText node still gets placed above my head in the same spot.
Apologies if this is a basic question, I've never worked in SceneKit before.
The coordinate center for an SCNGeometry is its center point. But when you are creating a SCNText the center point is somewhere in the bottom left corner:
You need to center the text first. This can be done by checking the bounding box of the node containing your text and setting a pivot transform to change the texts center to its actual center:
func center(node: SCNNode) {
let (min, max) = node.boundingBox
let dx = min.x + 0.5 * (max.x - min.x)
let dy = min.y + 0.5 * (max.y - min.y)
let dz = min.z + 0.5 * (max.z - min.z)
node.pivot = SCNMatrix4MakeTranslation(dx, dy, dz)
}
Edit:
Also note this answer that explains some additional pitfalls:
A text with 16 pts font size is 16 SceneKit units tall. But in ARKit 1 SceneKit units = 1 meter!

SceneKit invert Y axis without inverting geometry normals

Generally what I'm trying to achieve: we have map data that historically was all 2D, and the coordinate system we use is the origin point (0,0) at the top left, positive x goes right, positive y goes down. We have now added 3D data by adding a z axis, positive z coming out of the screen towards you (think top-down map view). This is a left handed coordinate system, but SceneKit is a right handed coordinate system. I would like to apply some transform at the top level of my SceneKit Scene that will convert the Scene into a left handed coordinate system such that I can modify/position/add nodes to the scene in terms of our custom mapping coordinate system and things will just work.
So far I have this:
let scene = SCNScene()
let cameraNode = SCNNode()
cameraNode.camera = SCNCamera()
cameraNode.scale = SCNVector3(1,-1,1)
scene.rootNode.addChildNode(cameraNode)
This achieves exactly what I want, but has one big problem. It inverts all of the geometry faces, so my geometry's disappear unless I change their material's cullMode:
let mapLength = 1000 //max X axis
let mapWidth = 800 //max Y axis
let mapHeight = 100 //max Z axis
cameraNode.position = SCNVector3(mapLength / 2, mapWidth / 2, 2000)
let mapPlane = SCNNode()
mapPlane.position = SCNVector3(mapLength / 2, mapWidth / 2, 0)
mapPlane.geometry = SCNPlane(width: mapLength, height: mapWidth)
mapPlane.geometry?.firstMaterial?.diffuse.contents = UIColor.blackColor()
scene.rootNode.addChildNode(mapPlane)
mapPlane doesn't show at all! You have to rotate the camera to the underside of mapPlane in order to see it. You can easily fix this by adding a single line:
mapPlane.geometry?.firstMaterial?.cullMode = .Front
But I don't want to have to change the cullMode for every geometry/material. Is there a way to achieve this without requiring extra code at each geometry/material? Some transform that would invert the geometry face normals for all child nodes of rootNode? Ideally this would be achieved entirely by settings on the actual Scene, or by transforms on rootNode or the camera.