Reality Composer Pro
The previous inspector series parts explored attributes that map cleanly to USD: transforms, material bindings, and variant sets. Components are different. One might expect that RCP's component inspector would just show RealityKit components attached to entities—the same components you'd add in code at runtime. But
Deconstructed
The next level of functionality in the RCP inspector offers deeper control over model linking, looks, and variations Bindings In OpenUSD, the terminology "Binding" comes from the UsdShadeMaterialBindingAPI. Unlike traditional formats where a material is simply a property of a mesh, USD treats materials as independent prims that
Reality Composer Pro
A continually growing list of interesting things found during exploration that have not yet been featured in the "Deconstructing Reality Composer Pro" series entries. Mapping from Prims to Entities RCP maintains a bidirectional mapping between RealityKit entities and USD prim paths. While public RealityKit doesn't easily
This latest wave of fixture work extended the reverse-engineering effort across Reality Composer Pro’s built-in components. Now it's documented and implemented more fixture-backed components across Deconstructed and Uncannyuse, including Environment Lighting Configuration, Grounding Shadow, Image Based Light, Image Based Light Receiver, Virtual Environment Probe, Reverb, and the
The previous inspector series parts explored attributes that map cleanly to USD: transforms, material bindings, and variant sets. Components are different. One might expect that RCP's component inspector would just show RealityKit components attached to entities—the same components you'd add in code at runtime. But
The next level of functionality in the RCP inspector offers deeper control over model linking, looks, and variations Bindings In OpenUSD, the terminology "Binding" comes from the UsdShadeMaterialBindingAPI. Unlike traditional formats where a material is simply a property of a mesh, USD treats materials as independent prims that
Dual-mode Inspector: scene layer shows global stage metadata (upAxis, metersPerUnit), while prim inspection displays transform, materials, and references. UI presents cm/degrees; USD persists meters/quaternions with rotationEulerHint for round-trip editing.
To implement the Scene navigator, we will need to handle .usd manipulation, and the best approach I have found is to use Apple's SwiftUsd project. Although it is a bit behind the standard and has some quirks with C++ interops, it remains powerful and convenient, and by including
Viewport is deep (modes, debug views, presets/history). We are going to implement just a working viewer + camera for this pass; chasing full parity will balloon scope. The main viewport is built with RealityKit, and we'll add a layer for gestures, a grid, and a simple Arcball implementation
Dual-mode Inspector: scene layer shows global stage metadata (upAxis, metersPerUnit), while prim inspection displays transform, materials, and references. UI presents cm/degrees; USD persists meters/quaternions with rotationEulerHint for round-trip editing.
To implement the Scene navigator, we will need to handle .usd manipulation, and the best approach I have found is to use Apple's SwiftUsd project. Although it is a bit behind the standard and has some quirks with C++ interops, it remains powerful and convenient, and by including
Viewport is deep (modes, debug views, presets/history). We are going to implement just a working viewer + camera for this pass; chasing full parity will balloon scope. The main viewport is built with RealityKit, and we'll add a layer for gestures, a grid, and a simple Arcball implementation
Part of what makes Reality Composer Pro a composer is asset management. Importing, soft validation, organizing, and iterating on the project structure are essential features to have in creative pipelines. The project browser in RCP is similar to Finder's grid view and, because of that, filled with UX
An exploration of the .realitycomposerpro document type. This post breaks down its structure as an SPM-backed package, the nested bundle system for assets, and how this layout could enable Xcode and `realitytool` processing.
Reality Composer Pro prioritizes the transition of elements over direct emphasis on creation and debugging tasks. It's a portal where you transport raw, wild formats to more manageable, controlled, static-defined files that can be represented on RealityKit.
Xcode runs a verified two-pass process to compile .reality files: first generating USD schemas from your Swift components, then compiling them into optimized bundles.
...and there are strong reasons against it. The conversation could be philosophical, but it highlights the conflicting opinions on whether commercial interests should take precedence over human well-being. Also, the few potential exceptions could be handled in controlled environments using entitlements or research. What Does Your Gaze Reveal About You?
Synthetic environments and traditional landscape paintings
Just updated the data source to include WWDC25 contents and recompiled for Tahoe because it is nicer... Download Transwwdcripts v1.2Download Resourwwdces v1.1TranswwdcriptsIn the spirit of ASCIIwwdc, understanding that transcripts have significant benefits for accessibility and research, creates a situation in which making text versions of talks available becomes
TL;DR * Spatial computing is in a transitional phase: the technology is robust, but the market and use cases are still catching up. * Apple’s approach is methodical, not flashy: rather than chasing hype, Apple is building the infrastructure—standards, APIs, specifications, developer tools—that will power the next wave
TL;DR, If you want virtual environment light gradually replacing your real-world shaded objects, use Virtual Environment Probe. Achieving visual realism for virtual elements involves many parts, but lighting stands out as particularly challenging, especially in real-time rendering for platforms like visionOS and RealityKit. Material surface behavior in response to