Using the FME AR App

Introduction

FME AR (FME Augmented Reality) is an app available for your mobile devices; both iOS and Android. Augmented Reality is essentially adding information to your real-world view (as opposed to Virtual Reality which is creating a totally artificial environment). FME’s AR app is powered by a data format called fmear.

This article covers how to use the FME AR app itself. Other articles exist on creating fmear format datasets.

The FME AR mobile app is still in development, and the articles in this tutorial series may not reflect its current state. The app should not be used in production. The FME AR mobile app for Android has been deprecated; see FME AR Mobile App on Android Deprecation.

Using the App

Opening Data

Start the app by touching the icon on your device's screen:

Within the app, data can be browsed directly from a number of storage locations:

Screenshot from the iOS version of the FME AR App. 

Pressing (and holding) on an fmear file opens a number of options, such as tagging and info:

Screenshot from the iOS version of the FME AR App. 

Pressing once only on a file opens it in the FME AR viewer.

Viewing a Dataset

Once a file is selected, point your device at a flat surface onto which you want to project the model. The app will first detect the surface being used and once the surface has been detected a grid of white dots will appear. 

Screenshot from the Android version of the FME AR App. 

Then shortly after, your model will appear. If you are having issues getting your model to display, see the Troubleshooting section on the Getting Started article. 

Screenshot from the Android version of the FME AR App. 
 

The usual finger gestures for zoom in, zoom out, and rotate, can be used to manipulate the model.

App Settings

The iOS version of the app has additional settings that are revealed by touching the toggle buttons. These settings are not currently available in the android version due to hardware limitations. 

Screenshot from the iOS version of the FME AR App. 

The other toggle is available in both versions and controls the layers of data. So if a .fmear file has multiple layers (created using multiple feature types in the FME writer), those layers can be turned on and off within the FME AR app, potentially revealing data underneath.

Screenshot from the Android version of the FME AR App. 

Example

Open the attached dataset in the FME AR app to become familiar with its operations and settings. Additionally, see the Creating FMEAR Datasets from 2D CAD Models article to learn how to create this dataset.