Hello everyone 👋
Today we released a major update to how you preview and test projects in Designer, including:
Between them, they remove the two steps that slow down testing the most, picking up your phone for every small check and scanning a fresh QR code after every change.
Preview is now a split button in Designer. Choose the simulator for a fast, in-editor check or preview on a real device when you need to see it in the real world or to test the full end-user experience.
Here's how they work.
Testing an AR experience has always meant switching between Designer and a phone, even for small changes. Checking something is positioned correctly, seeing if an animation feels right, or whether a colour choice looks good, shouldn't need a device in your hand.
The simulator runs your project in a movable window inside Designer and it updates in realtime as you edit. All scene types, including image, face, world and 360 scenes are all part of the simulator. You can also select your webcam for image and face tracked scenes to preview with your own face or printed target image.
Open any project and click the arrow next to Preview to choose "Preview in simulator". A window appears showing your experience, staged and ready to test.
For image and world scenes, the simulator places your content in front of the camera automatically and lets you see the tracking in a 3D simulation. For face tracked scenes, it shows a sample video of a face so you can check placement and sizing without needing your own webcam.
As you make edits in Designer, the simulator updates, so you can leave it open while you work rather than reopening it after every change. Use it to quickly check layout, content, timing and multi scene interactions. When you're ready to judge how tracking actually performs, whether your printed image target locks on well or your world tracked content sits at the right scale, that's when it's worth switching to on-device preview, since that's how your end user will actually experience it.
When you do want to test on a real device, there's now a Live toggle next to "Preview on device." Scan the QR code once, and from then on, every change you make in Designer appears on your phone automatically. No re-scanning, no republishing, no waiting for a new build to generate.
This works alongside both App Clips and WebXR in the preview too, so it covers the full range of Designer's publishing options.
The two features are designed to be used one after the other, not as a choice between them. A typical workflow now looks like this:
When testing across multiple scene types (image, face, world, 360, and screen relative) this cuts out a lot of back and forth. You can lay out an entire multi-scene project in the simulator, then do a single pass on device at the end the final end-user experience across all of it.
Alongside preview, we've also expanded what's available in the Media Library. Designer now includes assets from PolyHaven, Pixabay and Pexels, giving you more 3D models, videos and images to build with, all without leaving Designer to search for them yourself.
Please check the licences from the providers before using these in production ready projects.
We really hope you love this update! It really helps speed up the creation of Designer projects. As always, please reach out and let us know your feedback or projects you are working on.
The Zappar Team