AR Builder

The context

The AR Builder is the editor inside the Over app that lets people create augmented reality experiences and publish them without leaving the app and without touching a desktop tool.

That premise is the whole design problem. Everything a creator would normally get from a full editor on a large screen like precise placement, snapping, asset management has to fit into a phone held at arm’s length, while the camera is running and the user is physically moving.

What I designed and built

I designed the editor and then implemented it. Some of the pieces I worked on most:

• A manipulation gizmo for moving, rotating and scaling objects in space, usable with touch.
• Magnetic snapping onto real-world geometry, using meshes of the physical environment generated in real time so a virtual object can attach to an actual wall, floor or table instead of floating near it.
• AI generation and instantiation of assets, so a creator can produce content inside the editor rather than importing it.
• Editor- and graphics-engine-level work underneath all of the above.