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I use in my ARCore project Sceneform. It seems that this project is now mentioned as Archived by Google. More info we can find here or on this page.

I don't understand if Google really abandoned this SDK, or if it is - or will be - directly integrated in ARCore SDK?

Thanks for any information concerning the future of this SDK and a potential replacements.

Andy Jazz
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toto_tata
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    It does seem odd that Google hasn't stated something official on this. I wonder if they are going to recommend using Filament : https://github.com/google/filament directly. – elprl Jun 25 '20 at 15:39
  • Similar question on reddit, with a comment by @romain-guy (a member of Android dev team): https://www.reddit.com/r/androiddev/comments/glduwe/is_sceneform_dead/ – kaliatech Dec 11 '20 at 13:52
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    @elprl Filament is great but it's not an equivalent technology to Sceneform. Not even apples to oranges, they are absolutely on a different level. I like the Sceneform goodies layering on top of ARCore like ArFragment, TransformableNode, PinchGestures, ShapeFactroy and so on... – Csaba Toth Feb 23 '21 at 21:06
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    So nobody knows why they discontinued it? – laim2003 Aug 31 '21 at 11:28

3 Answers3

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Edited 2022:

Sceneform maintained and successor:

Differences with Google Sceneform (1.15.0, 1.16.0, 1.17.0 and 1.17.1)

  • No plugin needed: Use gltf and glb 3D models files directly from assets, res/raw, local file or http/https url instead of sfa, sfb, fbx, obj,...
  • Latest versions of ARCore SDK and Google Filament
  • Latest gradle dependencies including AndroidX, LifecycleScope/Coroutines (SceneView only),...
  • Available as mavenCentral() dependency
  • Augmented Images supported
  • Augmented Faces supported
  • glb or gltf for 3D models (animations supported)
  • hdr or ktx for Environement (IndirectLight + Skybox)
  • 3D only usage supported and single dependency without ARCore (SceneView only)
  • VideoNode for MediaPlayer (mp4, avi,...) Video 3D Node
  • Horizontal/Vertical Plane Placement
  • Depth occlusion and placement (SceneView only)
  • InstantPlacement (SceneView only)
  • HdrLightEstimation with adjustements between more Spectacular or Realistic
  • Simple Model Viewer for basic usage, with only ArSceneView parameters
  • Less OpenGL knowlege needed
Thomas Gorisse
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23

Updated: May 12, 2022.

About Sceneform replacement on Google IO '21

Let's listen to what Fred Sauer (Developer Advocate at Google on the ARCore team) told us about replacements of Sceneform. Here's a link to video called AMA : ARCore (time 06:25).

Sceneform fork (Unofficial Sceneform 1.21)

This is the continuation of the archived Sceneform.

About last official versions

There are three official versions to choose from:

  • Sceneform 1.17.1
  • Sceneform 1.16
  • Sceneform 1.15

Several months ago Google recommended not to use the latest version Sceneform 1.17 due to Maven artifacts (now it might work normally but it's still a question). Sceneform 1.16 isn't available via Android Studio plugins' menu because, as you said, its status is Archived (I should say Abandoned). Release 1.16 supports glTF/glTB formats, instead of SFA and SFB assets. And Sceneform 1.16 went open-source. Hence you can download it from GitHub. The only thing I don't understand why Google released Sceneform 1.17 if Sceneform 1.16 was archived?!

So there are two 100%-working versions at the moment – Sceneform 1.16 and Sceneform 1.15.

Sceneform 1.16 installation

  • For downloading Sceneform 1.16 for ARCore Android use this link on GitHub.

  • Use these thorough instructions to include and build the Sceneform 1.16 SDK with your app.

Google discontinued Sceneform

Google didn't prepare a release of a new official 3D rendering engine (even using Filament as a base). Original ARCore team fell apart, that's why new ARCore features are implemented so slow.

Andy Jazz
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    The ARCore SDK for Unity is deprecated, and no longer supported in Unity 2020 and later. This SDK should only be used by developers working on existing projects which are unable to migrate to Unity's AR Foundation. – Softlion Dec 16 '21 at 09:49
  • Thanks @Softlion, I'll add it to my answer. – Andy Jazz Dec 16 '21 at 09:53
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    So the "solution" is to migrate to AR Foundation, which is a 1800$/y/seat product. – Softlion Dec 16 '21 at 09:58
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It's a sad story, I like Sceneform and for me it will not be easy to simple replace it. Because of that I forked it and updated the lib to androidx and filament 1.7. https://github.com/RGregat/sceneform-android-sdk. What is not working is the new Depth API introduced in ARCore 1.18. I'm not sure how difficult it is to implement it into Sceneform, because it depends on the Fragment Shader.

Sceada
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  • It looks like your fork is also archived. Is there any fork in active development? – Travis Well Jul 25 '20 at 12:18
  • The readme is misleading. Sorry for that. You can use this fork, but an active development might be difficult. For example the new Depth API requires access to the Fragment Shader, That is something you don't have really with Sceneform. Maybe with Filament, because we have in theory access to it, but I'm not sure. – Sceada Jul 28 '20 at 09:03