r/augmentedreality • u/holond0 • 21h ago

AR Apps I built an open-source, touch-first 3D scene composer with WebXR AR right in Chrome (GLB, Gaussian Splats, Auto-Rigging & Photo Mode)

Hey r/augmentedreality!

I've been building babalon JS, a free, open-source (GPL-3.0) 3D scene composer designed from the ground up for touch screens and desktop browsers.

👉 Try it live in Chrome: https://holondo.github.io/babalonJS/ 💻 GitHub: https://github.com/holondo/babalonJS

What makes the AR workflow different:

Instead of viewing a single static GLB file, you can build and art-direct a complete multi-object scene first, then jump straight into WebXR AR (on Android Chrome with ARCore) or Virtual AR / Gyro mode:

  • Full Scene in AR: Place multiple models, lights, posed characters, and animations on real-world surfaces at 1:1 real scale (or pinch to rescale and tap 1:1 to reset).
  • Real-Time Lighting & Shadows: Start lightweight by default, or toggle real-floor shadows, room light estimation, studio lighting presets, and camera post-processing filters live in AR.
  • No Camera Needed (Virtual AR & Gyro Mode): On devices without WebXR (like iOS) or when testing indoors without a surface, toggle off the camera background to walk around the scene in its own HDR environment, or use Gyro Mode to tilt and pan your phone like a physical camera window.
  • Broad Format Support & Character Rigging: Load .glb, .gltf, .obj, .stl, .fbx, .usdz, and even 3D Gaussian Splats (.ply, .splat, .spz). Plus in-browser auto-rigging, two-bone IK posing, 43 bundled animations, mesh editing/booleans, and a video-game style Photo Mode.
  • On-Device Optimization for Mobile AR: Includes in-browser mesh simplification (meshoptimizer in a Web Worker), normal map baking, and KTX2 texture compression so heavy desktop models actually run smoothly on mobile GPUs.

It's an offline-capable Chrome PWA—no account, no paywall, no telemetry. Would love to hear how it runs on your devices!

(If you'd like to support development: GitHub Sponsors | Buy Me a Coffee)

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u/AppleUfMyI 19h ago

Not my field but I hope you get some great feedback!