How to Use AR Experience in HxAR

The AR Experience screen is a four-way hub

Open AR Experience from its shortcut on the rotating outer dashboard dial. The hub shown above does not display every editor control at once; it separates preparation, creation and cloud management into four clear routes.

Folders, downloaded USDZ files and editable saved scenes are stored locally on this installation. Your Saved Stories in the Cloud is a different list: it shows Stories that this signed-in owner has uploaded to HxAR’s CloudKit public database.

Use this as the parent guide for a connected AR Experience series

AR Experience includes local asset preparation, scene composition, media, lighting, collision geometry, animation, driving, gaming, cloud upload and Shared Story opening. One article would make its important controls difficult to find and harder to read.

This parent page explains the complete journey and the boundaries between local and cloud content. Focused guides now cover Collision Builder, Set The Stage and Actions, Information Labels and the Time Machine CALL marker, Lighting AR, Drive Groups, Domino Gaming Groups and the complete Shared Story publishing and opening journey.

Create local folders before downloading USDZ assets

Select Add folders, enter a name and use the plus control. Names cannot be empty or duplicate another local folder when letter case is ignored. Open a folder to inspect its USDZ files, move an asset to another local folder or delete it.

Swiping a folder exposes Delete. Deleting a populated folder removes that folder and every local USDZ file inside it from this device. It does not delete the original asset from AR Gallery or HxAR’s cloud catalogue.

Folders cannot currently be renamed and are not synced through iCloud. They are also not separated by HxAR account on the same app installation, so sign out does not create a new local library for the next account.

Download each asset into the right local folder

Download assets requires a signed-in account and at least one destination folder. Choose Download into, then choose Search from: one of your AR Gallery folders, assets you have made Public on Profile or the Global Public Gallery.

The source selector is not a keyword-search box. Choose All or Not Downloaded and download the models individually; there is no bulk-download control. A model already matched by cloud record or canonical title is presented as an update and can replace the local copy.

A public asset remains someone else’s creative work. Public visibility allows the supported in-app discovery and download route; it does not automatically grant permission to extract, resell, redistribute or use the file outside HxAR.

Create, save and reopen an editable scene on this device

Select Start your scene, open the scene controls at the upper right and enter a name. HxAR checks that name against cloud Stories even for the first local save, so use a distinctive name. If an obviously unique name is rejected, check the connection before assuming somebody else owns it.

Use Add to Scene to choose 3D Assets, Floors/Tables or Media. A selected item appears automatically about 500 millimetres in front of the camera and faces you; there is no separate placement tap. Use the movement and object controls to position, turn, scale, rename, hide, reorder or remove content.

The first save needs a name and at least one asset or media item. After it succeeds, normal changes autosave after approximately 0.8 seconds. To edit later, return through Start your scene, open the scene controls and select Open. Do not tap a cloud row expecting it to open the editor.

Set the opening stage before adding interaction

Set The Stage records the intended opening positions and angles. The editor can then add Actions, whole-scene or single-object movement, Drive Groups, Gaming Groups, Call markers, information Labels, Lighting AR and collision shapes.

A static scene containing only a model is not ready for cloud upload in the current development build. After staging it, add at least one Action, a valid Drive Group, a valid Gaming Group or media. Media by itself currently satisfies the readiness check even though some on-screen wording mentions only actions and driving.

Collision Builder is a specialised editor and has its own guide because its geometry, point budget and current save limitation need careful explanation.

Upload first, then share a Shared Story QR

Cloud upload requires a signed-in account, a globally available Story name, a saved Stage and an upload-ready action, group or media item. A successful upload refreshes the owner’s cloud list and immediately presents the QR.

Each cloud row shows the Story title, number of unique asset names, media count and action count. The total shown beneath the list is live account data, not a fixed limit. Refresh checks the catalogue again; it does not edit or download a row.

The QR contains an HxAR link with the Story title, not the Story files or a private access token. Someone who has the QR—or knows the exact title—can use HxAR’s public lookup route, so share only content you are comfortable making retrievable.

To update a Story, reopen its original local scene, edit it and upload again. The cloud catalogue rows provide only QR and Delete, not an Edit control.

Local scenes and uploaded Stories have different deletion rules

Deleting a local scene does not remove its uploaded cloud Story. Deleting the cloud Story removes the owner’s uploaded record and is designed to remove its attached cloud media, preventing future cloud retrieval. It does not delete the editable local scene, the owner’s downloaded asset library or copies another HxAR user already saved.

Uploaded Stories can include asset arrangements, actions, collision shapes, lighting, imported images or videos, information-label text, remote-media links, Drive Groups and Gaming Groups. The format does not save the live camera feed or GPS coordinates, but user-supplied media can still reveal people, places or embedded information.

The current development account-deletion routine does not explicitly remove uploaded ARStory and ARStoryMedia records or clear local Story and scene files, despite broader in-app deletion wording. This is an app-side privacy and retention gap that must be corrected before release; the website does not claim that account deletion erases these Stories.

Shared Stories are user-created public content. HxAR still needs complete in-app filtering, reporting and blocking coverage for this flow. Upload only content you own or can lawfully share, and use the website reporting route if the preview exposes an unsafe Story.

Create in a clear space and check every result before repeating it

AR Experience uses the camera and ARKit; LiDAR can assist when available but is not required. Move the device slowly, stop walking before reading or editing, keep the floor and exits clear and never treat a virtual collision shape as protection from a real object.

Several buttons have useful accessibility labels, but the complete RealityKit canvas, object selection, QR image, long Story titles, Larger Text, contrast, reduced motion and VoiceOver journey still need real-device testing. This guide repeats small interface labels in readable HTML but does not claim complete nonvisual parity.

If a unique scene name fails, check the network. If Download assets is empty, confirm the source, account and destination folder. If a cloud upload fails, keep the local scene, check the connection and refresh the cloud list before trying again. Never repeat a destructive delete simply because the list has not refreshed yet.