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Overview
Overview
Data models can be visualized and interacted with in a large range of ways. This page serves to compare spatial anchors in Unity with other tools and Building Blocks within Unity as well as comparing against outside software for viewing 3D models in AR. The goal is to help inform developers in choosing the best software and tools for their implementation. The three methods being compared are spatial anchors, grabbing and scaling models in AR, and a mobile website AR visualization.
Spatial anchors allow for the user to "anchor" or lock a virtual object onto a physical frame of reference in the real world. For more details on spatial anchors and their functionalities, please visit this wiki page. For a tutorial on implementing spatial anchors in Unity, please visit this wiki page.
Spatial Anchors, Grab Interaction, and Non-Anchored Virtual Visualizations Comparison
Spatial Anchors, Grab Interaction, and Non-Anchored Virtual Visualizations Comparison
The below tables compares the functionality and uses of having Spatial Anchors on a visualization in AR, Grab and Scale interactions with objects in AR, and using an AR mobile website feature. The visualizations tested for this comparison were all sourced from the Smithsonian Open Access library. With Unity Meta Building Blocks, Spatial Anchors can be implemented as discussed on this page. Another Building Block is Grab Interaction, which allows users to grab, position, and scale virtual objects in a scene. The similarities between spatial anchors and the grab interaction is from the ability to place and position a virtual object in your scene. For more information on Grab Interaction, please reference this Wiki page.
User Experience Comparison
User Experience Comparison
The categories of mental demand, physical demand, and frustration / stress are ranked from 1 (very low) to 5 (very high). These results as well as the user feedback were gathered through a group of HMD users testing all three scenarios.
Feature Comparison
Feature Comparison
Many features can be customized within Unity. The below table mainly refers to the default Unity Building Block capabilities.
Added by: Colby Rees (2025)
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