Import an animated 3D object and play its animations in the viewer
In short
Visuality plays the animations stored in your GLB file, with no setup required. After import, the web viewer automatically plays the first animation in a loop and offers a menu to choose the others. On iPhone and iPad, however, augmented reality shows the object without animation.
In the example above, the 3D model contains several animations that the customer picks from the viewer.
Prerequisites
- A Visuality account with an active subscription or an ongoing free trial.
- A model animated in 3D software (Blender, 3ds Max, Maya…): movements, rotations, skeleton or morph targets.
- A GLB export (binary glTF) that includes the animations, up to 150 MB.
Steps: from export to viewer
- In your 3D software, give each animation a clear name (for example "Door opening"): this name is shown to your customers as is.
- Export to GLB with the animation export option left on (the Animation section of the glTF 2.0 export in Blender).
- In the 3D Object Library, click Add an Object, choose I Already Have My 3D Object, drop the file into the File .GLB or .USDZ field, then click Validate.
- Open View / Share, then Open the link: the first animation starts automatically and loops.
- In the viewer, the Settings button opens the Animations section: the Choose an animation menu switches between animations and the Loop toggle turns repetition on or off.
Good to know and limitations
- Animation names cannot be edited in Visuality: rename them in your 3D software, then re-import the file.
- On Android, the object stays animated in augmented reality; if the device uses Google Scene Viewer, the file's first animation plays in a loop.
- On iPhone and iPad, augmented reality runs in AR Quick Look with a USDZ file generated by Visuality, which does not contain the animations: the object appears static there. The 3D view stays animated.
- Prefer a GLB file: a USD or USDZ file is converted to GLB on import, and its animations are not guaranteed to survive.
- Long or highly detailed animations make the file heavier and slow down loading on mobile.
Frequently asked questions
Most often, the animation export option was turned off or the file is not a GLB. Open the viewer link: if the Animations section does not appear under Settings, the file contains no playable animation. Export it again, then replace it in the object's settings.
The viewer has no pause button. By turning off the Loop toggle, customers play the selected animation only once: it then stops on its last frame.
Not at the moment. On iPhone and iPad, Visuality opens augmented reality in AR Quick Look from a USDZ file without animation. Customers see the object at real size, static, and find the animations in the 3D view.
Any questions? Feel free to contact us by email at contact@visuality.fr or by phone at 05 35 54 20 41!