hit-testing Specification

The hit-testing is to expose hit-testing (raycasting) capability for WebXR

The DOM Overlays is the repository of the Immersive Web Working Group.

Taking Part

1. Read the code of conduct
2. See if your issue is being discussed in the issues, or if your idea is being discussed in the proposals repo.
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Specifications

• Hit Test: Hit Test module specification for WebXR
• Explainer
• Security and Privacy Questionnaire

Related specifications

• WebXR Device API - Level 1: Main specification for JavaScript API for accessing VR and AR devices, including sensors and head-mounted displays.

See also list of all specifications with detailed status in Working Group and Community Group.

Relevant Links

• Immersive Web Community Group
• Immersive Web Early Adopters Guide
• Immersive Web Working Group Charter

Communication

• Immersive Web Working Group
• Immersive Web Community Group
• GitHub issues list
• public-immersive-web mailing list

Maintainers

To generate the spec document (index.html) from the index.bs Bikeshed document:

make

Tests

For normative changes, a corresponding web-platform-tests PR is highly appreciated. Typically, both PRs will be merged at the same time. Note that a test change that contradicts the spec should not be merged before the corresponding spec change. If testing is not practical, please explain why and if appropriate file a web-platform-tests issue to follow up later. Add the type:untestable or type:missing-coverage label as appropriate.

License

Per the LICENSE.md file:

All documents in this Repository are licensed by contributors under the W3C Software and Document License.

Summary

In order for web applications to make use of Augmented Reality (AR) capabilities, they must be able to identify real-world geometry. For example, a web application may wish to detect a horizontal plane (e.g, the floor) in the camera feed, and render an object (e.g, a chair) on that plane.

There are many ways that real-world geometry could be exposed through a web API. We propose starting by adding a hit-test API. This API would allow the developer to cast a ray into the real world and return a list of intersection points for that ray against whatever world understanding the underlying system gathers.

This approach abstracts the understanding of the world with a high level primitive that will work across many underlying technologies. A hit-test API would unlock a significant number of use cases for AR while allowing the work to expose other types of world understanding in a web-friendly way to proceed in parallel.

For more information about this proposal, please read the explainer and issues/PRs.