Sceneform replacement: SceneView¶

Google archived Sceneform in 2021 and ships no replacement renderer for ARCore. SceneView is the maintained successor: it started as the community continuation of Sceneform, was rewritten as a Compose-native library, and keeps the same job (ARCore for tracking, a real-time renderer for the model), with Google Filament as the renderer and Jetpack Compose as the API. Models are standard glTF (.glb / .gltf) instead of .sfb.

SceneView is open source (Apache 2.0) and ships in apps on Google Play such as Medal, IKEA, Lenskart and Safie.

Dependency¶

// app/build.gradle.kts
dependencies {
    implementation("io.github.sceneview:arsceneview:4.67.0")   // AR (includes the 3D module)
    // implementation("io.github.sceneview:sceneview:4.67.0")  // 3D only, no camera
}

The app module needs compileSdk = 37, minSdk 24 or higher, Kotlin 2.4 and JVM target 21. The quickstart requirements give the full Gradle block.

Minimal AR screen: tap a plane to place a model¶

This replaces an ArFragment with a setOnTapArPlaneListener that builds a ModelRenderable and attaches a TransformableNode.

import io.github.sceneview.ar.PlacementScene

@Composable
fun ArScreen() {
    val engine = rememberEngine()
    val modelLoader = rememberModelLoader(engine)
    PlacementScene(
        modifier = Modifier.fillMaxSize(),
        engine = engine,
        modelLoader = modelLoader,
        // Named parameter: the trailing lambda is `content`, not the anchor.
        onPlaced = { anchor ->               // called once per tap-created Anchor
            AnchorNode(anchor = anchor) {
                val instance = rememberModelInstance(modelLoader, "models/chair.glb")
                instance?.let { ModelNode(modelInstance = it, scaleToUnits = 0.5f) }
            }
        },
    )
}

models/chair.glb lives in src/main/assets/. PlacementScene brings the plane renderer, a centre reticle, tap-to-place and an instant-placement fallback. For placement without a tap, use AutoPlacementScene; for full control, ARSceneView { } — both are in llms.txt.

arsceneview already declares the CAMERA permission and ARCore as optional; the AR manifest section shows what an AR Required app adds.

Sceneform → SceneView mapping¶

Sceneform	SceneView
`ArFragment` / `ArSceneView`	`ARSceneView { }` composable, or `PlacementScene` for tap-to-place
`SceneView` (non-AR)	`SceneView { }` composable
`ModelRenderable.builder().setSource(…).build()`	`rememberModelInstance(modelLoader, "models/x.glb")` — `null` while loading
`.sfb` / `.sfa` assets	standard glTF: `.glb` or `.gltf`
`AnchorNode(anchor).setParent(scene)`	`AnchorNode(anchor = anchor) { … }` inside the scene block
`TransformableNode`	`ModelNode(…, isEditable = true)` — drag, pinch and twist
`setOnTapArPlaneListener`	`PlacementScene(onPlaced = …)`, or `ARSceneView(onTouchEvent = { event, hitResult -> … })`
`node.setParent(null)` / `destroy()`	remove the node from composition (an `if`, a list)
`onResume` / `onPause` / `onDestroy` forwarding	nothing to write — the Compose lifecycle handles it

Still on Android Views?¶

SceneView's API is composables, and a composable runs inside any View hierarchy through a ComposeView, so a Fragment or an XML layout does not need to move to Compose first:

container.addView(
    ComposeView(context).apply {
        setContent {
            val engine = rememberEngine()
            val modelLoader = rememberModelLoader(engine)
            val helmet = rememberModelInstance(modelLoader, "models/helmet.glb")
            SceneView(engine = engine, modelLoader = modelLoader) {
                helmet?.let { ModelNode(modelInstance = it, scaleToUnits = 1.0f) }
            }
        }
    }
)

Code written for SceneView 2.x¶

SceneView 2.x had a different Compose API. Code in that shape does not compile on 4.x:

SceneView 2.x	SceneView 4.x
`Scene(childNodes = …)`	`SceneView { … }` — nodes are composables in the block
`ARScene(childNodes = …)`	`ARSceneView { … }`
`rememberNodes { add(ModelNode(…)) }`	declare `ModelNode(…)` inside the block
`ModelNode(modelInstance = modelLoader.createModelInstance(…))`	`rememberModelInstance(modelLoader, path)?.let { ModelNode(modelInstance = it) }`

Upgrading from 2.3.x walks through every change.

Also on iOS and the web¶

The same model renders on Apple platforms with SceneViewSwift (SwiftUI + RealityKit, ARKit for AR) and in the browser with sceneview-web (Filament.js, WebXR): Apple quickstart, Web quickstart.