We all have a moment that we can think back to when Augmented Reality blew our minds, whether it be from movies, books, or games. I have always dreamed of a time when I could create something digitally and be able to interact with it in the real world. Though we have been able to use various workflows to get our designs into the world up until now, it has always required multiple pieces of software and hardware to get this working.

As a designer you want to get a feel for your design. Sometimes sending it off to a 3D printer or the workshop could take hours, if not days. Now with Fusion 360 this process is made far simpler. Using the UDSz file format we can export a file directly from Fusion and within minutes, then view this on our smartphones and tablets.

The process has been made very simple from inside of Fusion 360. Once you have your file in the software, whether it be imported in using various support formats, or created directly inside of Fusion all you need to do is export it.

Publishing

To do this, select the File button in the top right, then Export…

Selecting USD Files from the Type: dropdown, and select your export location:

Viewing

All that’s left to do is send this to your mobile device.

For iPhones you will be able to open the file directly if you are running iOS 11 or later. Whether this be saved to your cloud storage or sent to you via a messaging service. The USD format forms the backbone of iOS AR, so is widely used throughout Apple’s ecosystem.

For Androids there currently isn’t a supported workflow, as this requires the GLTF format. There are some plug-ins for Fusion – GLTF exporters, but Fusion does not export to GLTF natively. You can however convert USD files to GLTF through various online converters, and other products. From there you will be able to open your model on your Android device.