AR

Load any 3D model from your files and bring it to life in augmented reality — completely free.

The International Space Station placed on a real surface with full move controls

Overview

The AR tool turns your device into an augmented reality viewer for 3D models. Load any USDZ model — from iCloud Drive, a NAS, a USB drive, or anywhere the Files app can reach — and place it on real-world surfaces around you. Move, rotate, scale, and inspect your models from every angle. Place multiple objects to build entire scenes, then export them as USDZ files to share.

This tool is completely free — it is not part of the premium subscription and has no usage limits.

It works on both iOS (using ARKit with your camera) and visionOS (Apple Vision Pro), giving you a full spatial computing experience on either platform.

Table of Contents

• Getting Started
• Asset Selection
• Controls
• Placing Objects
• Move Mode
• Rotate Mode
• Zoom Mode
• Wireframe Mode
• Debug Mode
• Managing Objects
• Exporting A Scene
• Supported Formats
• Permissions
• Notes And Limitations

Getting Started

1. Open the AR tool — the camera feed starts immediately with surface detection.
2. Point your device at a flat surface (table, floor, desk) and wait for ARKit to detect it.
3. Select a 3D model from the asset picker.
4. Tap on the detected surface to place it.

That's it — your model is now in AR. From here you can move, rotate, scale, toggle wireframe, and more.

Asset Selection

Select from built-in shapes, bundled models, or import your own from any file source

Tap the + button to open the asset selection sheet. You can choose from:

Built-in geometric shapes:

• Sphere, Cube, and Pyramid — great for quick testing and learning the controls.

Bundled 3D models:

• Lirum includes sample models like the International Space Station and the Perseverance Mars rover, ready to place.

Your own models:

• Import any compatible 3D model from the Files app. This means you can load models from iCloud Drive, a NAS, USB drives, Dropbox, Google Drive, or any other storage provider accessible through iOS Files. Use the search bar to filter assets by name.

Controls

The AR view runs full-screen with a floating control stack on the left side. Tap the ellipsis (...) button to expand or collapse the full control panel.

The expanded control stack includes:

Button	Function
Move	Position the selected object along X, Y, or Z axes
+	Open asset selection to add a new object
Rotate	Rotate the selected object with pan gestures
Objects list	View and manage all placed objects
Save	Export the scene as a USDZ file
Wireframe	Toggle wireframe rendering
Debug	Show AR feature points and tracking stats
Zoom	Scale objects with pinch gestures
Reset	Clear all objects and restart the scene

Placing Objects

1. Select an asset from the picker.
2. Make sure Add mode is active (the + button).
3. Tap anywhere on a detected surface — the model loads and appears at that location.
4. The tool automatically switches to Move mode so you can fine-tune the position right away.

You can place multiple objects in the same scene. Each tap places a new instance of the selected asset.

Move Mode

When Move mode is active, X, Y, and Z axis buttons appear next to the control stack. Tap an axis to select it, then use the full-height vertical slider on the right edge of the screen to adjust the object's position along that axis. Color-coded 3D arrows appear on the object to indicate directions (red for X, green for Y, blue for Z).

Rotate Mode

Tap the Rotate button to enter rotation mode. Colored circles appear around the object to indicate the rotation axes. Use a pan gesture on the screen to rotate — horizontal drag rotates around the Y axis, vertical drag rotates around the X axis.

Zoom Mode

Tap the Zoom button to enable scaling. Corner cubes appear at the object's bounding box for visual reference. Use a pinch gesture to scale the object up or down (from 0.01x to 10x its original size). Pinch-to-zoom also works whenever an object is selected, even outside of Zoom mode.

Wireframe Mode

Wireframe mode reveals the underlying 3D mesh structure

Toggle wireframe rendering to see the underlying geometry of your model. All surfaces are rendered as lines instead of filled polygons, which is useful for understanding the 3D structure, inspecting mesh quality, or simply for a striking visual effect.

Debug Mode

Tap the debug button (bug icon) to overlay AR diagnostic information:

• Yellow feature points appear on surfaces as ARKit tracks the environment.
• Real-time stats show light intensity, color temperature, camera field of view, and tracking state.

This is helpful for diagnosing surface detection issues or understanding how ARKit perceives your environment.

Managing Objects

When you have placed one or more objects, tap the list button to open the object management sheet:

• See all placed objects with their names and selection status.
• Select an object to bring focus to it for editing.
• Duplicate an object to create a copy with a slight offset.
• Delete individual objects (with confirmation).
• Clear all to remove every object at once.

Use the search bar to filter objects by name when working with complex scenes.

Exporting A Scene

Tap the Save button to export your entire AR scene:

1. Enter a filename for the export.
2. The scene is packaged as a USDZ file — a universal 3D format supported across Apple platforms.
3. Choose where to save it via the standard Files picker (iCloud, local storage, or any connected drive).

Exported scenes preserve all object positions and transforms.

Supported Formats

The AR tool supports:

• USDZ (.usdz) — the primary format, widely used across Apple platforms.
• SCN (.scn) — native SceneKit scenes.

You can load USDZ files from any source accessible through the iOS Files app — iCloud Drive, network shares, NAS devices, USB drives, third-party cloud providers, and more.

Permissions

• Camera access is required for the AR experience on iOS.
• If permission is not granted, Lirum shows a prompt with a shortcut to iOS Settings.

Notes And Limitations

• AR requires compatible hardware with ARKit support.
• Objects can only be placed on surfaces that ARKit has detected — point your device at flat surfaces and give it a moment to map the environment.
• Large 3D models may take a moment to load; Lirum optimizes loading for files over 10 MB to keep the AR session responsive.
• Models are automatically scaled to a reasonable size on placement and can be resized freely with pinch gestures.
• USDZ animations are not played — the tool focuses on static placement and inspection.
• On visionOS (Apple Vision Pro), a dedicated spatial experience is available through the Spatial Shapes tool.