Mobile App Development for Virtual Exhibitions

How to Develop a Mobile App for a Virtual Exhibition?

A physical exhibition in Milan gathered 3,000 visitors in 5 days. The mobile app with a virtual exhibition that we developed serves 30,000 people in the same period without renting a hall. The challenge goes beyond 3D models — we deliver a spatial experience: navigation through halls, context of exhibits, the ability to examine a detail up close.

Virtual halls are modeled in Blender or SketchUp, exported as glTF. For iOS we convert to Reality file via Reality Composer Pro with baked lighting; otherwise real-time PBR is too heavy for a large hall. For Android we use glTF 2.0 with the KHR_lights_punctual extension via Filament renderer. Textures are compressed to KTX2 / ETC2 (Android) and ASTC (iOS) to reduce VRAM. Lightmap baking in Blender is mandatory — mobile GPUs cannot handle dynamic shadows for complex geometry.

Exhibits in 3D: photogrammetry (RealityCapture, Meshroom) for physical objects — we scan with 50–200 photos to get a photorealistic mesh. For 2D art: high-res photos on SCNPlane with emissive material (light-independent, accurate colors). We use a hybrid approach: the core feature is a 3D walk-through with an optional AR mode for specific exhibits. This yields 50x more audience reach than VR headsets.

How to Choose the Format: AR, VR, or 3D Viewer?

We choose a hybrid approach as a compromise between reach and immersion. For mass-audience events, a 3D walk-through works best — it can be opened on any device without installation, unlike VR requiring expensive headsets. AR mode is added as an option for key exhibits.

How Is Navigation and Interactivity Organized?

Movement through the hall: a virtual joystick on screen (left — movement, right — camera rotation) — a gamer standard but unfamiliar to a broad audience. An alternative for cultural projects: tap-to-move (tap on the floor — the character walks to the point), waypoint navigation (list of halls, automatic camera). We often implement both modes with a toggle.

Exhibit close-up: tap an object → pop-up info card → button "Examine" → transition to isolated view with orbit camera (orbit controller, pinch zoom, rotation). In isolated view we add audio guide: AVAudioPlayer plays MP3 based on exhibitId.

AR mode for specific exhibits: from isolated view — button "View in AR". Standard ARKit placement flow. Return to the virtual hall.

How We Build the Virtual Tour

1. Analyze client content: photos, videos, 3D models, descriptions.
2. Model virtual halls in Blender with baked lighting.
3. Convert exhibits via photogrammetry or high-res photos.
4. Develop the app with navigation, info cards, audio guide, and AR.
5. Integrate Firebase analytics and social sharing.
6. Test on 10+ devices, publish to App Store and Google Play.

Social Features and Analytics

A virtual exhibition without data is a missed opportunity. We track: exhibit_viewed, exhibit_time_spent, audio_guide_played, ar_mode_used, exhibit_shared. Firebase Analytics or Amplitude. Heatmap of exhibit popularity for the curator.

Sharing: screenshot with the exhibit + exhibition name → UIActivityViewController → Instagram, WhatsApp, and other messengers. Server-side OG card generation for URL sharing.

What Quality Guarantees Do We Offer?

Every project goes through a full cycle: from content audit to post-release support. All apps are tested on 10+ devices with different OS versions. We comply with the App Store Review Guidelines (Sections 4.2, 5.1) and Google Play Developer Policy. Our team has delivered 15+ such projects for Russian and international clients.

What's Included in the Work?

Development includes content audit, 3D modeling of virtual halls with baked lighting, content pipeline (photogrammetry, texture processing, export to glTF/Reality), native iOS and Android development, integration of navigation, audio guide, AR mode, analytics and sharing, content population, testing, and store publication complying with all guidelines. Post-release we provide one month of technical support.

How We Estimate Timelines and Budget

The budget is calculated individually based on content volume and functionality. Savings on rental and logistics can reach 70% compared to a physical exhibition. Contact us for a project assessment — we'll prepare a custom proposal. Book a consultation to discuss the details.

We develop AR applications on ARKit and ARCore that work stably even in challenging conditions. Our experience: 7+ years in mobile development and 30+ delivered AR projects. Guaranteed: tracking won't be lost, lighting will be realistic, and the user won't feel discomfort. Certified Apple and Google developers.

Why does tracking get lost and how to fix it?

ARKit and ARCore use VIO (Visual-Inertial Odometry) — a combined processing of camera data and IMU. Tracking fails in three scenarios: illumination below ~50 lux, texture-homogeneous surfaces (white wall, glass), and fast camera movements.

In practice, if the product is intended for furniture try-on, we add an explicit UI warning when ARCamera.TrackingState.limited(.insufficientFeatures). An app that silently loses tracking gets 2-star reviews — we don't allow that.

Plane detection is configured via ARWorldTrackingConfiguration.planeDetection = [.horizontal, .vertical]. Important: ARKit continues to refine plane geometry through ARSCNViewDelegate.renderer(_:didUpdate:for:) — if you don't handle updates, the object starts floating when the anchor is refined. Our team solves this at the architecture stage, not during testing.

AR Foundation: cross-platform with nuances

Unity AR Foundation is an abstraction layer over ARKit and ARCore. It reduces development time by 40% compared to separate native codebases. But some features (e.g., ARBodyTrackingConfiguration for body tracking) are unavailable and require a native plugin.

For React Native and Flutter, direct AR Foundation is missing. We use ViroReact (React Native) or ar_flutter_plugin for simple scenarios, but for production quality — native modules with a bridge. Hybrid approach: AR scene rendered in native ARKit/ARCore view, control from JS/Dart via method channel. Included in our standard delivery.

Platform comparison: ARKit outperforms ARCore in tracking stability and feature set (30% fewer failures in low-light scenarios), but ARCore is cheaper in device support. AR Foundation is a compromise: loses up to 20% performance on complex scenes but pays off with a single codebase.

Try-on: product fitting via AR

Fitting glasses, jewelry, cosmetics — a separate class of tasks. Here, face tracking is needed, not plane detection.

ARKit provides ARFaceTrackingConfiguration — 52 blend shape coefficients for expressions, 3D face mesh, position and orientation in space. Works only on devices with TrueDepth camera (iPhone with Face ID).

For Android, the equivalent is ML Kit Face Mesh Detection or Google ARCore Augmented Faces (Pixel and some flagships). For cross-platform try-on, we use Banuba Face AR SDK (Banuba Face AR SDK documentation) — covers both devices, provides ready-made masks and stable tracking even on mid-range Android.

Try-on quality critically depends on 3D product models. Models must be optimized for real-time: no more than 10-15K polygons for jewelry, PBR materials with correct roughness/metallic maps, LOD for long distances. Within our engagement, we provide ready-made optimization guides.

How to achieve realistic lighting in AR?

ARKit with modern iOS versions supports Environmental Texturing — automatic creation of an environment map from the camera for realistic reflections. Enabled via ARWorldTrackingConfiguration.environmentTexturing = .automatic. Without it, metallic and glass materials look plastic.

ARCore provides Light Estimation — intensity and color temperature of ambient light, applied to the shader of virtual objects. In practice, it's the difference between an object that blends into the scene and an obviously overlaid 3D model. We guarantee that the final image doesn't betray virtuality.

What's included

• AR solution architecture (stack choice, module design)
• 3D pipeline: model optimization for real-time, PBR materials, LOD
• Tracking integration (planes, faces, images, objects)
• Testing on 10+ real devices (iOS and Android)
• Documentation for SDK usage and ready components
• Post-launch support (1 month bug fixing)

Timeline and estimation

Simple AR scene with placing one 3D model on a plane — 1-2 weeks. Face try-on with product catalog — from 6 weeks (3D pipeline, tracking integration, selection and saving UI). Full AR shopping with cloud anchors and multiplayer — from 3 months. We'll estimate your project in 1 day — contact us to discuss your AR idea.