inVRTed

So after I exported my sketch as a Spatial Model, I went back to an earlier WIP in #NomadSculpt to get it USDZ export ready. Took 30 minutes of me excitedly flailing next to the #AppleVisionPro demo area to do it, but it’s official - I can do 100% of my Spatial Modeling on the AVP!

#visionOS life

To provide context, 90% of my Spatial Model creation involves sculpting on the #NomadSculpt app on iPad Pro (now #AppleVisionPro). The remaining 10% involves juggling the model to other devices and apps to finally get it to appear on the AVP. That last 10% is painfully and irritably time consuming

I was visiting #WWDC25 pre-events last Saturday and waiting at the Apple Visitor Center for the next one. I put on the #AppleVisionPro and sculpt/doodled on #NomadSculpt. I almost fell out of my seat when I played with the exporter and discovered it recently updated to now include USDZ support!

The next day, I went to the Apple Visitor Center in Cupertino with the AVP on. Posed my Spatial Model, answered questions, enjoyed a coffee at Caffè Macs.

The very first thing I did with my AVP at launch. If this didn’t work, I would have been crushed. I opened a model I crafted in ipadOS. The second thing was to open #NomadSculpt, the app used to create it. If it didn’t work, I would have returned the AVP.

#AppleVisionPro #visionOS

Barbara, Chibi Barbara, and Gadget pose next to the displayed Apple Vision Pro and Zeiss lenses

All my non-AI crafted 3D creations share across all Apple devices. No 3rd party restrictions. I can make a holiday sculpture and message, Airdrop, email, cloud share, or USB copy to anyone with a Mac, Macbook, iPad, iPhone, or Apple Vision Pro.

It just opens. Recipients can share it as easily

Yes, you can view 3D models and play VR games on other devices, but that content is tethered to third party app permissions, and restrictions, and device support , and associated version updates (what works for you may not for others), etcs… But try to share YOUR 3D crafts? Too many obstacles!

Chibi Barbara posing on top of a freshly unboxed Apple Vision Pro

Imagine having to endure all that just to share an image that you took a photo of, or created. Or to simply see pictures on your device’s internet browser as you casually surf.

Now try that with a 3D model* within a minute on a non-Apple device. You can’t

* Apple requires the USDZ 3D model format

Chibi Barbara’s almost finished pulling out the Apple Vision Pro’s Zeiss lenses

To demonstrate, share and open an image to another “less tech savvy” person’s device using any method, all under one minute, and (importantly)…

… without installing any third party apps and/or code anywhere, signing up a separate account for them, and paying for it . No problem, right?

Chibi Barbara pulls out the Zeiss lenses while the others unpackage the Apple Vision Pro

“But the other devices also do that and cheaper,” you might say. I’m gonna lay down the “bitter pills gauntlet” and adamantly say (as a Spatial Digital Artist and Sculptor) “no.” Apple figured it out. Other competitors say they can, but their Spatial Content sharing infrastructure proves otherwise

6” Gadget Hackwrench, holding a ruler for scale. Next to a banana for scale. On the beach of Bora Bora for scale. Next to a windowed screen that’s several feet tall and running Zenless Zone Zero… to scale.

Now here’s that Spatial Sculpt of #GadgetHackwrench (oh yeah, she’s around 6 inches tall) on a stool right next to the game screen of #ZenlessZoneZero at the beach in Bora Bora that I will be enjoying my time in. At this scale. I game like this

The #AppleVisionPro lifestyle. Thanks #Apple

Gadget Hackwrench on a stool on the sands of the Apple Vision Pro’s Bora Bora immersive environment. She is on the stool while holding a ruler and while standing next to a banana. The image gives a sense of her size at the beach

Now here’s #GadgetHackwrench next to a ruler and banana on a stool (for scale) on the beach in the Bora Bora Immersive Environment

#AppleVisionPro life

A Spatial Sculpture of Gadget Hackwrench on Apple Vision Pro’s Bora Bora Immersive Environment. You can hardly see her on the enormous beach due to her seashell size.

I need to take a break from the unboxing stuff because I want to get my Zenless Zone Zero gameplay urge out of the way. But before I begin, Here’s my Spatial Sculpt of Disney’s #GadgetHackwrench at scale in the Bora Bora Immersive Environment

#AppleVisionPro

Gadget begins lifting off the Apple Vision Pro’s packaging lid

Also, for someone like me, I’ve also waited long enough for this moment and it’s time for me to set the wish become reality, and then indulge. That primary indulgence is finally seeing my art feel like it’s physically connected to the Physical World at scale, or at whatever size I’m looking for

While Chibi Barbara is opening the small Zeiss lenses package, Barbara gets to work on the Apple Vision Pro package starting with its packaging seal

So why not “wait till it gets better?” My experience? It sorta doesn’t. New tech always introduces required muscle memory workflows and best practices. Not training in them will put me in similar straits as people I know who still haven’t figured out email, game controllers, or mice and trackpads

Time to open the Zeiss lenses package. Chibi Barbara takes initiative and begins peeling away the package’s seal

Speaking of Practices, I would need to identify important workarounds. All tech in my life introduces personality quirks that stymie - does it perform in sunlight, how to relocate it, how to pack/leave in seconds, going carrying case-less, and so on. I can’t figure out these things unless I have it

Barbara, Chibi Barbara, and Gadget pose in front of the AVP and Zeiss packages now that they are removed from the shipping boxes

Speaking of Best Practices, I knew building muscle memory with Spatial inputs is best practiced ASAP. It happened with my first time with the Mac mouse in the 70s, typing lessons in the 80s, pen tablets in the 90s, etc. Now when I perform live AVP sculpting demos, people are fascinated at my speed.

Barbara, Chibi Barbara, and Gadget finally remove the Apple Vision Pro from the shipping box

Let’s talk about the 50 use cases I mentioned earlier. One of them involved best practices for the AVP - None exists, at least until they’re discovered through usage (something I was ready to do). The original iPhone was received with “That’s Expensively Unnecessary” sentiment, as with the AVP today

Chibi Barbara and Gadget continue unboxing the AVP.

Nomad Sculpt not installing on the AVP was going to be a dealbreaker that would have left me returning it to Apple. I was so relieved it did. Sometime later, I went on the official Discord to thank the developer for permitting it to run on the AVP. His response was something like “What? It worked?”

Chibi Barbara minifig begins opening up the box that contains the Apple Vision Pro

My anxiety while waiting for its arrival back then was hoping two of the iPad apps I use for AR (calling it Spatial moving forward) Model content creation (Procreate and Nomad Sculpt) would run on it, even at reduced functionality. Procreate refused to install. Nomad Sculpt did!

Chibi-Barbara miniature and AR Gadget next to a fully unboxed Apple Vision Pro Zeiss box.

Some of my social media feeds at the time had people posting about preordering the #AppleVisionPro without having a clue about what to do with it. In my case, I had around 50 speculative use cases based around what I was already doing on the M2 iPad Pro. Shortly after opening, 30 of them were valid.

Cracked open the box of my prescription Zeiss lenses for the Apple Vision Pro. A chibi figurine of Barbara from Genshin Impact sits on top of it.

The advanced using stuff I was doing on the iPad Pro couldn’t be done on cheaper models. I was gambling I could do similar and more with the AVP. Besides, I was making AR models that ran on all other Apple devices. Getting them to run on the AVP was the next evolutionary stage.

An AR/Spatial model of Disney’s Gadget Hackwrench created by me. The model’s posed in front of my Apple Vision Pro packages moments before I begin opening them.

When Apple first announced the specs for the Apple Vision Pro, I immediately preordered in the early morning when the servers finally opened. You see, this tech had the same specs as the iPad Pro I was already heavily using for AR (now Spatial) model creation.

A picture of my Apple Vision Pro arriving at my house at launch day in February 2, 2024. It’s still boxed in this pic.

A few months back at an #AppleVisionPro development session at Apple I was discussing my experience and thoughts about my daily time with it to some attendees when one of them pointed out I’m now tech evangelist for it and should do something online. And so, I’ll start off with my Feb 2024 unboxing

Realized it’s Friday the 13th today. Gonna take a cue from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Finished WWDC 2025 at Apple, Bluesky account created, and now I need to catch up on sleep. For now, let’s begin with my OC, Nimette posed out in AR/Spatial