How Does Web-Based Augmented Reality Work? A 3D Product Experience Without an App

Web tabanlı artırılmış gerçeklik, müşterinin telefon tarayıcısında bir bağlantıya dokunmasıyla açılan ve makineyi bulunduğu odaya gerçek boyutlarıyla yerleştiren teknolojidir. Uygulama indirilmez, mağazaya gidilmez, hesap açılmaz.

Why no app is needed

Until a few years ago, an AR experience meant a manufacturer had to build its own mobile app and convince the customer to download it. In B2B this almost never worked: a purchasing manager won't install an app for a machine they haven't decided on yet.

Today there is no need. Both iOS and Android carry AR infrastructure at operating-system level, and the browser can call that infrastructure directly:

The result: a link sent to a customer opens on almost any phone. Wherever the link goes, the experience goes with it — into an email, a WhatsApp message, a QR code in a proposal PDF.

Two file formats: GLB and USDZ

In practice, two files are prepared. GLB is the binary version of Khronos' glTF standard; geometry, materials and textures live in a single file, and it's what Android and desktop 3D viewing use. USDZ is Apple's format, and it's what iOS AR Quick Look requires.

You don't have to produce USDZ separately; modern viewers can generate USDZ from GLB in the browser. But for machines with reflections, transparency or multiple materials, a purpose-built USDZ gives a noticeably better visual result.

Polygon budget: the most common mistake

A machine model converted directly from production CAD can easily carry one to two million triangles. It opens fine on a desktop; on a phone it either won't open at all, or it heats up the device and crashes the browser tab.

The realistic target for web AR is 150,000–300,000 triangles. Getting into that range follows this order:

1. Invisible internal geometry is deleted (assembly screws, internal channels, closed volumes).
2. Section resolution of cylindrical surfaces is reduced — a 64-sided pipe is indistinguishable from a 24-sided one on a phone.
3. Repeating parts are instanced — 200 bolts are not modelled 200 times.
4. Surface detail is moved from geometry into texture (normal map).
5. Textures are compressed; 2K is usually enough.

The aim is not to shrink the model but to shrink it while preserving silhouette and readability.

Why scale is critical

AR's real value in B2B isn't aesthetics — it's scale. A catalogue line reading "2,400 × 1,100 × 1,850 mm" gives information but no feel for it. The customer reads the number, can't picture it, and can't decide on something they aren't sure of.

When the machine sits on their own floor at 1:1, these questions close at once: will it pass through the door, is the ceiling high enough, is there working space for the operator, can the service hatch open, where does it fit into the existing line. If these do not close at the quotation stage, they usually come back as post-order revisions.

Setup: what is needed in practice

Managing expectations

Retail and e-commerce data reports a clear lift in conversion and drop in returns for 3D/AR product pages. These figures don't translate one-to-one to industrial B2B, where the buying process is longer and involves more decision-makers. Here the gain shows up mainly as less dependence on site visits and trade shows and fewer late-stage revisions caused by layout surprises.