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Depth API Troubleshooting and FAQ

Updated: Jun 5, 2025

Troubleshooting

The depth texture is blank/occlusions are not working, what’s wrong?

Make sure you have completed the following steps:
  • Scene support is enabled in your Project Settings
  • Start environment depth has been called
  • Scene permissions were granted when starting the app
Search the adb logs for the string environment_depth and ensure that the extension has been started and not skipped.

Why don’t soft occlusions work when enabled at runtime?

Make sure you have enabled Support XR Soft Occlusions in your Project Settings and that you have the Meta fork of the Unreal Engine.

FAQs

Should I use both Scene and Depth API together?

Yes. To build realistic MR apps, use both Scene API and Depth API to cover a broad set of use cases.
The recommended flow is to:
  • Prompt users to initiate the space setup flow to build a 3D scene model of their environment.
  • Use depth maps from the Depth API to render occlusions based on the per-frame sensed depth, which will take advantage of the scene model to improve the depth estimates.
  • If needed, use the Scene API to implement other features such as game physics and object placement. This requires a watertight static 3D model of the environment.

What if scene capture is not initiated?

If space setup is not initiated, the Depth API cannot take advantage of the scene model when computing the depth maps. In this case, the depth maps returned from the Depth API will be computed only from the sensed depth. This will make the depth estimates worse and less stable, especially on planar surfaces such as walls, floors and tables. When using the Depth API for occlusion, this will increase flickering when virtual objects are close to these real-world surfaces.

Are there scenarios where I should only be using the Depth API?

It is technically possible to use Depth API independently of Scene. Note that when done so, it will only expose depth maps based on sensed depth alone. Depending on the use case for your app, you may choose to only use the Depth API.
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