ARCore demo app - not finding surfaces

I have built the demo app from the ARCore SDK using Unity. I have successfully installed the app on my device (Pixel) and it executes. I have accepted the video permission for the app. I see the camera view ok.
The app constantly shows the “Searching for surfaces…” message (presumably because it does not find any surfaces). I think I have followed the instructions correctly (including installing arcore-preview.apk) but I must have missed something.

Are there any suggestions for how to solve or debug this issue?

Are you on Unity2017.2.0b10? I just got that same error, then downgrade to Unity2017.2.0b9 and it worked fine.

1 Like

Yeah, I have got Unity2017.2.0b10 - suppose I could try 0b9. Thanks.

There is a version of an ARCore demo in the Play Store here.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aiuspaktyn.arcoregr

I think this is the same app I’m trying to build. This app installs and works fine for me - so I know my device is setup ok.

Thanks again - after installing Unity2017.2.0b9, the HelloAR demo works on my device!

Is this still an issue with Unity 2017.2.0f3? I’m seeing the same “Searching for surfaces…” message and no camera feed in the HelloAR app. I feel like this should be fixed at this point, so I must be missing something. The app never asks for camera permissions, I’m wondering if that’s part of the issue?

Thanks,

Yes, I think that is the issue. I was getting the same thing, but after going to Android Settings ->Apps and selecting the ARCore Test app and granting it permission to use the camera, the app worked for me.

The default Android manifest has:

<meta-data android:name="unityplayer.SkipPermissionsDialog" android:value="true" />

which, as its name suggests, disables asking the user for permissions. I took the AndroidManifest.xml file from Temp/stagingArea (this gets created when building but is deleted when closing Unity), changed this line to ‘false’ and copied it to ‘Assets/Plugins/Android/AndroidManifest.xml’. Putting a manifest here overrides the default manifest (with some modifications) as explained in the Documentation. After another build and run, the new app asks for camera permission. I’m not sure why the SkipPermissionsDialog is enabled by default.