Can ARKit detect the ceiling as a plane

Hi,


I've been reading about ARKit and haven't been able to find a definite answer anywhere online or in the developer documentation.


What I'm trying to find out is if ARKit is able to detect ceilings as downward facing planes for placing hanging/falling type objects in an environment.

Replies

Hi, I want to do the same. Did you manage to solve it?


Thanks in advance!

Hello! Yes ARKit can detect ceilings using horizontal plane detection, however these are some important things to keep in mind: 1. ARKit will ONLY detect either horizontal or vertical planes, so no angled ceilings. 2. The ceiling will need to have sufficient surface detail for the plane detection to work, that means the ceiling cannot be entirely white. I just tested on a tiled office ceiling and was able to detect the ceiling, so you don’t need a ton of surface detail, just some. 3. The height of the ceiling will matter, but for a standard 9 ft ceiling, no problem. 4. Light fixtures on the ceiling will likely disrupt plane detection. For this reason it would be ideal for your app to make an assumption about where the ceiling is, for example, if a horizontal plane is detected several feet above the users device, that is probably the ceiling. Using that plane location, you can simply extend along that plane to create your virtual ceiling. 5. Lighting conditions matter. Don’t expect plane detection to work in a dark room. (500 lux is ideal if you have light meter)