Your mobile device is not as powerful as a professional computer. Your 3D model needs to abide by certain guidelines in terms of total polygon count and mesh in order to view in Augment's 3D and AR Viewer.
Polygon Count Recommendations:
Aim to have the lowest poly mesh as possible; the lighter a model is, the quicker Augment will load it.
While we do not have a fixed limit to the number of polygons, due to smartphone capabilities, we advise to have less than 1,000,000 (1 M) polygons. 300,000 polygons is a nice aim, and 150,000 or less is preferred.
Example of very light display:
The CocoPlanet display below contains around 22,000 polygons and there is enough to get the details needed on the products without over-damaging its shapes:
How to reduce polygon count:
While creating your model, if importing objects from CAD software (Solidworks, Rhinoceros, etc.), check in the import parameters if your software allows you to reduce the mesh (or to produce a light mesh for NURBS). Remove double sides of polygons (due to the import of double sided normals). It may, or may not be possible, depending on your software, and on the file format you’re importing.
If your 3D software allows it, remove the smoothing parameters that increase the mesh density. If you tend to merge the smoothing parameters in the history of the objects (for example collapsing the turbosmooth modifiers in 3DSMax; deleting the object’s construction history in Maya; or equivalent), it may be useful to prevent from it beforehand.
Check if your model has hidden polygons (inside opaque objects) that can be easily deleted, or overlapping polygons, which aren’t necessary and can also create display problems (Z-fighting).
Small details can most likely be done with textures rather than mesh when it is possible.
How to reduce object count:
The number of meshes should be controlled too. As it increases the scene graph, it increases the loading time too. The number of objects isn’t only the number of meshes, it also considers the different combined elements of an object. Merging objects without having connections between the different the meshes won’t improve the performances (and it drastically increases the DAE export time on some 3D softwares, depending on the complexity of the model). For complex models with a lot of objects, it is highly recommended to connect together meshes when possible.
Please also check your export settings for welding options, to avoid unwelded mesh export.
Tips when exporting:
Some differences in the mesh or its display may appear after export. You may avoid these with some simple steps.
The model should be clean from all angle, as users can rotate them in all angles in the 3D view of the app. Avoid elements that don’t fit together and gives a view inside the object, opened meshes that shows, and planes without thickness. These result in holes in the model because there is no two-sided materials.
In some 3D softwares, when duplicating an object in mirror, it is wise to reset the transformation values and check the normals afterward, which may be inverted. Without a reset of those values, the mirrored objects will probably get transformation problems after export.
In a more general way, if your 3D software allows it, it is recommended to reset the transformation values by using the dedicated tool (Reset XForm in 3ds Max, Freeze Transform in Maya, or equivalent). It can prevent from potential export issues.
Please also check smoothing groups and normals direction, to avoid faceting and artifacts that may show or appear after export.
Example: The corner of this model has faceting normals, the smoothing groups broke on export (left), two versions of the same object : the right one have some inverted normals (right). In both cases, if you don’t manage to solve the problem manually, a reset of the normals should help.
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To learn about materials in Augment, check here.
To learn about textures in Augment, check here.