AR Patterns Catalog

Catalog of AR Patterns: Event-driven Design Patterns in Creating Augmented Reality Experiences

This catalog is the main repository of the AR Patterns community. It is split into three parts the Augmentation Patterns, the Behavioral Patterns and the description of the overarching Event-Condition-Action Pattern.

Augmentation Patterns

While a VR/3D designer is placing virtual objects using positions in a controlled world coordinate system, an AR content creator primarily specifies object placement intents relative to appearing anchors, which are dynamically produced by detectors. These spatial anchors serve as reference points for pinning objects. Generally in AR Patterns, the augmentation intents are formulated as Event-Condition-Action (ECA) rules that are triggered by detector events. When a detector event occurs, ECA rule’s reaction will add augmentation items to the AR scene.

The following table outlines several common placement intents for event-driven augmentation patterns that can be used to stage AR experiences. In AR, the real world serves as the spatial context for the stage, making users both spectators and performers. Their movements and perspectives influence the firing of events, leaving limited control over time and space for AR scenography (in contrast to film, theater, and VR/3D/game design).

List of Augmentation Patterns

Icon	Pattern	Description	Example
	Geolocated Remark Pattern	Triggering of action or of user feedback based on GPS location data or on address data	Visual or audio feedback about location-based point of interest
	Segment Overlay Pattern	Presentation of 2D overlay on top of image segment detected in video stream	Attaching 2D text description to a detected image segment
	Area Enrichment Pattern	Approximately placing 3D content at area of image segment	Presenting ballons in sky area
	Captured Twin Pattern	Captured element of real world added to 3D data model	Captured walls and doors and windows in an indoor AR session
	Anchored Supplement Pattern	Presentation of 3D content aligned to detected entity for enhancement	Attaching visual 3D elements to a detected image (marker) or captured object
	Superimposition Pattern	Presentation of 3D content replacing a detected entity	Cover a detected object with a virtual one
	Tag-along Pattern	Presentation of 3D content within user’s field of view while head-locked	Place 3D control panel that follows the user
	Hand/Palm Pop-up Pattern	Presentation of 3D content on hand or palm while visible	Place 3D UI elements at palm of user's one hand
	Ahead Staging Pattern	Presentation of 3D content ahead of user	Placing 3D item on floor in front of spectator
	Pass-through Portal Pattern	Present partly hidden 3D content to force user to go through	Placing 3D scene behind a portal / behind an opening
	Staged Progression Pattern	Ordered, linear story: temporal order or interaction flow of 3D presentations	Sequence of 3D content with forth and optionally back movements
	Attention Director Pattern	Guide user’s attention to relevant place	Use animated pointers to direct user’s attention
	Contextual Plot Pattern	Spatio-temporal setting that aggregates diverse AR patterns to form a scenario or a non-linear plot	Scenography of dynamic, interactive, and animated AR

Behavioral Patterns

The real world context during an AR session can be seen as stage. The dynamic behavior of an AR experience is determined by its Event-Condition-Action rules, which are triggered by events occurring in the actual real-world context.

List of Behavioral Patterns

Icon	Pattern	Description	Example
	Instant Reaction Pattern	Direct execution of action triggered by invocation of rule	Immediate command of action or call of function
	Timed Reaction Pattern	Temporally executed action	Delayed action or sequence of timed actions
	Conditional Reaction Pattern	Execute an action only when a condition is fulfilled after being triggered by event	State-driven, asynchronous programming logic
	Continous Evaluation Pattern	Continuous polling of state changes that will triggers rules	Continuous checks on value change, existence, visibility, proximity
	Publish-Subscribe Notification Pattern	Receive notifications via a message queue from a subscribed system	From speech recognition system or from WebRTC system in collaboration session
	Request-Response Pattern	Remote procedure call resulting in asynchronously receiving ECA rules or media assets	REST API call via a Web URL to load rules or assets (images, 3D models)
	Chain Reaction Pattern	Course of events processed as sequence of indirect reactions of running subsequenced rules	Rule changing data that will trigger a rule to update an item’s visual as a follow-up
	Complementary Reactions Pattern	Two active rules with opposite reactions	Reacting on toggling states with two complementary active rules
	Detector Reactivation Pattern	Reactivate detector with only-once reaction	Reactivate detector after resulting augmentation is no longer existing

Event-Condition-Action Pattern

To design reactive systems, breaking down the system’s behavior into discrete events, conditions, and actions provides a structured and modular approach. Event-Condition-Action (ECA) rules serve as a core pattern for explaining reactive AR applications. Learn more on using the ECA Pattern

Based on the core ECA pattern, all other AR patterns can be documented in a standardized way by the ECA Diagram.

How to Contribute

This is a community-driven catalog, which means we need you as a contributor! Join us in creating new patterns and enhancing the existing ones. We would love to see more examples of the patterns in use in other technologies.

How to contribute is described in detail here: Contributing