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The Simulator
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Ask the communityUse the Simulator in Spark AR Studio to quickly see how your effect would look on different devices and from different user’s perspectives, as you’re building your effect.
You can find the Simulator in the top right of the Spark AR Studio interface.
Seeing how your effect looks from different perspectives
In the Simulator, you’ll see up to 4 different menu options so you can test what your effect looks like from different users' perspectives. The number of options available varies depending on the experience you selected.
To reveal the options, click the User (Sharing) menu at the top of the Simulator.
Sharing experience
If you’re creating an effect for sharing experience, you can select one of the following 2 options:
- User (Sharing) — select this option to see what the person who started the effect sees in a sharing experience (i.e. when sharing the effect in their story, Reel, post or message).
- Capture — this option shows what the person using the effect sees when they press record or capture.
Video calling experience
If you’re creating an effect for video calling, it’s useful to preview what your effect will look like to different participants during a call. This is especially important because when you make a video call, your camera’s video stream is always automatically flipped horizontally when it’s displayed to other participants on the call.
If you’ve select a video calling experience, you’ll see the following two additional menu options:
- User (Video Calling) — select this option to see what the person who started the effect sees on a video call on Messenger or Instagram.
- Participants — this option shows what the person using the effect sees when they press record or capture.
Learn more about video calling effects.
Changing which device the Simulator represents
The Simulator is set to preview an effect on an iPhone 8 by default. To change this:
- Click the hamburger menu to reveal the dropdown.
- Choose a device from the list.
Adding a custom device
To add a device that's not included in this list:
- Click Spark AR Studio in the menu bar.
- Select Preferences, then Simulator.
Here's where you can add custom devices:
To add a device:
- Click +.
- Add the name, platform and dimensions for the device.
- Click Add Device.
Changing the video in the Simulator
To change the real-time video in the Simulator:
- In the toolbar click the video icon.
- Select a Real-Time Simulation video or click + to add your own. To view the effect on yourself select your computer's built-in camera.
Changing the Simulator position and size
Click and drag the sides of the Simulator to make it bigger or smaller. To undock the Simulator and move it to a new position, either:
- Click the Simulator caption area between the dropdown menu for device type selection and the hamburger icon. Then drag the Simulator.
- Click the Undock icon in the top-right of the Simulator menu. Click the icon again to return the Simulator to its default position.
You can also rotate the Simulator. To do this:
- Click in the Simulator to show the menu bar.
- Click the hamburger icon in the menu bar.
- Select Rotate Device, either to 90, 180 or 270 degrees.
Select Reset Rotation to return to the default orientation.
Simulating camera movement
Click and drag your mouse in the Simulator to simulate the movement of the camera.
Simulating touch gestures
To test an effect that responds to someone's touch — for example, taps and swipes on the device screen:
- In the Simulator, click the hamburger icon in the menu bar.
- Select Simulate Touch.
Clicking in the Simulator will now simulate a user's touch on a device screen, like this:
To simulate two fingers rotating or pinching the screen:
- On MacOS, hold Option, click and drag.
- On Windows, hold Alt, click and drag.
Simulating the gallery texture
If you’ve added the gallery texture to a project, you’ll see an Add Media button in the Simulator. Click this to add an image or video from your computer, to preview how an effect with the gallery texture looks.
Simulating with existing media
When effects are enabled for existing media, you’ll be able preview with the existing media on someone’s device through the Simulator.