VRL Cam vs XR Animator

VRL Cam turns an iPhone or iPad into a tracked virtual-production camera, placing a VRM avatar in its viewfinder. ARKit world tracking supports avatar placement, while LiDAR depth can help place avatars and hide them behind real objects. Users can import VRM models, use face tracking, receive bone and blendshape data, and play VRMA animations.

The app sends six-degree-of-freedom camera motion and lens data over VMC/OSC and FreeD in parallel. It can send its AR feed through NDI and display NDI sources as overlays. Live streaming supports SRT; SRTLA can bond Wi-Fi and cellular but requires an SRTLA server. The app can record composited takes with audio to Photos and output through HDMI to a TV or capture card. It requires iOS or iPadOS 26 or later and an ARKit-capable iPhone or iPad; face tracking requires TrueDepth. The free app includes every feature for personal, non-commercial use and qualifying individual creators. VRL Link costs $4.99 a month; Pro costs $49.99 a year.

XR Animator is a free tool for driving MMD or VRM 3D avatars from pose input. It uses MediaPipe and TensorFlow.js to detect poses from webcam video, and supports face, full-body, and combined face, body, and hand tracking. Full-body tracking can use a webcam or an image or video file. Face tracking supports 52 ARKit-compatible blendshapes. Users can record motion capture, export VMD, BVH, and glTF motion, and load VMD, FBX, and BVH motion files; FBX or BVH motion can also be exported to VMD. The scene can include 2D images or video, 3D panoramas, and .x or .glb objects. The web app works in major desktop and smartphone browsers, while Electron apps are available for Windows, Linux, and macOS. Android Chrome supports augmented reality. VMC protocol support and a frameless transparent background for capture apps are limited to Electron mode. The project notes that smartphones with limited processing power may be better suited to face tracking alone.