E-SPACE for Android phones

The same experience in the palm of your hand: augmented reality with ARCore, QR pairing and all the model tools, handled with your fingers. Ideal to check, supervise and show the model on site.

What it is for

The phone app shows the Rhino and Grasshopper model in augmented reality, anchored to the real place, and lets you work with it: move it, rotate it, change the view, switch layers on and tap your definition's parameters. It is used in two ways:

To check and supervise

While someone builds with the Quest, another person controls on the phone what is shown, which parameters are active and where everything is. Both viewers share the same session.

To work alone

Without a mixed reality headset, the phone is enough to place the model, review a design on site, show it to a client or try a scale model on a table.

Requirements and installation

An Android phone compatible with ARCore (tested on a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra).
The phone and the computer running Rhino on the same Wi-Fi network.
Camera permission, to see the space and read QR codes.
Rhino 8 for Windows with the EsSync plug-in.

Today the app is installed as an APK file (it is not on Google Play yet): when you open it, Android asks you to allow “install apps from this source”. You do not need to enable developer mode.

Beta by invitation. If you want to try the phone app, request the beta: we email you the APK of the current version. The history is below, under Versions.

Link with Rhino

In RhinoRun EsSync: the session opens and the page with the QR code appears.
On the phoneOpen the app. A short welcome with the logo (a tap skips it) leads to the Link with Rhino screen.
Scan the QRPoint the camera at the QR on the PC screen. The app tries the network addresses, connects by itself and shows “Transforming your space…” while it opens the augmented reality camera.
Or type the codeIf you cannot scan, there is an option to type the session code by hand.

At the top of the screen there is a pill showing the connection status (for example “No connection · address” while it tries, or the file name once connected). If the phone cannot connect, check it is on the same network and that the firewall allows the server (see troubleshooting).

The screen

The camera with the model anchored to the space. The Grasshopper objects that can be moved are tapped to select them.
The pill at the top with the session status and, while you move a piece, the chosen mode and axis.
The menu handle at the bottom: closed, it is just a small bar whose color shows the anchoring status (searching, anchored, fixed). Tapping it or dragging it up opens the menu; tapping outside closes it.
The object card: double-tapping a piece shows it above the menu, with its tools and a live readout of what you do.

Tab	What is there
Anchoring	The status of the QR codes seen and their error, a confidence indicator (green, amber or red dot), Fix and Re-anchor; the Place by hand switch to tap Rhino's points without scanning; and Place here on the floor or a table, with rotation and Reposition.
Layers	The Rhino layers with a switch on each; turning one on or off here also changes it in Rhino.
View	Shaded, Realistic, Wireframe or Edges: for the whole model or only the selected object.
Param	The Grasshopper parameters you enabled: sliders with ‹ › arrows, a tappable number (with its own numeric keypad), toggles, lists (stepped with a button, with no dropdowns covering the camera) and buttons.
Scale	1:1, 1:5, 1:10, 1:25, 1:50 and 1:100. With QR codes or points by hand the model stays at 1:1; on the floor or a table you choose the scale.
Session	The session code, the server, Reset all (returns every piece to Grasshopper's position, 1:1 scale and Shaded view) and Unlink.

Move, rotate and scale with your fingers

You tap a piece (only the ones Grasshopper lets you move) and choose what to do with one finger. Each mode works with locked axes, always the model's own (Rhino's Z is “up” even if the model is anchored rotated):

Mode	Axes	How
Move	Free · Z · Floor	You drag your finger. On Z the object follows your finger along that line and does not leave it; on Floor it moves on the horizontal plane.
Rotate	Free · Z · X · Y	On one axis, like a wheel, in 5° steps. On Free, like a ball.
Scale	—	You drag up or down (35 % of the screen equals ×4).

With two fingers there is a shortcut: pinching scales and, in Rotate mode, turning your fingers rotates the object around the chosen axis. The card shows a live readout (“Z +1.20 m”, “Z rotation 35°”, “Scale ×1.80”) and a finger that has started dragging can return to the starting point. What you move reaches Rhino and the other viewers instantly.

Anchoring and accuracy

It works as on the Quest (see How it works): with QR, by hand or on the floor or a table.

QR codes are read with the camera. ARCore does not recognize QR codes by itself, so E-SPACE reads them with its own reader and computes the code's position and orientation.
Every QR seen is remembered; when you see one again, the position is corrected and the phone tracking drift (about 1 % of the distance walked) is compensated.
It does not read while moving: if you go too fast, the app asks for calm. Look at QR codes up close.
Place by hand: you tap the real corner of each marker with your finger; holding a point pressed corrects it and when finished it stays fixed. Each point shows as a small ball with its name.
On the floor or a table: you point at the floor and tap “Place here”; once placed the model stays fixed, and “Reposition” moves it as a whole to another place.

What it sends to Grasshopper

Besides showing and moving, the phone tells Grasshopper what it sees, for the Get components: the device position, the gaze, the pointers (touches), the QR codes it reads and the environment planes ARCore detects (floor, wall, ceiling, table). It also sends gestures and touch events. It does not send a mesh of the space: ARCore on phones does not provide that information.

In Rhino, the phone is drawn as a phone silhouette with its field of view and where it is looking (EsUsers command).

Phone and Quest together

Both join the same session with the same QR. What one moves, the other sees, and the layers, view and parameters are the same. One person can build hands free on the Quest and another supervise on the phone, or the other way round. Each viewer has its own anchoring, because each one sees the space from its own place.

Versions

Version	What's new
1.2.7	Table and floor: the model stays fixed once placed and moves as a whole with Reposition.
1.2.x	Welcome with the logo and the “Transforming your space…” sweep; confidence indicator for anchoring (green, amber, red); Param sliders inherit Grasshopper's decimals; fix for the Param arrows.
1.1.x	Param with ‹ › arrows and tappable number with numeric keypad; Place by hand; electric blue interface; `ES-01`… markers with their “ES Markers” layer.
1.0.0	First closed version: refined QR anchoring, rejection of impossible jumps, 1:5 and 1:25 scales, closed meshes with edges.

Known limits

With widely spaced QR codes (3–4 m) the error goes up (4–8 cm in a test with 5 QR codes). With close, well-placed QR codes it gets lower.
With about 4000 pieces the phone's memory is tight.
The model is not hidden behind real objects; use the Wireframe or Edges views.
The app is in Spanish and is installed as an APK (not yet on Google Play).
See more in Known limits of the beta and what is coming in What's next.