workflowsXRexports

Avoid Vendor Lock-In: A Content Export Checklist for VR and AR Projects

ccompose

2026-02-01

8 min read

A practical export-first checklist to avoid XR vendor lock-in — repurpose 3D assets for web, vertical video, and CMSs in 2026.

Stop Losing Your XR Work: A Practical Content Export Checklist for 2026

Hook: You poured weeks into an interactive XR experience — then the platform announced it's shutting down. If that sounds familiar (hello, recent Meta Workrooms shutdown), you're not alone. Vendor volatility in XR is accelerating in 2025–2026. The right export pipeline protects your investment and ensures assets ship as web pages, vertical video, or CMS entries — fast.

Why export-first XR workflows matter in 2026

In early 2026 we saw major XR vendors shift focus and retire products. That volatility makes a single-source, proprietary-first approach risky for publishers and creators. Meanwhile, vertical mobile video platforms and AI-driven repurposing tools exploded in late 2025 — investors like those behind Holywater are scaling AI systems that expect ready-to-edit assets (vertical crops, multi-layer footage, 3D thumbnails).

Adopt an export-first mindset to guarantee content longevity, cross-channel reuse, and faster time-to-publish for web and CMS platforms.

Core principles (quick): export once, reuse forever

Canonical format: Choose a single interoperable format as your canonical source (we recommend glTF 2.0 for realtime web).
Source-first: Keep original scene files (Unity/Unreal/Blender) and document export settings.
Baked assets: Procedural materials, procedural anims, and simulation results must be baked to bitmaps/f-curves before export.
Fallbacks: Always create 2D fallbacks — posters, depth maps, and 9:16-cropped renders for vertical platforms.
Automation: Use CI/CD to run conversions, compression, and validation so you never repeat manual steps.

Export checklist: pre-production and project setup

Set these rules at the project start. They save hours later.

Naming & folder conventions
- ProjectRoot/
  - source/ (blend, unity, unreal, sbsar)
  - exports/gltf/
  - exports/usdz/
  - renders/vertical/
  - meta/ (manifest.json, license.txt)
Version control
- Use Git LFS or Perforce for binaries. Save lightweight manifests in regular git.
Accessibility & metadata
- Define title, description, creator, license, and keywords in a manifest.json that travels with every export.
Authoritative source
- Keep .blend/.unitypackage/.uproject as system-of-record files and tag releases with semver.

Technical export workflows - 3D assets to web-friendly formats

These are battle-tested steps for converting XR assets from engines and authoring tools into formats friendly to web, mobile, and CMSs.

1) Export canonical model: glTF 2.0 (preferred)

Why glTF? It's a widely-supported, runtime-optimized format designed for the web. Use it as your canonical realtime format.

Export geometry in triangle mesh form; preserve normals and tangents for PBR.
Bake procedural maps (normal, metallic, roughness, AO) before export.
Include animations as embedded clips or separate .glb files for modular loading.

Toolchain tips:

Blender: use the built-in glTF exporter, check "Apply Modifiers" and "Include UVs".
Unity: use Export to glTF packages (Khronos exporter). Ensure skinned meshes are tested post-export.
Compression: run gltfpack or gltf-pipeline with Draco for geometry and Meshopt for meshes. Example command:
```
gltf-pipeline -i model.glb -o model.draco.glb -d
```

2) Create iOS AR package: USDZ

iOS Quick Look requires USDZ. Convert from glTF or source scene:

Apple Reality Converter (macOS) or usdzconvert scripts.
Bake textures; embed PBR maps; flatten layered shaders.
Validate in Quick Look and on devices. See local sync options and device workflows in our local-first sync appliances field review for tips on testing on-device.

3) Provide interchange formats: FBX, Alembic

For downstream teams that use DCC tools, provide FBX for rigged assets and Alembic (.abc) for complex vertex-animated sims. If you're doing on-location captures and field renders, the field rig review has practical notes on how DCC exports fit into a mobile capture pipeline.

4) GPU-ready textures: Basis Universal / KTX2

For web and mobile performance, convert textures to compressed GPU-ready containers. Basis Universal (KTX2) reduces payloads and speeds load times.

5) LODs and fallback meshes

Generate 3 LOD levels automatically (high, medium, low) using Blender or meshoptimizer.
Include a lightweight collision/interaction mesh if needed.

2D and vertical video repurposing workflows (essential for publishers)

XR experiences must translate into vertical mobile-first assets and traditional 2D hero images for CMSs.

Frame capture & composition

Capture at native resolution with an isolated alpha pass (render with transparent background) for flexible compositing.
Render a 9:16 composition alongside widescreen 16:9 — export both as masters.
Export EXR or ProRes 4444 masters to preserve color and alpha for editing.

Generate vertical edits automatically

Use scripts or AI tools to produce multiple vertical crops and motion-crops optimized for Reels, Shorts, TikTok, or Holywater-like platforms.

# example ffmpeg crop for 9:16 from a 3840x2160 source
ffmpeg -i master.mov -filter:v "crop=1080:1920:1410:0" -c:v prores_ks -profile:v 4 vertical_master.mov

Depth maps & 2.5D parallax

Export depth maps or normal maps to create photoreal parallax and motion effects for vertical reels without re-rendering the 3D scene.

CMS export patterns and integrations

Design your CMS entries to accept multi-channel assets and metadata so editors can assemble pages quickly.

Content model (fields) to add to your headless CMS

title
slug
description
3d_canonical_file (glb link)
usdz_file
poster_image (JPEG/WEBP)
vertical_clips[] (list of MP4/WebM)
depth_map
manifest.json (link or JSON blob with metadata)
license

Structured data & SEO

Publish structured Schema.org metadata (MediaObject) for each asset. Include keywords like 3D assets, web-friendly formats, and XR workflow in descriptions to aid discovery.

CDN & caching

Host heavy assets on a CDN with immutable versioned URLs. Use far-future cache headers and update manifests to point to new versions so pages remain stable while assets evolve.

Automation & validation: make exports repeatable

Manual exports are slow and error-prone. Use automation to run conversions, compressions, and checks in CI.

Example pipeline

Developer pushes scene files to main.
CI job runs Blender exported script to output glb and PNG renders.
Compression step (gltfpack/draco/Basis) reduces file sizes.
Validation step runs the Khronos glTF validator and verifies manifest.json fields.
Artifacts are uploaded to CDN and manifest URLs updated.

# A simplified CI step using gltf-pipeline and ktx2compress
gltf-pipeline -i source/model.glb -o artifacts/model.glb -d
toktx -f etc1s -o artifacts/textures.ktx2 textures.png
khronos-gltf-validators model.glb

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

Relying on platform-only assets: Export all textures and geometries. Materials that exist only in a vendor engine can't be read elsewhere.
Neglecting performance optimization: Without LODs or compressed textures, mobile pages will load slowly and bounce rates will spike.
No 2D fallback: Make sure the CMS shows a poster or vertical clip where 3D can't be loaded.
Missing license and author metadata: That makes reuse risky and slows approvals.

Advanced strategies for 2026 and beyond

Expect more AI-driven repurposing, better browser support for compressed GPU textures, and continued consolidation of XR vendors. Plan for:

AI retargeting: Use AI tools to auto-generate vertical edits and suggested hero frames at scale. These will accelerate content ops for publishers.
Automated LOD/mesh simplification: Meshopt and other libs now support automated LOD generation as part of the build step.
Standardized manifests: A small manifest.json schema that includes canonical format, fallback assets, and expiry dates helps CMSs ingest XR content reliably.

Sample manifest.json (minimal)

{
  'title': 'Product Demo XYZ',
  'version': '1.2.0',
  'canonical': '/artifacts/model.glb',
  'usdz': '/artifacts/model.usdz',
  'poster': '/renders/poster.webp',
  'vertical_master': '/renders/vertical_master.mov',
  'license': 'CC-BY-4.0',
  'createdBy': 'Studio Name',
  'createdAt': '2026-01-12'
}

Case study snapshot: Recovering assets after a platform change

Scenario: A team built a training room in a managed XR platform that announced a shutdown in early 2026. Because the team enforced an export-first policy and kept source Unity scenes and glTF exports, they were able to:

Spin up a lightweight web experience using model-viewer in 48 hours.
Deliver vertical video captures and short-form ads using the pre-rendered 9:16 masters.
Ingest everything to a headless CMS with structured metadata so marketing could assemble landing pages without engineering.

"Our export checklist saved the project — otherwise all the work would have been locked into a dead platform," a lead producer told us in January 2026.

Quick reference export checklist (printable)

Save original scene files to source/ and tag release.
Bake procedural textures and sims to bitmaps and Alembic as needed.
Export canonical glTF/.glb with embedded PBR textures.
Compress geometry and textures (Draco, Basis/KTX2, Meshopt).
Generate USDZ for iOS AR Quick Look.
Render 9:16 and 16:9 masters with alpha; export EXR/ProRes4444.
Create poster images and depth maps for 2.5D effects.
Author manifest.json with metadata and license.
Upload artifacts to CDN and add CMS entries with fallback assets.
Run automated validation and smoke test pages on mobile devices.

Final recommendations

Vendor lock-in in XR is a clear business risk in 2026. Build workflows that assume vendors can change direction overnight. Treat glTF as your canonical realtime format, always produce 2D fallbacks and vertical masters, and automate validation so your editorial and marketing teams can ship without waiting on engineers.

Actionable takeaways

Start every XR project with a export-first checklist and manifest template.
Automate conversions and validation with CI so exports are repeatable.
Prioritize glTF, USDZ, and compressed textures (KTX2/Basis) for web and mobile.
Generate vertical assets and depth maps as part of your render pipeline for faster social distribution.
Host versioned assets on a CDN and model CMS fields for 3D-first content delivery.

Where to get the checklist and templates

Download a ready-to-use export checklist, manifest templates, and CI job snippets to integrate with your headless CMS. If you want a quick starting pack for glTF conversion and vertical video automation, grab the templates and try them on a single scene to see savings in hours, not days.

Call-to-action: Protect your XR investment — download the export checklist and workflow templates now and run the first automated export in under an hour. Visit compose.website/export-checklist (or your project repo) to get started.

compose

Contributor

Senior editor and content strategist. Writing about technology, design, and the future of digital media. Follow along for deep dives into the industry's moving parts.