“The world is witnessing the rise of augmented reality application. Let’s know more about the tools that are required for its development. Keep reading to know more.”
Technology has always fascinated humankind and inspired their growth. We have come a long way by walking hand in hand with the rising tech. Some technologies have provided us with a highly secured platform, while some have transformed our professional lives. But, today we are going to talk about the tech that has expanded our horizons of imagination. Yes, we are talking about the AR technology.
AR tech converts the real-life environment into a seamless digital interface by adding virtual objects in it. It makes the use of the existing environment and adds virtual information on top of it. But one must not confuse it with VR technology, as VR allows the user to completely dwell into the virtual environment. It is easy to witness AR in different fields ranging from healthcare and gaming to education and real estate. Because of the better technology, it is also available on smartphones.
Apps based on this tech are software applications that connect the digital visual content into the users’ real-world environment. Because of its wide-ranging use cases, like marketing, e-commerce, training, education, security, many sectors are keen on exploring it more. But it is important that the developing team knows anout the AR software development kits (SDKs). Today in this blog we will know more about the types of AR apps, the main criteria to select an SDK, and a few of the popular tools.
Four Different Types Of AR Apps
Take a look at four different types of AR applications.
- Location-based
It uses GPS and some other position detectors. They are able to find the location and develop AR images with which a user can interact with. The directions can be viewed by the location-based application. Some of the position detectors that it uses include accelerometers and digital compasses.
- Market-based
In this, the AR object orientation is completely dependent on market positioning. This type uses image recognition technology and device to find patterns or markers. After that, it overlays the digital information on the marker.
- Superimposition based
This type partially or fully transforms/replaces the object view with an augmented view of it. One can witness the item in real life, but with the superimposition augmented app, the viewers would see the dramatic difference in the object.
- Projection-based
In this, the developers use advanced projection technology which is used to simplify the complicated manual tasks. Such apps are even part of the manufacturing process.
How To Select A Right SDK For AR App?
Here are the following factors that one needs to look into before selecting the best-suited SDK for development.
- Platforms
Android or iOS, both of these platforms don’t involve any complications in the selection of the AR tools, as the support all of them. But thee list of tools that support macOS or Windows is small. An AR application for Windows computers can be created with the help of an augmented reality development kit that is supported by bu UWP.
- Cost
The cost of the tool is an important factor that we must look into. If a team is trying out the AR app then any free opensource AR SDK is recommended. One must choose a tool that can be extended with brand new features introduced by developers. For a paid tool there are several costing, which completely depends on the requirements.
- OpenSceneGraph support
It is an application programming interface, an open-source 3D toolkit. Developing companies use it in gaming, scientific visualization, and modeling, augmented & virtual reality.
- Tracking and 3D recognition
This is the most valued feature of any toolkit. With the help of tracking an application can enhance and understand the large spaces. Apps that support 3D recognition cab easily recognize three-dimensional objects. This tech is commonly being used in e-commerce and gaming.
- Image recognition
The app must have this feature to discover the places, objects, and images. Smart devices are being used with the camera, the machine vision, and AI software to keep track of the images which can be overlayed by the virtual content.
6 Geolocation
It is a must-have feature for location-based AR applications.
Four Popular SDK To Create An AR App In 2020
- Apple ARKit
While developing an AR app for the iPhone or iPad, this is the tool that one must use. It provides the following things- take a look-
- TrueDepth camera
- Rendering optimizations
- Lighting estimation
- Scene understanding
As it is still considered experimental, many think of it as a drawback. One cannot compile it on Windows used for Mac. But it is available for free or at a very minimal coat.
- Kudan
The core of Kudan is created with C++, hence it can be used for many development purposes. It allows the developing team to adjust the speed, data size, and sensitivity for any AR project. Apart from supporting both marker-less and marker-based tracking, it is completely free of cost.
- Cordova
It can be used only for Android apps. One can use it to link JavaScript code with backend native code. It has been in the market for four years, but it still has bugs, and since the UX is not native, it can create problems for developing teams.
- Vuforia
It supports UWP, Android, iOS, and Unity 3D editor. Yes, the plugins and functionalities are absolutely free to use, but watermark can be seen when one uses it. It is easy to recognize different types of visual objects, with excellent text and environment recognition.
