Augmented Reality Frameworks— choosing the best one
In this article, we will see what are the different AR frameworks available and how to choose the right one which will suite for the use case.
What is Augmented reality?
In simple words, Augmented reality is the technology where, virtual objects are overlaid in to the real environment.
Virtual objects can be images, videos, interactive texts, document, etc. It’s overlay of digital content on the real-world environment.
For example, imagine you want to buy furniture and want to see how it will look like in the room, and choose the best match and fit, with the help of Augmented reality.
AR apps use a phone camera to capture the real world, virtual objects are then overlaid, and users can see them on their smartphone screen.
Another way to create AR experiences is to use special smart glasses or headsets. Unlike VR, these AR glasses to immerse the user experience to complete virtual environment, whereas
it just overlays the digital content in the real environment.
Augmented Reality market is growing rapidly in the present. Therefore, if you’re looking forward to use AR technology to create an Augmented Reality App, you need to choose an appropriate Augmented Reality SDK.
Choosing the right AR SDKs
You need to choose a tool according to the functionality to be added in your AR app.
Some points to keep in mind while selecting the right choice,
There are many Augmented Reality SDKs available in the market. Some of them are free, some are having paid licenses, choose the one according to your need, as the free version could have limited functionality.
Platform support — Check the platform support provided by the SDKs and you want to support to — for example, Android, iOS, Widows mobile, etc.
Unity support — As you must be knowing, Unity is one of the powerful game engines and used for the development of Augmented reality apps using different AR SDKs.
3d tracking — 3d objects tracking support such as objects like cylinder, pipe, mug, etc.
Cloud recognition — where the markers are store on the cloud, so less space is required on the mobile device.
Location — Check if you want to support the location services and if SDKs are giving the support for the same.
Supporting glasses — There are different smart glasses available in the market, which gives you a smart hands-free experience.
Slam — It stands for Simultaneous Localization and Mapping. It’s a technology which understands the physical world through feature points. Device can create a map of its surroundings and orient itself properly within the map in real–time.
Now let’s review some of the best Augmented reality SDKs and the features they provide,
Vuforia
Vuforia is one of the best Augmented reality platforms, widely used in the market.
· Vuforia SDKS can be used with Unity engine
· It can detect and overlay 2d, 3d objects
· It has text recognition feature
· It can overlay image, playback video based on target detection
· It has virtual buttons components, can acts as surface touch-based buttons
· It has both local as well has cloud based recognition
· Vumark is a feature in Vuforia which are barcodes acts like markers and encodes the data
· It is free with Vuforia watermarks with limited features, also available with commercial license
· Supported platforms — Android, iOS, UWP, Unity
For more info, please visit https://developer.vuforia.com/
ARCore
ARCore is a software development kit developed by Google that allows you to develop augmented reality applications using it’s SDKs.
· ARCore uses three key technologies to integrate virtual content with the real environment:
1. Motion Tracking: it allows the phone to understand its position relative to the world.
2. Environmental understanding: It allows the phone to detect the size and location of all type of surfaces, vertical, horizontal and angled.
3. Light Estimation: it allows the phone to estimate the environment’s current lighting conditions.
· It can detect and overlay 2d, 3d objects
· ARCore’s understanding of the real world lets you place objects, annotations, or other information in a way that integrates seamlessly with the real world.
· ARCore also tracks moving images such as, for example, a billboard on the side of a moving bus
· Images can be compiled offline to create an image database, or individual images can be added in real time from the device.
· It uses motion tracking technology to identify certain features
· Supported platforms — Android (Android 7.0 or later), iOS, Unity, Unreal
For more info, please visit https://developers.google.com/ar
ARKit
· ARKit requires an iOS device with an A9 or later processor. ARKit is not available in iOS Simulator.
· It can detect and overlay 2d, 3d objects
· ARKit combines device motion tracking, camera scene capture, advanced scene processing, and display conveniences to simplify the task of building an AR experience
· Create many kinds of AR experiences, using either the back camera or front camera of an iOS device
· Plane surface detection like table, wall, floor.
· Can be used with Unity, Unreal
For more info, please visit https://developer.apple.com/documentation/arkit
SLAM
· It allows mobile apps to map an environment and track its movements in it, like app remembers the position of different things in a certain place and track their movements
· Best alternative to GPS in indoors as GPS won’t work in indoor locations
· SLAM is best applicable for situations with no prior reference point.
· Currently available for iOS, unity platform
For more info, please visit https://www.wikitude.com/wikitude-slam/
Wikitude
· The Wikitude SDK includes functionality such as 3D model rendering, location-based AR, and video overlay.
· Can build marker-based AR apps as well as location-based AR apps
· Geolocation support Local and Cloud recognition
· Instant Tracking for mapping environments and displaying virtual objects without markers
· Supported platforms — iOS, Android, Windows, Unity
For more info, please visit https://www.wikitude.com
Kudan
· It supports 2D and 3D images recognition
· Kudan also support SLAM
· It offers both free and commercial license, free version includes watermarks.
· Supported platforms — Android, iOS, Unity
For more info, please visit https://www.kudan.io/
ARToolkit
ARToolKit is an open-source software development kit that lets you customize your App’s source code.
· Integrate with GPS to build location-based Augmented Reality Apps
· Single and dual camera support
· Simultaneous tracking of several objects
· Supported platforms — Android, iOS, Windows, Unity
· It’s opensource and free, but time consuming in terms of integration
OpenCV
Open Computer Vision library, which was created by Intel and is now a full-blown open-source project.
· It is a most popular and most advanced Vision-based library
· You can use OpenCV together with frameworks such as React, or with data libraries such as TensorFlow
· It has multiple features like, image processing, machine learning, visual analysis and motion detection
· Supported platforms and mobile OSs — Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, Blackberry
For more info, please visit https://opencv.org/
So finally, you can decide what functionality you want to use, choose the right tool, consider the pricing factor, and then select the right SDKs to develop your Augmented reality application.
There are plenty of innovations by developers and announcements by big brands day by day. Stay updated..
