Last week Apple have released a big frameworks as part of World Wide Developers Conference 2017 to take the iPhone and iPad users to next era of cyber space.The framework is called Augmented reality[ARKit]. A developer can make use of augmented reality framework to develop augmented reality experience in real world.
So,What is Augmented reality?
“a technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a user’s view of the real world, thus providing a composite view” —Says Google.
Augmented reality is the integration of digital information with the user’s environment in real time. Unlike virtual reality, which creates a totally artificial environment, augmented reality uses the existing environment and overlays new information on top of it.Today, Google glass and heads-up displays in car windshields are perhaps the most well-known consumer AR products, but the technology is used in many industries including healthcare, public safety, gas and oil, tourism and marketing.
Augmented reality apps are written in special three Dimensional programs that allow the developer to tie animation or contextual digital information in the computer program to an augmented reality “marker” in the real world. When a computing device’s AR app or browser plug-in receives digital information from a known marker, it begins to execute the marker’s code and layer the correct image or images.Augment Reality is a malleable technology that can augment the smartphone experience by providing a more engaging, informative, and useful user experience..
ARKit:
- ARKit is a framework which uses your apple device camera and motion sensor to create the augmented reality experience in your app or game.Augment Reality combines device motion tracking, camera scene capture, advanced scene processing and display conveniences to simplify the process of building AR experience.
- ARKit adds the 2 Dimension or 3 Dimensional view in your real world views, which is taken by using a device camera.
- Augment Reality will run on the devices which has A9 chips set and above.
Mainly there are two steps involved in building AR experience in our real world,
1.Tracking – Matching real world and visual-inertial odometry
- The ARKit uses the visual-inertial odometry (VIO) method to create the correspondence between the real world and virtual spaces.This method uses data from the motion sensor and computer vision analysis of a scene from device camera.
- ARKit analyses the features in the scene using data gathered from different video frames and it combines this scene data with motion sensor data to provide the high precision information about device’s position and motion.
2. Scene understanding – Plane detection, Hit testing and light estimation
- Plane Detection – We can detect the plane surface in our scene by enabling “planeDetection” setting in our ARSessionConfiguration. As the result of plane detection, we can get the position and size of the detected plane in our scene. We can use this to place our virtual content in the real world scene.
- Hit testing – Using this we can find the real world surface corresponding to the point the camera image.
- Light estimation – Lighting of the scene we are tracking also plays a major role in AR. So scene with low light and a blank wall will reduce the tracking quality.
Rendering – Easy integration, ARView and Custom rendering
- After completing tracking and scene understanding we can place virtual elements in real world scene using ARKit.
The following image will explain how AR actually works,
AR applications have the power to take all the technologies now existing in the cyber world to a next advanced level. The growing popularity of AR could help drive high revenue growth for the company’s software business.
For example, Pokémon Go could generate up to $3 billion in revenue for Apple over the next one to two years, according to Reuters.Just like this,the AR can be taken into wide areas of our work,for example in my opinion with this facility the real-estate sector can take a great advantage i.e., when a buyer want to buy a land for housing purposes.. he can even see or experience how his house-model will fit in the area that he is looking for to buy,so these kind of technologies can make great break-through in our world.Its a big revenue generator.
So here is an another door for money to flow towards us,with ARkit framework the making of AR become so easy,that it is much simpler to insert AR experiences into apps, which could assuage any concerns held by marketers and developers over the use of AR. AR can also be more interesting and it will be so popular than any other existing mobile formats, which could bring huge amount of investments in the technology.This technology will change the way users use their devices and the increasing power of smartphone cameras. The implications for device makers and social platforms, as well as the publishers and marketers that rely on them, are profound.