Augmented Reality: Getting Started

Based on the feedback from my talk last night at the Jhb meetup, there seems to be quite a bit of interest in AR, so I thought I'd post some info here for those that want to get started with it.

To get a basic non technical overview of AR, this talk is pretty good (much better than mine!):


If you want to get straight into creating something, grab Qualcomm's Vuforia SDK for Unity. We've been using it for the last 3 years: it's free (unlike basically any other AR package), easy to use and has good tracking:
https://developer.vuforia.com/

There is more than enough info on there, but first steps to get you started:
https://developer.vuforia.com/resources/dev-guide/getting-started-unity-extension

Note that Vuforia is for Android and iOS only, however if you have a Unity pro license, you can preview the AR in the Unity editor using the web cam without having to build to a phone.

It will be awesome to see what everyone comes up with, good luck!

Comments

  • Thanks for the talk @electrov.
    Just btw for those that are interested, the language IAPs for Word Lens (mentioned in the talk, truly amazing app) are free on iOS right now. Might be on Android as well.
  • Here are some more links to items mentioned in the talk:

    Meta "Space Glasses" (probably the most advanced AR glasses currently in development):


    Metaio (Vuforia's competition) showing their tech and what they are working on (such as solving the issues of occlusion and realistic lighting):
  • I fiddled with AR a little, made a Slingshot game for Android using Unity. Very basic implementation though (150 lines of code), just wanted to see the market reaction.

    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cybercritics.slingshot
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