This week, we have seen many unique, yet interesting Virtual Reality or Augmented Reality inventions that students have chosen and talked about during their presentation.
While all of it were only 5 minutes, there are many projects that got my attention. One of which is a presentation by Jon Tran which is call Google ARCORE
What is it?
Google ARCORE is an augmented reality toolkit that, unfortunately , only works for a small portion of the Android's installed base as it requires certain hardware specs and certain software updates. Even though there is already a software development kit for creating augmented reality (AR) applications created by Apple, called ARKit, ARCore is available for download via Android app store. Mobile AR represents a stepping stone towards an optimal means of AR delivery.
What difference does ARCore offer from other AG SDK?
Google ARCore brings augmented reality to relatively small audience. Various startups that we seen in this week's presentation choices have been creating AR-oriented experiences for years, but it was always an uphill battle to gain attention. Google tried to outdo Apple ARKit by offering a broader range of capabilities in ARCore than can be found in ARKit. Apple's ARKit supports placing objects on a single virtual plane, whereas Google's ARCore supports multiple planes, such as walls, and can understand lightning much better.
Personal experience
I was able to get my hands and experienced with it firsthand with a friend's phone. It contains many unique sample apps that let you accomplish different tasks using AR technology. You can even create your own app by using Unity and ARCore toolkit. The possibilities is endless. Despite the fact that Jon didn't get to show all of ARCore potential power to create and develop apps, he did touch on the pros and cons between ARCore and Tango ( the current AR toolkit created by Apple) . ARCore has lots of documentation for starters and experienced programmers alike to get started, which is helpful as AR and VR are fairly new to the current programming fashion.
The app that uses your location on your phone and acts as a Augmented Reality GPS stood out to me the most in his presentation. The app consists of motion tracking - the device will know its relative position to its place/ surroundings. It also has surface recognition - recognizes how big the surface is relative to other objects.
Overall, I'd say that Jon has done an excellent job in providing us more about AR knowledge and the potential of what ARCore can bring to the table. The toolkit itself is very unique and powerful software that lets users explore the possibilities by using the major supported platforms which ARCore can be used on - Android Studio, Unity, Unreal and Web based applications
Hidden World
One of its sample app was call Hidden world, it is a simple experiment that combines hand-drawn animations with augmented reality. It lets you point at your device at the ground, then tap anywhere to reveal an animated world at your feet. It was built using ARCore and Unity. It has a fun feel to it whenever you tap on the ground and an animated 'creature' pops up onto your device screen. This app can act as a stress reliever that let users wander around the rooms and interact with themselves. Doesn't require much to enjoy simple things
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I did try drawing my own creature, but I wasn't good enough of an artist. Also, the picture came out flat as I wasnt able to completely do its animation. However, it was easier than I thought to do something so unique.
As you can see from this video to the left, it's one of the sample app that comes built-in with ARCore from an Android phone. There need not be a flat surface so that the Augmented Reality images / animations can work off it.
It can just be a very simple floating Augmented Reality animation in the middle of the room. I can see this has more potential than the other AR toolkit as it allows you to be more flexible with the surroundings.
Another thing to touch on is that upon closing onto the image, the app uses an algorithm that determines where you are relative to the it. The camera starts blurring the background view so user can focus more on the picture. Even though there are certain amount of hand shakiness and instability, the AR image still remains when user pans around the room
