Where to start with Augmented Reality?
A brief overview of the different ways to get started with Augmented Reality.
In those times, when I started to develop for Augmented Reality (AR), I found a lot of possible ways to develop for different platforms. It was confusing and it felt a bit like a jungle where you don’t know which direction to go. Honestly, it is still a bit like this because the frameworks and repositories out there are changing really fast and often suffer from a lack of maturity. That makes it even more important to continue learning and to observe the progress in the field of AR.
With this article, I want to introduce different types and platforms to help you to distinguish between them and to give you an idea of the state of the art of AR right now. From there, it is up to you to decide which direction to take to get started.
The first question when starting is: For which platform do you want to develop? Sometimes this might be restricted by the device you own or by project requirements. Whether you want to develop for Mobile AR, Smart Glasses, AR Headsets, Head-Up-Displays (HUD), WebAR or Social Media, the following list explains the different platforms and should ease your start.
Mobile AR
When it comes to developing for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, there is no way around Android and iOS. Google provides ARCore and Apple provides ARKit to develop for mobile devices. The frameworks are already quite mature and offer stable augmentations within the real world.
Pro
* Affordable hardware
* Apps can be published in Playstore and Appstore
* Large market coverage in the consumer market
* Understanding of the real world
Contra
* Not all devices offer AR capabilities
* No hands-free experience
* Immersion is bound to the screen
Links
* https://developers.google.com/ar
* https://developer.apple.com/augmented-reality/
Smart Glasses
Smart Glasses basically provide additional information in your field of vision. It is almost like a small tablet attached to your head that you can see through. There are monocular and binocular devices. Examples for Smart Glasses are Google Glass, Epson Moverio, and Vuzix Blade.
Pro
* Lightweight
* Hands-free experience
* Able to use a First-Person-Camera
Contra
* No understanding of the world
* No “real” AR
Links
* https://developers.google.com/glass-enterprise
* https://www.epson.de/products/see-through-mobile-viewer/moverio-bt-350
* https://www.vuzix.com/products/blade-smart-glasses-upgraded
AR Headsets
AR Headsets, also called Head-Mounted-Display (HMD), offer the most immersive and innovative AR. Spatial mapping enables the devices to understand the world and display virtual content within the real world that corresponds to the perspective from your eyes. Examples for AR Headsets are HoloLens, HoloLens 2, and Magic Leap.
Pro
* Immersive View
* Understanding of the real world
* Innovative
Contra
* Limited Field of View
* Heavy and still not so comfortable
* Expensive
Links
* https://www.microsoft.com/de-de/hololens/hardware
* https://github.com/microsoft/MixedRealityToolkit-Unity
* https://www.magicleap.com
Head-Up Display (HUD)
A Head-Up Display (HUD) is a see-through display where light projects additional information on it. HUDs are typically used by pilots, but are also adopted by e.g. automotive. There is the potential to use HUDs for full-fledged AR in the future.
Pro
* Hands-free experience
* Many use cases (e.g. projections on the windshield)
Contra
* Not mature enough for developers and consumers
* Mostly enterprise systems for pilots and military
* Requires calibration in most cases
WebAR
The term WebAR refers to starting an AR experience from within the browser. No software installation is required. However, this approach has some drawbacks compared to native development on mobile devices.
Pro
* Device independent
* No need to install an app
* Integration in website
Contra
* Not all devices are supported
* Not all AR features are supported
* Performance is mostly limited by one CPU core
Links
* https://www.babylonjs.com/
* https://viromedia.com/viroreact
* https://aframe.io/
Social Media
Facebook and Snapchat are pushing the use of AR face filters and augmentations on their social media platforms. They provide creator studios to create, develop, and publish these effects.
Pro
* Reach a large number of consumers
* Beneficial for marketing or product branding
Contra
* Bound to Creator Studios
* No possibility to create own app
Links
* https://sparkar.facebook.com/ar-studio/
* https://lensstudio.snapchat.com/
Conclusion
This list should only provide you with a first overview of the field of AR. If you are a developer and interested, there is still a lot to do to dive deeper into each of these different approaches and platforms. If you are not a developer but interested in AR for your business, you can contact us (see below).
About the Author
I’m Michael Falk, a Software and AR/VR Engineer with a passion for new technologies. I’m working at Humatects GmbH where we develop adaptive Human-Machine Interaction for AR/VR applications. You can contact me directly at falk@humatects.de or check the link to our website.
