Google has released a preview of a new Android software development kit (SDK) called ARCore. It brings augmented reality capabilities to existing and future Android phones. Developers can start experimenting with it right now.
Google has been developing the fundamental technologies that power mobile AR over the last three years with Tango, and ARCore is built on that work. But, it works without any additional hardware, which means it can scale across the Android ecosystem.
ARCore will run on millions of devices, starting today with Google’s Pixel and Samsung’s S8, running 7.0 Nougat and above. Google is targeting 100 million devices at the end of the preview. And, Google is working with manufacturers like Samsung, Huawei, LG, ASUS and others to make this possible with a consistent bar for quality and high performance.
ARCore works with Java/OpenGL, Unity and Unreal and focuses on three things: Motion tracking, Environmental understanding and Light estimation.
- Motion tracking: Using the phone’s camera to observe feature points in the room and IMU sensor data, ARCore determines both the position and orientation (pose) of the phone as it moves. Virtual objects remain accurately placed.
- Environmental understanding: It’s common for AR objects to be placed on a floor or a table. ARCore can detect horizontal surfaces using the same feature points it uses for motion tracking.
- Light estimation: ARCore observes the ambient light in the environment and makes it possible for developers to light virtual objects in ways that match their surroundings, making their appearance even more realistic.
ARCore will also have the benefit of what’s essentially a “multiplayer mode,” where data can be synced across devices thanks to the VR Group’s “VPS” (Visual Positioning System). This is narrowing your location down with GPS and then having the phone’s AR capabilities recognize where you are in a room, a kind of “indoor GPS.”
ARCore users in the same room can then share items in an environment, and one person’s object manipulations could be seen by the other device.
To be clear, ARCore is not the same thing as Tango, which is Google’s other augmented reality project. While Tango requires specialized hardware like sensors and cameras, ARCore doesn’t. Instead, much like ARKit, ARCore doesn’t require anything other than your phone.
News Source: https://www.blog.google/products/google-vr/arcore-augmented-reality-android-scale/
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