Understand augmented reality

Augmented Reality (AR) is an interactive 3D experience that combines a view of the real world with computer-generated graphics. It enriches or augments what you see, by adding the digital data (images) to real-life objects captured by your device camera, in real-time.

AR is an expanding technology that interacts with digital elements using our smartphones and tablets. It enhances the users' experience in the following ways:

• Companies can use it to promote their products or services and launch unique marketing campaigns.
• Companies can also use AR to create a rich feedback loop in product customization and quality, where users can capture the defective products and upload them simultaneously. They can also annotate the images by describing the defects.
• Users can try out different products virtually, check if the products fit well in their rooms (in the case of furniture products) by either partial or full replacement of the original view of an object with an augmented view of the same object, and make informed choices, all within the comfort of their homes.

• Requirements
• Example
• AR types in Creator
• Components in AR

Requirements

Creator enables AR functionalities to be developed & deployed on web and mobile native platforms such as,

• Android: 7.0(Nougat)
• iOS: 11 (A9 Processor)

Example

• With AR, classroom education can be intuitive and interactive, as it enables teaching staff to show virtual examples of textbook concepts. This in turn will enable students to engage actively, learn faster, and memorize information easily. Imagine you've created a learning app for your school named Learn with AR. In the Microservices section, under the AR library, you can create an AR set titled 3D diagrams and add 3D models of textbook images along with their markers. Now, you can create a page titled E-Book and add an AR viewer in it. You can select the 3D diagrams AR set as the AR Viewer's input. When your students access the E-Book page in live, they can click the diagrams and view them in AR mode — rotate, zoom in and zoom out and view in full-screen as well. When you access your Creator app via mobile, apart from viewing the diagrams in AR Viewer (similar to web), students can also open their device scanner, scan their textbook images and view them as plotted (popup) models on top of their textbook. In this method, students can select to view the images in two modes:
  • AR mode: In this mode, the image can be rotated only horizontally. However, users can rotate/move their devices to view the scanned image.
  • Object mode: This mode allows you to view the scanned image in a 360-degree rotation. You can also zoom in and zoom out the image.
    
• Imagine you've created an app called IT Assets management and added a form titled Request/Replace asset. When there's a request for or replacement of an asset, employees can capture their assets' images, annotate the defective parts, and upload them in your form's AR field. You (admin) can view the added images and take steps for the replacement. 

AR types in Creator

• Marker-based AR set: This AR-type relies on the recognition of images or markers. Markers are distinct patterns that your device cameras can easily recognize and process. Marker-based AR works by scanning a marker, which triggers the content to be overlaid on camera upon visuals matching the marker image. Markers can be scan codes or physical objects that exist in the real world. For example, students can scan QR codes in their textbooks and view animated concepts on their devices.
• Markerless AR set: This AR-type offers more control to users, as it allows them to choose where they would like to place the virtual object (including real-life placement of virtual augmented objects). For example, furniture companies can enable customers to virtually place their furniture in their homes to check if it would fit well.

Components in AR

• AR library
• AR set
• AR elements
• AR field 
• AR Viewer