#Mixed Reality vs Virtual Reality for Architecture vs AR

[simulanissolutions]

In recent years, immersive technologies like Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR) have gained massive attention, reshaping industries and changing the way we interact with the world around us. From gaming to education, healthcare, manufacturing, and retail, these technologies are driving innovation. If you’re looking to explore these technologies, Simulanis stands out as a leader in this space, offering cutting-edge solutions to businesses across various sectors. Let's dive into how Simulanis, a Virtual Reality Development Company in India, Augmented Reality Development Company in India, and Mixed Reality Development Company in India, is at the forefront of this technological revolution.

[mojowat]

A personal view on the nature of VR and reflections on the Alterities symposium.

The symposium was an excellent first leap into serious critical reflection on the nature of virtual reality and other nominally immersive experiences.

My own impression of these technologies is still guarded even though I have heard people talk about VR as a technology who’s time has come. The persuasive argument that it has reached the tail end of the hype cycle bell curve and that it can be considered a mainstream technology seems premature. The argument goes that it is mature as a technology, that the content emerging for it is now beyond the fairground curiosity stage, that it is tackling serious issues under the guise of empathy, but I am still not wholly convinced.

I find it hard to accept it for a number of reasons and I have tried to explore these in the following post.

Immersion vs Disconnection

The greatest advocates for VR would say that it immerses the viewer/participant in a world that surpasses existing mediums in its totality of experience. But this immersion to me still feels like a denial of reality, a hubristic arrogance that presumes we can remake reality in ways that are more engaging than the world of tangible objects and beings. During the conference the case was made that just by being in 360 degree proximity to a recorded moment of time, for example in a refugee camp, doesn’t immediately generate more empathy with the subject matter than through more conventional methods of character, story and montage. In fact Eleanor Dare incisively skewered this fallacy in her talk that exposed how empathy can be easily be biased from the point of view of the person who the camera embodies. In a VR experience of Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ is your empathy biased by embodying Marion or Norman? I suspect that this kind of immersion is a kind of disconnection. It reinforces a view of the world as a series of diversions, as a technological peep show separate from lived reality.

There has long been an argument that lived reality itself is an illusion, a consensual hallucination that allows our consciousness to make sense of our existence. This maybe true, but it is the only measure of our reality and therefore whether you see lived experience as a concrete phenomena or an illusion generated for someone else’s amusement, the distinction rapidly becomes moot during your everyday interaction with the world because you have to except a certain set of experiential rules or you would literally be paralysed by philosophical feedback loops - ‘What’s the point of existence if it’s all an illusion?’ and other existential dead-ends. If VR is just an illusion inside an illusion then you could be justified in seeing the act of donning goggles not as disconnection but just another layer of the hallucinogenic onion skin. However I veer to the opposite conclusion that if it is all virtual then we don’t need goggles to experience deeper levels. Our perception of other realities is already available to us via other means.

The Corporate Platform

The reason for VR’s third dawn in 2015 was largely due to cost and reach, far more than a technological apex or a cultural coming of age. Two things came together in this moment. Tech firms Facebook and Google had bought VR tech companies in 2010 and 2011 respectively and were keen to get their products out to their global user base. The realisation that VR content could be produced for a mass market audience through Google cardboard and codecs developed to deliver the content on Youtube meant that barriers to entry were reduced. Facebook also saw that its recent purchase Occulus Rift could give them traction in the games market, especially if they could promote it through their core platform.

Both companies saw that the possibility of VR and AR lies less with experience of immersive worlds and the associated imaginative possibilities, but rather, as a means to monopolise the attention economy.

As was brilliantly outlined in the keynote by Mandy Rose, Director, Digital Cultures Research Centre UWE Bristol the threats posed by immersive technologies are real, eye tracking and focus measuring means the deployment of machine learning to the task of plotting our attention directly through our eyeballs. Big tech is no longer happy with the phone in your hand they want it strapped to your face. This is the true motivation for VR’s third attempt at the big time.

A part of me longs to leapfrog this inconvenient truth about the intention of the platform and deep dive into the relative aesthetic and social power of the media, but the two aspects are wedded to each other like two lenses in a stereoscopic view finder. This is not how it has to be, but at least in the current environment of surveillance capitalism this has to be accepted as an operating norm. Every creation essentially has the shadow of big tech hanging over it. This seems to be an issue more specific to VR than any other media delivery method. Film, television and computer games are all to a greater or lesser degree influenced and developed by corporate investment and control however each of the above examples can be created and experienced without adherence to one specific platform or technology, where as VR seems to be exclusively experienced within a walled garden provided by Silicon valleys biggest monopolies, where tracking technology is implicit in the mix.

The headset is no longer a high resolution specialised technology, it has become a face housing for the ubiquitous spy in our pocket. The irony is that one of big tech’s biggest critics Jaron Lanier who has argued persuasively that  the reach and intrusion of social media and big data into our lives, famous for outlining in his book of the same name ‘You are not an App’, was one of the early exponents and developers of VR.

Facial Architecture

VR has always had a strong link with early nineties cyber paganism and a new age optimism. Returning to Jaron Lanier, he was the epitomy of this kind of technological shamanism, initially espousing a humanist view of VR technology as a benign saviour and mind expanding aid. In the early nineties it was seen as a new frontier of psychedelic imagining beyond the strict conventions of mainstream office bound computing, a techno flavoured post modern red pill. Inside these worlds the libertarian fantasy of unbounded opportunity would allow acolytes to free themselves from the limiting factors of location, economics, gender, sexuality or race. The only problem with this was the limits of the technical implementation. Ever since Ivan Sutherland’s ‘Sword of Damocles’ the technology has not really escaped its clumsy shell. 

If you search for VR in a search engine you don’t see images for wonderful VR worlds, you see images of eyeless smiling models engaging in some mysterious enervating experience from within a plastic box. This appears little removed from Sutherland’s experiments forty years ago. The problem with body attached technology, especially technology that covers the face is that it looks like the apparatus of a psychology experiment or an optometrist’s clinic. It seems intrusive and unwieldy. Perhaps this is a temporary problem of miniaturisation and successive generations of the technology will see it shrink to the size of an average pair of glasses or even be permanently be implanted in the viewers retina. But as was seen with Google Glasses, miniaturisation brings its own problems, as technologies become more invisible the more we become concerned about their secret intrusive presence in our lives. Are other people voyeuristically and surreptitiously collecting visual mementoes for sexual gratification, state sponsored surveillance or monetary gain.

Does the idea of a technology welded to our eyes cross a fundamental taboo? No one wants to be blindfolded unless rules are clearly agreed at the outset. By consciously blunting our senses are we losing something that is not readily given up.

I think VR also has design problem in the same way that the ‘Umbrella Hat’ does. It is a perfectly reasonable solution to a reasonable problem. VR provides a way to experience a creative world in a total all encompassing visual and auditory form. The umbrella hat likewise allows the user to stay dry and also remain hands free while walking in the rain. However there is something vaguely ridiculous about an umbrella on your head, in the same way that there is something vaguely ridiculous about wearing a black box on your face. This may be personal but I know that many people are put off by this phenomenon. I call it the ‘embarrassment factor’. However this is not necessarily an insurmountable problem and certainly seeming to talk loudly to someone who is not present in the space is now common as a result of mobile phone and this would have been considered highly embarrassing three decades ago.

Even if all these things are true and it will always only have limited audience, Does it matter If VR is always a niche pursuit enjoyed only by those for whom it provides pleasure, probably not and as long as it can cross boundaries perhaps it is useful.

[vrheadsets]

Practicality Vs Opportunity – The Reality Of Making Hololens Games By A Hololens Developer

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies are ever changing, ever developing and ever evolving. When you look at each system/head-mounted display each has their own advantages, their own selling points for buyers and developers alike but what’s it like to actually work with the hardware itself?

Of the systems out there perhaps the one that is the most of an unknown quantity is the Hololens. Microsoft’s $3,000 mixed reality system is looking to acquire the best of both worlds in terms of VR and AR and is also targeting social and research. It’s already being used for finance, architecture and design, making services more than you could ever think possible – and of course silliness.

‘Opportunities are there for game makers’, as Microsoft has said previously. But what is the reality of making games for Hololens? If you are wondering then there’s good news courtesy of GDC who have recently put up a session video from last year’s VRDC event on that very subject.

Hololens developer Ralph Barbagallo goes into what you can expect for HoloLens’ gaming capabilities and offers some tips and tricks to working around areas where it it currently lacking. You can find the video itself below.

For more Hololens news and updates be sure to follow VRFocus on Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and Twitter.

from VRFocus http://ift.tt/2j0OcLs

[mobilenamic]

Qt AR: Why and How to Add Augmented Reality to Your Mobile App

Improved AR capabilities for mobile platforms are one of the biggest trends of 2018. Apps with AR features like Yelp, Google Translate or Pokémon GO are only the beginning. Augmented reality allows to create innovative user experiences that support your brand.

Mobile AR is on the Rise! Why?

Differences between VR and AR

Advantages of Immersive Experiences in Mobile Apps and Games

How Does Augmented Reality Work?

Why use Wikitude instead of ARKit or ARCore?

Advantages of the Wikitude SDK Architecture

How to Use the Wikitude AR Plugin in Qt Apps

How to Use the Wikitude AR Plugin in Native iOS & Android Apps

Why to use Qt & V-Play for Mobile App Development

How to Use Image Recognition and 3D Tracking in Your Mobile App

Wikitude Makes Image Tracking Easy

The Power of Instant Tracking and 3D Rendering

More AR Examples

What’s the Future for AR?

  Mobile AR is on the Rise! Why?

Since the release of Apple’s ARKit and Google’s ARCore, augmented reality made its way into the mobile market. For example, to make it possible to:

Catch virtual monsters in your neighborhood. (Pokemon GO)

See restaurant descriptions while you’re walking the street. (Yelp)

Translate texts while you view a sign. (Google Translate)

Those apps mix the real world with computer-generated content. They thus show the user a different reality. In that sense, augmented reality (AR) is quite similar to virtual reality (VR), which is why they are often confused.

Differences between VR and AR

Both technologies can change the way you look at the world. However, they aim towards a different goal. Virtual reality tries to build a simulated environment around the user. It can take you to places you’ve never seen and allows you to enter a new world. When VR does its job right, you will believe that you are actually there. For example, when driving in a virtual reality racing simulator:

In contrast to VR, augmented reality does not take you to a different place. It enhances the world around you with digital information. For example, to see the route of your navigation system mixed into the real street image while driving in your car.

The world’s first pedestrian and car navigation system that integrates AR was the Wikitude Navigation app. The app was a revolutionary step forward in the navigation and guidance field and eliminates the need for a map.

Advantages of Immersive Experiences in Mobile Apps and Games

Since Apple launched its app store with 20k apps in 2008, it experienced a rapid growth and now offers more than 3M apps. More than ever, businesses and developers thus thrive to provide unique app experiences that support their brand. They empower users to be creative and connect in order to boost engagement and retention rates.

Mobile AR now allows to create immersive app experiences to surprise and engage the users. Businesses have understood this potential and the International Data Corporation forecast for 2018 even expects worldwide spendings on AR and VR to increase by 95%. Let’s have a look at some innovative AR apps:

Telekom: Lenz – Gorillaz App

Telekom Electronic Beats partnered up with the Gorillaz to create a new dimension in music. The Lenz app transforms magenta surfaces into digital portals which display exclusive Gorillaz content.

Washington Post App: Unesco Heritage

The Washington Post has published another successful AR-enhanced story. This time, the Post’s article promotes all 23 of the UNESCO World Heritage sites situated in the USA. To get readers to learn about, appreciate, and visit these locations, the daily newspaper included an AR feature to get users even more involved with the story.

Augmentors: Real Monster Battles

Following in the footsteps of Pokemon GO, Augmentors is the world’s first cross-platform (iOS & Android) augmented reality game backed by the Bitcoin Blockchain. Players can trade, swop, battle, and train gaming creatures in the real world. Early stage game supporters will be rewarded with unique currency and one-of-a-kind creatures.

Augmented Cocktails: AR in Low-Light Conditions

It can be difficult to provide rich AR experiences in all kinds of situations. For example when dealing with low-light scenarios. City Social in London is known for providing great food, drinks, service and a stunning skyscraper view. With the intention of delighting their customers, even more, they paired with Mustard Design. To create an innovative app that brings their cocktails to life:

Lufthansa AR Aviation Demo

Instead of shipping and installing costly demo equipment to be displayed at trade show exhibitions, Lufthansa Technik is innovatively using augmented reality technology to show their customers detailed installation information and connectivity solutions.

How Does Augmented Reality Work?

The above showcases all rely on the mobile device camera and sensors to track images, objects and scenes of the real world:

Telekom recognizes magenta surfaces to replace it with different content.

The Washington Post app tracks reader’s surroundings and instantly layers the camera view with virtual animals like a bison.

Augmentors combines such Instant 3D Tracking with Image Recognition to bring game cards to live.

Another example app that relies on location-based AR is the Osmino app: A quick scan of your surrounding provides you with a comprehensive listing of all free Wi-Fi hotspots around you:

You can integrate some of these  features in your mobile app with Apple’s ARKit and Google’s ARCore. But you also have the option to rely on cross-platform tools which go beyond ARKit and ARCore. In fact, the above showcases are all built with the Wikitude AR SDK.

Why use Wikitude instead of ARKit or ARCore?

Being in the market since 2008, Wikitude bridges the gap between different devices, platforms, and levels of AR support. With a single cross-platform API, it allows over 100,000 developers to integrate AR features across iOS, Android and Windows with a single code base, >while having a much higher market reach than ARKit and ARCore.

Advantages of the Wikitude SDK Architecture

Wikitude provides a rich AR experience across platforms. To achieve that, it relies on several abstraction layers:

The Core Components handle features like Image Recognition and Object/Scene Recognition. Wikitude built the so-called SLAM Engine to offer all AR features across devices and platforms.

In case Apple’s ARKit or Google’s ARCore are available, Wikitude can dynamically switch to these native frameworks instead of its own engine. In addition, Wikitude can also run on iOS, Android and Windows devices that do not have such native support for AR.

So compared to native development with ARKit or ARCore, Wikitude even supports AR on devices that are not able to run native AR features via ARKit or ARCore. This is a huge benefit, because your app is not bound by the market coverage of ARKit or ARCore. See this table for a comparison of ARKit and ARCore supported devices, vs the ones supported by Wikitude:

iOS ARKit Device Coverage: 81% (minimum iOS 11.0 + iPhone 6S, iPad 5 and newer models)

iOS Wikitude Device Coverage: 92% (iOS 9.0 + iPhone 4, iPad 2 and newer models) → Wikitude has + 11% iOS device coverage compared to ARKit

Android ARCore Device Coverage: 5% (minimum Android 7.0 + currently about 50 device models out of the thousands in the market)

Android Wikitude Device Coverage: 95% (minimum Android 4.4 + most existing device models), which means → Wikitude has +90% Android device coverage compared to ARCore

For detailed infos which devices are supported, see the official developer docs by Apple for ARKit supported devices, iOS version market share, and by Google for ARCore supported devices.

So if your goal is to make your app available on as many devices as possible, Wikitude is the go-to solution.

To use Wikitude, you can embed a their augmented reality view into your existing native apps. It is not required to modify other views of your iOS, Windows or Android app. Wikitude also offers several plugins to use their SDK  in conjunction with cross-platform app frameworks like V-Play, via its Qt Plugin.

How to Use the Wikitude AR Plugin in Qt Apps

The Wikitude Qt AR Plugin developed by V-Play offers an API to:

Integrate Wikitude in Qt applications, and also

into existing or new native applications.

The Wikitude Qt AR plugin builds upon the native APIs of Wikitude and can run augmented reality worlds created with the Wikitude JS API.

If you have an existing or newly developed app based on Qt, you can simply load the Wikitude AR Plugin from QML-based Qt Quick applications or C++-based Qt Widgets applications.

How to Use Image Recognition and 3D Tracking in Your Mobile App

Since the release of V-Play Engine’s Wikitude Plugin you can integrate and use the Wikitude AR SDK in your Qt cross-platform app. It only takes a few lines of code. The examples below show how to run some of the Wikitude AR examples with V-Play.

Wikitude Makes Image Tracking Easy

The following demo code includes everything you need to embed a Wikitude view in your QML app. This example tracks certain images and overlays a transparent video, as if it were part of the image:

import QtQuick.Controls 2.0 import QtQuick 2.0 import VPlayApps 1.0 import VPlayPlugins 1.0 App { // name of the Wikitude example to load property string example: "11_Video_4_Bonus-TransparentVideo" readonly property bool exampleIsLoaded: samplesDl.available // NavigationStack can display Pages and adds a NavigationBar NavigationStack { id: navStack // at startup show either arPage or downloadPage, in case the example is not loaded yet Component.onCompleted: navStack.push(exampleIsLoaded ? arPage : downloadPage) } // arPage: Page with a Wikitude view property Component arPage: Page { title: "AR Example" // configure Wikitude view WikitudeArView { id: arView anchors.fill: parent arWorldSource: samplesDl.getExtractedFileUrl(example+"/index.html") running: true cameraPosition: WikitudeArView.BackCamera //license key for V-Play QML Live app licenseKey: "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" } } // downloadPage: Page for downloading the Wikitude example at runtime // this is only required to retrieve the Wikitude sources for the V-Play QML Live app, Wikitude sources can also be bundled with the app otherwise property Component downloadPage: Page { title: "AR Example - Download" Column { anchors.fill: parent anchors.margins: dp(12) spacing: dp(12) AppText { text: samplesDl.status === DownloadableResource.UnAvailable ? qsTr("Wikitude example requires to be downloaded (~ 2MB)") : samplesDl.status === DownloadableResource.Downloading ? qsTr("Downloading example... (%1%)").arg(samplesDl.progress) : qsTr("Extracting example... (%1%)").arg(samplesDl.progress) width: parent.width } AppButton { text: samplesDl.status === DownloadableResource.UnAvailable ? qsTr("Start download") : qsTr("Cancel download") onClicked: if(samplesDl.status === DownloadableResource.UnAvailable) samplesDl.download() else samplesDl.cancel() } ProgressBar { width: parent.width from: 0 to: 100 value: samplesDl.progress } } } // component to download additional app resources, like the Wikitude example DownloadableResource { id: samplesDl source: "https://v-play.net/qml-sources/wikitude-examples/"+example+".zip" extractAsPackage: true storageLocation: FileUtils.DownloadLocation storageName: example onDownloadFinished: { if(error === DownloadableResource.NoError) { navStack.clearAndPush(arPage) // open AR page after download is finished } } } }

  You can test the Image Tracking AR demo with the image below. It is also found in the Wikitude Plugin documentation.

Most of the QML code above is a little overhead to let you instantly preview the example with V-Play QML Live Code Reloading.

What is V-Play QML Live Code Reloading?

It allows you to run and reload apps & games within a second on iOS, Android and Desktop platforms. You can just hit save and the app reloads instantly, without the need to build and deploy again! This is especially useful for AR, which usually requires a lot of on-device testing to tweak settings.

You can also use it to run all the examples listed here from the browser, without having to setup any native SDKs on your PC. Just download the V-Play Live Reload App, for Android or iOS to connect a mobile device.

The code above downloads the configured Wikitude example as zip, extracts the archive, and runs the demo in a Wikitude augmented reality view. Pretty amazing, actually. Go ahead and try it yourself by clicking on one of the “Run this Example” buttons.

The possibility to download assets or code at runtime is a super useful advantage of V-Play. This means that the original app can stay small while additional features are downloaded on demand. However, if the AR part is essential in your own app, you can also bundle the Wikitude code so the AR assets are available without an additional download.

The minimum QML code required thus boils down to a few lines of code:

import VPlayApps 1.0 import VPlayPlugins 1.0 App { WikitudeArView { id: arView anchors.fill: parent arWorldSource: Qt.resolvedUrl("assets/11_Video_4_Bonus-TransparentVideo/index.html") running: true cameraPosition: WikitudeArView.BackCamera licenseKey: "" } }

How to Create Wikitude AR Worlds

The Wikitude SDK makes it easy to create such augmented reality views. It builds on web technologies (HTML, JavaScript, CSS) to create so-called ARchitect worlds. These augmented reality experiences are ordinary HTML pages. They use the ARchitect JavaScript API to create objects in augmented reality. That is why the WikitudeArView QML component in the above example has an arWorldSource property. It refers to the index.html of the ARchitect world:

<!DOCTYPE HTML> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> <meta content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1,maximum-scale=5,user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"> <title></title> <script src="https://www.wikitude.com/libs/architect.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../ade.js"></script> <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/default.css"> </head> <body> <script src="js/transparentvideo.js"></script> </body> </html>

It is quite simple, as all the magic happens in the JavaScript code for the Architect world. The above example includes transparentvideo.js, which amounts to only 80 lines of code. This is how the main part for the image tracking and video overlay looks like:

var World = { init: function initFn() { this.createOverlays(); }, // create augmented reality overlays createOverlays: function createOverlaysFn() { /* Initialize ClientTracker */ this.targetCollectionResource = new AR.TargetCollectionResource("assets/magazine.wtc", { onError: function(errorMessage) { alert(errorMessage); } }); this.tracker = new AR.ImageTracker(this.targetCollectionResource, { onError: function(errorMessage) { alert(errorMessage); } }); /* initialize video drawable */ var video = new AR.VideoDrawable("assets/transparentVideo.mp4", 0.7, { translate: { x: -0.2, y: -0.12 }, isTransparent: true }); video.play(-1); video.pause(); /* handle video playback when image is tracked */ var pageOne = new AR.ImageTrackable(this.tracker, "*", { drawables: { cam:

}, onImageRecognized: function onImageRecognizedFn() { video.resume(); }, onImageLost: function onImageLostFn() { video.pause(); }, onError: function(errorMessage) { alert(errorMessage); } }); } }; World.init();

See the Wikitude documentation for details of their JavaScript API and step-by-step tutorials.

Wikitude Studio – No Coding Required

For those who are not very comfortable with coding, Wikitude also offers a simple drag-and-drop web editor: Wikitude Studio. It is your one-stop shop for generating and managing target collections, as well as for creating and publishing AR experiences!

Wikitude Studio optimizes your projects for the Wikitude SDK. It minimizes the effort of creating image target collections (wtc files) and object target collections (wto files). The Studio Editor makes it possible to add augmentations to your targets. You can test AR experiences and make them available to clients inside the Wikitude App, or inside your own app built with the Wikitude Plugin.

The Power of Instant Tracking and 3D Rendering

Wikitude is not only simple, it is also powerful. In addition to Image Tracking, it can instantly track the camera (Instant Tracking) or real live objects (Object Tracking). The following demo uses Instant Tracking to put 3D objects into the world:

App { // changed configuration to load the instant tracking demo property string example: "05_InstantTracking_4_SceneInteraction" // ... // no other changes required, DownloadableResource automatically uses the new example as source DownloadableResource { source: "https://v-play.net/qml-sources/wikitude-examples/"+example+".zip" // ... } }

With 230 lines of JavaScript code, the ARchitect world of this example is simple and short as well.

More Augmented Reality Examples

Do you wanna play around some more? Then go ahead and try one of these examples:

Geo Tracking: POI Radar

// run this demo to get a full QML snippet that downloads and opens the chosen example property string example: "10_BrowsingPois_2_AddingRadar"

Run This Example

  Can be used to:

Show Points Of Interest around you, based on the GPS position.

For example to implement Augmented Navigation or see infos of Hotels or Restaurants around you.

Gesture Image Tracking

// run this demo to get a full QML snippet that downloads and opens the chosen example property string example: "02_AdvancedImageTracking_1_Gestures"

Can be used to:

Drop images, gifs or videos onto an image.

For example to let users create and share AR experiences, similar to SnapChat / Instagram video processing with tracked objects.

Snap-To-Screen 3D Model

// run this demo to get a full QML snippet that downloads and opens the chosen example property string example: "07_3dModels_4_SnapToScreen"

Can be used to:

Show additional information or 3D scene when scanning a certain image.

For example to enhance your print advertisement in a magazine with AR features:

Wikitude SDK Examples App

The following demo app allows you to to browse all Wikitude SDK Examples from within a single app:

import QtQuick.Controls 2.0 import QtQuick 2.0 import VPlayApps 1.0 import VPlayPlugins 1.0 App { id: app DownloadableResource { id: samplesDl source: "https://v-play.net/qml-sources/wikitude-examples/WikitudeSdkSamples.zip" extractAsPackage: true storageLocation: FileUtils.AppDataLocation storageName: "WikitudeSdkSamples" } //samples.json lists all the SDK examples readonly property url samplesJsonFileUrl: samplesDl.available ? samplesDl.getExtractedFileUrl("samples.json") : "" readonly property string samplesJson: samplesDl.available ? fileUtils.readFile(samplesJsonFileUrl) : "[]" //map the JSON file to a list model for ListPage readonly property var samplesData: JSON.parse(samplesJson) readonly property var samplesModel: samplesData.map(function(category) { return [ { isHeader: true, name: category.category_name } ].concat(category.samples) }).reduce(function(a, b) { return a.concat(b) }, []) Rectangle { anchors.fill: parent color: "white" } NavigationStack { id: navStack ListPage { id: examplesListPage listView.visible: samplesDl.available title: "Wikitude AR Examples" model: samplesModel delegate: SimpleRow { enabled: !modelData.isHeader style.backgroundColor: enabled ? Theme.backgroundColor : Theme.secondaryBackgroundColor iconSource: modelData.is_highlight ? IconType.star : "" icon.color: "yellow" text: modelData.name detailText: !modelData.isHeader && modelData.path || "" onSelected: navStack.push(arPage, { sample: modelData }) } Column { visible: !samplesDl.available anchors.fill: parent anchors.margins: dp(12) spacing: dp(12) AppText { text: samplesDl.status === DownloadableResource.UnAvailable ? qsTr("Wikitude SDK examples need to be downloaded (134 MB)") : samplesDl.status === DownloadableResource.Downloading ? qsTr("Downloading SDK examples... (%1%)").arg(samplesDl.progress) : qsTr("Extracting SDK examples... (%1%)").arg(samplesDl.progress) width: parent.width } AppButton { text: samplesDl.status === DownloadableResource.UnAvailable ? qsTr("Start download") : qsTr("Cancel download") onClicked: if(samplesDl.status === DownloadableResource.UnAvailable) samplesDl.download() else samplesDl.cancel() } ProgressBar { width: parent.width from: 0 to: 100 value: samplesDl.progress } } } } property Component arPage: Page { property var sample readonly property bool usesGeo: sample.requiredFeatures.indexOf("geo") >= 0 title: sample.name WikitudeArView { id: arView anchors.fill: parent arWorldSource: samplesDl.getExtractedFileUrl(sample.path) running: true //set this to false to use the device location service overrideLocation: !usesGeo //license key for V-Play QML Live app licenseKey: "g0q44ri5X4TwuXQ/9MDYmZxsf2qnzTdDIyR2dWhO6IUkLSLU4IltPMLWFirdj+7kFZOdWAhRUD6fumVXLXMZe6Y1iucswe1Lfa5Q7HhQvPxEq0A7uSU8sfkHLPrJL0z5e72DLt7qs1h25RJvIOiRGDoRc/h/tCWwUdOL6ChDnyJTYWx0ZWRfX8Vh9c9kcuw4+pN/0z3srlwIHPV5zJuB1bixlulM4u1OBmX4KFn+4+2ASRCNI+bk655mIO/Pk3TjtYMrgjFR3+iYHvw1UmaYMVjsrgpcVkbzJCT6QmaW8LejnfXDNLAbZSov64pVG/b7z9IZPFLXxRSQ0MRLudoSDAh6f7wMTQXQsyqGrZeuQH1GSWtfjl/geJYOvQyDI+URF58B5rcKnrX6UZW3+7dP92Xg4npw7+iGrO1M4In/Wggs5TXrmm25v2IYOGhaxvqcPCsAvbx+mERQxISrV+018fPpL8TzR8RTZZ5h7PRfqckZ3W54U1WSiGn9bOj+FjDiIHlcvIAISpPg2Vuq88gLp0HJ5W+A+sVirqmmCyU9GKeV5Faiv62CJy6ANCZ83GGX2rWcIAh1vGOQslMr9ay4Js+rJsVN4SIhCYdw9Em9hSpoZgimnOaszI7zn9EnPwVQgNETgVm7pAZdLkH5hxFoIKOPG2e79ZKKmzlkB/IZigoHZWNDUCFnEHDNFlTZjOEwoPi8DDGfzOEOGngWE7jmp24N7GzAP7e54Y3e48KtmIJ1/U0PFKOoi2Yv0Gh+E1siU5MBf8dLO7y7GafJWJ2oCUqJG0pLb2cgTf9pjkr625BV3XxODRylgqc5/UymTY6l1J0qO43u5hH3zaejng4I9cgieA3Y553rAEafAsfhrRmWsLW/kBdu4KLfY4eQ9z4B0TweW/xsofS0bkIqxalh9YuGBUsUhrwNUY7w6jgC6fjyMhtDdEHAlXC2fW1xLHEvY9CKojLNJQUnA0d5QCa22arI8IK63Jn8Cser9Cw57wOSSY0ruoJbctGdlsr/TySUkayAJJEmHjsH73OdbAztGuMjVq7Y643bTog4P3Zoysc=" cameraPosition: sample.startupConfiguration.camera_position === "back" ? WikitudeArView.BackCamera : WikitudeArView.FrontCamera cameraResolution: WikitudeArView.AutoResolution cameraFocusMode: WikitudeArView.AutoFocusContinuous } } }

What’s the Future for AR?

Augmented reality still has a lot of exciting features and functionalities in store for users, for example with Cloud AR and Multiplayer AR capabilities. Wikitude already offers a cloud-based image recognition service. The latest release, SDK  8, which is supported by the Qt Wikitude Plugin, brought many interesting features like Scene Recognition, Instant Targets or Extended Object Tracking you can now use. And in terms of shared experiences, support workers can display 3D content even though they are remote on another user’s device.

Apple recently introduced their new ARKit 2 framework, a platform that allows developers to integrate

shared AR, which allows multiplayer augmented reality experiences

persistent experiences tied to a specific location

object detection and

image tracking to make AR apps even more dynamic.

To showcase the new multiplayer feature, Apple introduced their augmented reality game ‘Swift Shot’:

The use-cases for shared augmented reality are vast, for both mobile games and apps. For example, your AR navigation system could show augmentations that other users placed. You would then also see digital warning signs along the road in addition to the route.

You can also build such multi-user experiences with V-Play Multiplayer. Together with Wikitude, a shared augmented reality experience created with QML + JavaScript is also only a few steps away. V-Play also plans to integrate Qt 3D Rendering with Wikitude’s Native APIs to boost rendering performance even more.

If you have a business request for these cutting-edge features currently in development or if you need assistance in developing an AR experience with high quality standards, don’t hesitate to drop a line at support@v-play.net or contact us here. The V-Play SDK is free to use, so make sure to check it out!

Download V-Play

  If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment or share it on Facebook or Twitter.

More Relevant App Development Resources

Handle Safe Area Insets, Notch & Display Cutout for iPhone X, iPad X and Android P

Wikitude and V-Play bring AR for Qt Developers – Wikitude Release Announcement

Why Mobile AR Matters

Why Mobile AR is evolving faster than you think

Wikitude Showcases

Wikitude Documentation

Wikitude SDK Examples

Wikitude Qt AR Plugin Documentation

The Best App Development Tutorials & Free App Templates

All of these tutorials come with full source code of the mobile apps! You can copy the code to make your own apps for free!

How to create a mobile app for iOS & Android with a single code base

How to support multiple languages and internationalization in your mobile app

Common Widgets & Controls in a cross-platform App

How to support multiple screen sizes & screen densities – Responsive App Guide

Guide for App Layout

Guide for App Navigation

How to add native code to your mobile App

How to easily style your App with Themes

How to add Animations to your App

How to add a Chat to your Mobile App

How to make a Weather App accessing a REST weather service

Conference App Template

Widget Gallery App Template

Twitter App Template

Messenger App Template

Property Finder App Template

App Development Video Tutorials

Make Cross-Platform Apps with Qt: V-Play Apps

How to Add In-App Chat or Gamification Features to Your Mobile App

How to Make a Mobile App with Qt Quick Designer (QML Designer) & V-Play

  The post Qt AR: Why and How to Add Augmented Reality to Your Mobile App appeared first on V-Play Engine.

Qt AR: Why and How to Add Augmented Reality to Your Mobile App published first on https://medium.com/@TheTruthSpy

[aastha-com125]

com 125 - blog post 07: Multimedia

This week class was about Multimedia on the Internet

Multimedia and Interactive Communication

Multimedia is known to be a computer-based interactive communications process that incorporates text, graphics, sound, animation and video. Specifically, Multimedia is the field concerned with the computer-controlled integration of text, graphics, drawings, still and moving images (Video), animation, audio, and any other media where every type of information can be represented, stored, transmitted and processed digitally (source).

Interactive Communication is a key feature of multimedia, and the delivery of content is determined by the user - when and how it is delivered. 

The following image is a representation of the Interactive Model of Communication: 

(source)

Hypermedia

As discussed in class, Hypermedia extends the notion of hypertext link, to include links among any set of multimedia objects, including sound, motion, video and VR.

Amundsen identifies nine distinguishing criteria of hypermedia that he calls “H-Factors,” divided into five Link Factors and four Control Factors:

The five link factors denote specific linking interactions between client and server: Outbound, Embedded, Templated, Idempotent, and Non-Idempotent. 

The remaining four control factors provide support for customizing metadata details (e.g. HTTP Headers) of the hypermedia interaction: Reads, Updates, Method, and Link Annotations.

No widely used hypermedia design currently employs all nine factors in its implementation. However, each of the factors can be an important building block in developing hypermedia, and some of these hypermedia affordances overlap with what’s been called the Richardson Maturity Model. 

The overall point that is made clear is that hypermedia is, fundamentally, just a way of being able to put links into your API resources that a client can follow, in order to represent and modify data and interactions between your resources. Otherwise, a hyperlink on its own is likely just a lone hyperlink, not hypermedia. (source)

Virtual Reality

Virtual reality describe a three-dimensional, computer generated environment which can be explored and interacted with by a person. This person becomes part of the virtual world or is immersed within this environment and whilst there, is able to manipulate objects or perform a series of actions (source).

Here are some cool uses of Virtual Reality:

1. Training of employees

Walmart is using virtual reality to train its store employees. Partnered with virtual reality startup, STRIVR, Walmart uses virtual reality technology at its training academies to help employees experience real-world scenarios. Employees can experience a holiday rush or a mess in an aisle, and learn how to effectively respond and handle these events.

2. Helping paraplegics regain body functions

A year-long study conducted by Duke University discovered huge benefits of virtual reality technology for paraplegics. Patients wearing VR headsets tasked to move through a stadium as a soccer player were able to regain some brain functions associated with moving their legs. Of the eight patients tested, each regained some control and four were upgraded from full paraplegics to partial paraplegics.

3. To treat PTSD

Traditionally, doctors use “exposure therapy” to treat the nearly 8 million adults who suffer from PTSD a year. Exposure therapy pushes patients to recount their traumas, visualize it in their imaginations and explain to the doctor what is happening as they experience the stressful scenario.

Virtual reality essentially employs the same method, while utilizing headsets to create a virtual world with custom elements (for example, helicopters, machine guns and missiles may be used to customize the experience for a war veteran). The patient is then asked to narrate what is happening.  

4. To help children/teens with autism develop social skills

Professors at the University of Texas in Dallas have created a program that uses virtual reality to help children with autism develop social skills. Putting kids, teens and young adults in social scenarios such as job interviews or blind dates with avatars, they learn how to pick up on social cues and respond appropriately. By monitoring brain waves throughout the program, professors noticed increased activity in areas connected to social understanding.

5. Architecture

Virtual reality will benefit key players in the construction space such as architects and designers. The tool allows a user to virtually inhabit spaces in three dimensions. Computer-generated images will replace hand-drawn renderings -- ultimately reducing time spent reworking layouts and drawings, effectively reducing costs and increasing safety.

Simulating the real world will not only allow designers to more easily create buildings and spaces -- from lighting to flooring to foundations -- but it will also let designers test out environments before actually building them. For example, they can realistically understand how quickly someone is able to exit the building in the case of an emergency (source).

Augmented Reality

Augmented reality is a form of technology where computer generated images are superimposed onto objects as a form of enhancement. They improve what is already there in the real world. 

Here are some ways that AR may be present in the future:

1. Construction 

A team at Bentley Systems is looking to change the way the construction industry operates. As it stands now, most construction is very analog. Buildings may be designed with advanced 3D tools, but it all eventually ends up as old-fashion blueprints. Working off of those blueprints is time consuming, since builders have to refer to them constantly throughout construction, slowing things down. Imagine if you could see the blueprints overlayed on the construction site right in front of you. 

By having a heads up display, you always have blueprints at your fingertips, literally. These can also be supplemented with detailed instructions on how a specific piece of construction should be done.

2. DIY Car Repair

The technology industry has made leaps in usability of their hardware. Things are very modular and usually well documented. Sadly, the automotive industry hasn’t quite caught up yet. Every vehicle seems to change where parts are located and how they all work together. Trying to track down specific information on your vehicle can be a project in of itself. Inglobe Technologies released a demo to assist with this, giving you a heads up display of the relevant areas of your car

When this technology becomes more commonplace, even a novice might be able to do basic car repair – like checking fluid levels and replacing filters. (source)

Virtual Reality vs. Augmented Reality (and Mixed Reality)

Comments