Android happens to be the most prevalent, the most pliable and easy to handle mobile operating systems to exist ever. Having said that, it is unarguably the most suited operating background for any type of application to run smoothly.
With the advent of AR (Augmented Reality) technology where we can deploy virtual digitalized information over the real-time environment, it has been a motto of developers and companies to use it in mobile phones itself. To augment reality in your android set is to add an edge to your mobile experiencing.
Innovation and advancement in the field of AR technology have taken a stride towards developing AR based applications for Android. And it not just for gaming, it has become a tool for healthcare, education, even 3D modelling and simulation, all in a mobile.
The current scenario with the cost of projects and the market trend is marked with low progress. But with constant support and works by the global powerhouses like Google, Microsoft, Apple etc. the future of augmented reality apps is bright with positive future predictions.
If you are fully invested or even remotely interested in innovating and evolving augmented reality apps for android mobile sets, following dos and don’ts are imperative for you to go through and follow them-
Having a skill over image processing
Out of numerous other issues to consider before jumping into AR app development, one that needs to addressed properly is image processing.
The fact that an image needs to be handled such that its 3D impression can be easily overlaid on the immediate 360 degrees surrounding with all the movement and traffic marker and effects is quite a formidable task. Make sure you have a team and skill set to tackle this hurdle.
Do not neglect the past and competitors
With all efforts and developments in AR technology, the only handful of companies are able to develop android based apps, most of them not being elegant or simply put, unattractive and merely occupying the space of CPU.
At every development stage, cross check with the past cases, the majority of which tend to be a failure. A panel should always be in charge of rectifying steps and also to keep an eye on competitors.
What made them successful, or how was their idea conceived and developed, is very much important for the evolution of your AR based app system.
What to choose- the best AR Software development kit
Although developers relied heavily on people who knew C, C++ language which was primarily important for learning any software development, SDKs or kits are available that can supplement the knowledge with a practical approach for developing AR apps, especially for Android.
The advent of such software has definitely played a very significant role in evolving the landscape of AR applications.
Given below is a curated list of some of the best AR SDKs recommended for development of augmented reality apps for android-
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ARToolKit
It is an open source multi-platform software kit; it boasts a lot of features like incorporating with GPS, dual camera calibration mode, simultaneous tracking etc. It is highly equipped for being a license-free kit and is suitable for all developers.
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XZIMG
It is a licensed toolkit which can simply be used for AR based security apps and comes with a free trial period. It is packed with essential features of facial recognition, image recognition etc.
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Wikitude
It is a top-notch commercially licensed multi-platform AR SDK which has excellent features to develop tracking based and geolocation-based apps.
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Vuforia
It is the best-augmented reality SDK to be ever designed with very impressive features set. This includes identification of 3D/2D object identification with audio-text recognition, video features and many more.
Although free it has limited features and can be unleashed to full potential by buying from several commercially licensed firms.
These are just a few of the kits, but there are numerous other developing tools, all of them differing with their range of applications, features and licensing agreements. Be careful to engage any toolkit in order to achieve results in projected time.
Make Personalization the best feature
As much as extravagant and advance your AR app can be, it is always better to leave certain decisions on users to make. In other words, the user should have the creative freedom to customize the looks, certain features of an AR-based android app. One of the factors that determine evolving your augmented reality app is how much flexible it is to accommodate the customizations that can be expected from a user to make.
Type of Apps to focus on for rapid AR advancement
It might be highly immature to conceptualize ideas that clearly are not feasible and way out of times. It helps AR apps to evolve along a clearly defined path that opens to wide possibilities of unimaginable potential. Some of the mobile apps that are easily supported by Android and have a wide scope of integrating AR are-
- Creative apps like FilmR, Snapchat which edits and adds moving objects into the videos or photos. The editing tools allow you to enjoy AR features like a wizard. With advancement in AR technology these features are going to get even better with the execution of various graphical techniques
- Contextual apps simply help in providing the user with the background of things they want the information for. Be it yelp which integrates location feature with the dataset of local business or Google lens, contextual AR has helped to combine and overlay data with surrounding location for easier detection.
- Connective apps like Uber, Lyft, and Zomato etc. rely heavily on AR for goods and services to arrive just with a click on your phone. Streem is another example of AR app which lets a user has a professional help in case of a problem.
In conclusion, the development of augmented reality apps requires a lot of critical thinking. It is a multi-step gradual process which requires intensive homework and expertise to develop. All the guidelines along with examples cited should help in guiding through the art of augmented reality in android.
Author Bio:
Sunny Chawla is a Marketing Manager at AIS Technolabs which is Augmented Reality agency, helping global businesses to grow. I would love to share thoughts on Web design and Development Company and Game Design Development etc.