Augmented Reality is a technology that superimposes digital or computer-generated objects in real-world environments. People are familiar with Augmented Reality games and apps such as Snapchat and Pokémon Go but AR is something bigger than that. This technology is now being applied to several industries including entertainment, healthcare, education, architecture and many more. In the last few years, there has been a significant evolution in the hardware capabilities of mobile devices. This allows the development of complex applications. AR apps present a bundle of opportunities for businesses across industries.
AR apps in marketing help brands in leaving a long-lasting brand impression in the customer’s mind. Brands actually crave for this! The experience offered by Augmented Reality apps is indeed unique; customers find it a fun experience. In shopping, AR apps help customers to get a completely realistic view of products in a real-world environment. This blog may not be enough to gain a complete understanding of AR, our definitive guide to Augmented Reality will help in the same.
The AR app development is a complex task, there are several AR development tools that are available for AR app development. Companies look for the best tools that can be used for AR app development. The factors that are generally considered for selection of right tools include the costs, image recognition, tracking capabilities and many others. The blog Best Tools to Develop AR Mobile Apps may serve as a helping hand to businesses and individuals searching for the best tool for AR app development.
Augmented Reality Tools
1. Vuforia
Vuforia tops the list of best AR app development tools. Vuforia is a popular AR software development Kit (SKD) that is used in mobile devices for the creation of AR apps. The technology used in Vuforia is the Computer Vision Technology that recognizes and tracks the 3 D images and objects in real-time. This platform is widely popular among the AR developers across the world. Leading companies of the world use the Vuforia platform for delivering unique, interactive and engaging experiences to customers.
Advantages of using Vuforia for AR app development
1. Accuracy
Vuforia platforms deliver AR experiences in different environments.
2. Image recognition capabilities
The Vuforia platform in AR app development offers the capabilities of dynamic object recognition.
3. Flexibility
This platform also provides Application Programming Interfaces (API) in different languages including Java, C++, and .NET.
Latest Vuforia versions
Vuforia 7 (December 2017)
Vuforia 7.1 (March 2018)
Vuforia 8 (January 2019)
Augmented Reality Tools
2. Apple ARkit
The runner up of the best AR development tools list is Apple ARkit. Apple legendary mobile phone manufacturer also launched the ARkit that is compatible with the iOS devices that run on iOS11 or later. This initiative of Apple ARkit brought AR applications to mobile devices of iPhone users. AR development tools allow AR app developers to build the best AR experiences with AR apps and games.
The technology used in the ARkit is Visual Inertial Odometry. This technology is used for tracking the world around the user. Also, this AR kit allows the iOS device to sense the movement of the user in a room. One more feature that makes Apple ARkit different is that it not only analyzes the layout of the room but also detects the horizontal planes including the floors and tables.
Apple’s AR kit released in 2019 also includes Motion Captures that helps in integrating the movement of people with the app. These features enable a more natural and realistic AR experience.
Augmented Reality Tools
3. Wikitude
Wikitude is another AR app development tool that is used widely for AR app development. It is a new tool in the market its several features including navigation support, smart glass support, and localization. Wikitude is also the winner of Auggie Awards for being the ‘Best Developer Tool’. The important features of Wikitude that capture the attention of developers include the features of Tracking and Image recognition. These features give this platform an ability to detect the 2 D images along with triggering the content in various forms such as 3D animation, sound, text, videos, panoramas, etc.
The above features are being used by the companies including, Jack Daniel’s for telling the personal story, Busch-Jaeger for displaying the project, Francesco Rinaldi for delivering the product image, etc. Wikitude is helping over 100,000 developers to create the apps that bring in life the variety of content.
Augmented Reality Tools
4. Google ARcore
The 4th position in our list is bagged by the Google ARCore. The ARCore is another creation of Google, the name that does not needs any introductions. The three key capabilities of Google ARCore are as follows:
Motion tracking
Google ARCore offers the capability to track and understand its position with the world.
Environmental understanding
The location and size of the different types of surfaces can be detected easily. Whether the surface is vertical, horizontal or round the tool will detect all.
Better Lighting assessment
Google ARCore is also efficient enough to estimate the lighting conditions in the environment.
Flexibility
The ARCore is flexible to work on Android phones that run on Android 7.0 and later.
Augmented Reality Toolkit
5. Maxst
Maxst is in our list because it offers variety of features that are important for developing AR apps at affordable costs. Some of the important features of this AR app development tool are listed below:
- The image tracker of Maxst allows an application to track targets under all circumstances and conditions.
- The app developed with this tool is efficient enough to track up to 3 images at the same time!
- The tool has 8192 markers that allow managing multiple AR objects simultaneously.
- MAXST has the space mapping engine that analyzes the inputs and extracts the feature points to augment 3D objects in the real world.
- The tool also comes with a QR code or a barcode scanner.
Augmented reality is the new big technology that is catching the attention of marketers across the industries. Finding the best AR app development tool is the foundational step of AR app development. Several criteria should be considered while choosing the AR app development tool including cost Image Recognition, 3D Recognition, and Tracking, GPS Support (Geo location) Compatibility with Unity, etc. The above blog presents a list of 5 best AR app development tools that may make a place in your list of alternatives.
