Best AR Frameworks For Building Augmented Reality Apps in 2020-21

The future of Autmented Reality Framework

Who does not know the virtual experience of today? Several times, you can go to shopping malls and arcades, where you will always find games and visuals with a virtual experience.

On those walks with an AR / VR camera, you experience a real artificial environment.

Those experiences are unimaginable, so everyone appreciates virtual and augmented experiences.

But the good news is that now those experiences are not limited to games only. You can integrate the augmented reality experience into your business application and captivate your customers in the same way that you have fun with these places.

Yes! You heard me right, you can integrate augmented reality into your mobile or web application.

The Rise OF Augmented Reality Ecosphere

Businesses around the world are captivated by the experiences of augmented reality technology and are struggling to use it to gain traction. Companies such as Lenskart, Disney, Zara, Patron, IKEA are already taking advantage of this technology to market their products and services.

In short, AR experiences are miraculous for users. During the Google I/O developer conference, they represented an application that can place the virtual object in current reality and it can be seen to move in physical space. They also introduced the new concept of Google search results.

“When you search for an object in the Google search engine, it shows a 3D representation of the object in physical reality.”

Although we haven’t seen it yet, we could soon see this transformation in Google search results, brought about through computer vision and the augmented reality camera.

This has surely prompted you to reflect on the ways you can use this technology to attract your customers.

You can integrate such impressive experiences into your application and captivate your audience. However, before getting into this, you need to know how you can integrate this technology and what tools are the best. For more insight on the matter, you can connect with a mobile app development agency that provides AR applications.

How can you integrate augmented reality into your web or mobile application?

There are several ways to integrate the fascinating AR experience into your application. Some of them are listed below.

  • Immerse products in a physical environment to be viewed through an AR camera or smart glass.
  • Increase the objects in your application.
  • Arrange the magnified object in the real environment to see what space will look like after placing the object in reality. E.g. RA-based real estate applications.

However, before diving into this, you need to know a few essentials such as the frameworks to choose from for development. So, here are some of the best frameworks that you need to know about before starting AR application development.

The Best Augmented Reality Tools To Leverage in 2020-21

ARKit

Explore ARKit 4

During the WWDC 2017 event, Apple developers introduced ARKit. This tool is known for providing a new approach to integrating augmented reality technology. The most acclaimed feature of this platform is that it can identify the dimensions of the surrounding reality. It can consider the lighting conditions to assimilate virtual objects in real life.

With this tool, you can create applications that can recognize 3D objects and spaces and can place the virtual object in space.

  • Detection and tracking of two-dimensional images and can embed objects in the AR experience.
  • Detection of the horizontal plane.
  • Face tracking
  • Platform support: iOS 11 or newer

Price: Free

Vuforia

Index AR Solutions, Augmented Reality for Enterprises – Vuforia

Vuforia is one of the most amazing AR frameworks. Qualcomm creates this SDK to facilitate AR application development.

QCAR is the core of the platform that is written in C ++. This is a library that contains targets such as image cubes, cylinders, word targets, parallels and frame markets, and image rendering functions (targets are real objects). Also, it offers extended tracking and smart terrain. Here are some of the key features of this SDK:

  • Platform Vuforia application support: Android, iOS, Windows, and Unity Editor.
  • Smart Glass support
  • Object scanner capability: 2D and 3D object recognition
  • VuMarks: Includes barcodes that hold data or function as markers.
  • Enable cloud and device storage.
  • Offers text recognition and has an integrated English vocabulary of 100,000 words. Also, it has the option that allows you to create your vocabulary.

Price: Free trial is available with a watermark and a subscription plan starts from $499.

Wikitude

How to apply User Experience Design in AR

Wikitude is one of the best Augmented Reality SDK.

It is a uniquely popular framework for building AR embedded applications, released in 2008 by an Australian company. The software has been timely improved and updated, and various functions have been added to it.

It is a very flexible platform and allows AR developers to create custom solutions and render objects through third-party tools. The fact is, Wikitude is a perfect online studio for organizing static augmented reality objects. A simple interaction with the tool allows you to add AR objects and develop AR-based applications.

These are the main features of Wikitude:

  • Platform support: Android, iOS, Windows.
  • Import and rendering of 3D objects with SLAM technology.
  • Creation of applications for smart glasses.
  • Use location-based services.
  • Enable the use of native API, JavaScript, Unity3D, and others for development.

Price: Free trial with watermarks and subscription plans starting at 499.

ARCore

Blending realities with the ARCore Depth API – Deep Dive

In reality, ARCore is Google’s answer to Apple’s ARKit effort. The company believes in supporting the idea of developing immersive AR apps for Android and iOS. To offer virtual content integrated into the real environment, it offers motion tracking, environmental recognition, and lighting recognition.

It also allows the generation of shadows for 3D objects. A proprietary camera is used to define the parameters of the object and the surface (horizontal), while the movement of the smartphone does not affect the situation of the object in space.

Here are some highlights of the tool:

  • Platform support: Android 7.0+, iOS 11+, Unity » iOS, Unity » Android, and Unreal Engine.
  • Enable the tracking of phone movement about surrounding objects.
  • Calibrate the lighting to orient it towards virtual objects.
  • Understand the external reality detecting the surface, location, and size.
  • Enable the placement of text or virtual objects in a specific space and share.
  • Tilt Brush to create 3D objects and Blocks VR building tools.

Price: Free

MaxST

MAXST AR SDK Use Case – inspectAR

Another most admired AR framework is MaxST, which makes mobile software development seamless. It is becoming more and more popular due to its strong infrastructure and amazing features.

These are its main components:

  • Platform compatibility: Android, iOS, Windows, and Mac
  • Image tracker to identify and track image circuits.
  • An instant tracker that can recognize flat surfaces in the camera’s field of view.
  • Visual SLAM that saves and builds 3D maps. These maps can be automatically zoomed and scaled far away from the initial frame.
  • Object tracker to load map files and place AR objects.
  • Occlusion effect and many more.

Price: free with watermarks + paid subscription

Conclusion on Augmented Reality Mobile App Development

Besides these, there are many more frameworks that allow AR developers to integrate this technology for an incredibly intuitive and quirky user experience. However, to make your idea come true, you need to connect with a trusted AR mobile app development agency that can understand your audience and create an innovative solution.

Image source: Freepik Premium

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


Scroll to Top