GOOGLE JOINS THE AUGMENTED REALITY PARTY WITH ARCORE
Google's launching its first augmented-reality software development kit, called ARCore, to help developers start making cool stuff in AR.
The software works on most recent Android phones and doesn't require any special hardware. No dual-camera setup necessary, no wacky Project Tango depth sensor. Google's AR and VR efforts have always focused on working for everyone. This one's not for everyone, strictly speaking, but it will work on 100 million existing Android phones and most others going forward.
The ARCore SDK puts three new things in developers' toolkits. It offers super-fine motion tracking, using the sensors in your phone and the camera to keep virtual objects anchored in place. It also detects tables, floors, rugs, and walls, so you can actually place things where they make sense. ARCore maps and matches the lighting wherever you are, which makes the AR objects look a little more like real things in the room. Developers who work with the Unity and Unreal engines can work in ARCore, or they can use more common Java and OpenGL tools. Along with Google's other content-creator tools like Tilt Brush, Blocks, and the Virtual Positioning Service (which enables world-scale AR, not just room-sized), and Google has a surprisingly complete AR setup.
Looking at the AR landscape, Google seems to be a bit late to the party. But Clay Bavor, Google's VP of augmented and virtuality, thinks it can catch up quickly. ARCore won't even require a software update when it launches officially this winter—you'll just wake up one day and have an AR machine where your smartphone used to be. And as the software develops, it could even become part of Google's wildly popular Chrome browser. Google has scale unlike anyone else.
See the full story here: https://www.wired.com/story/google-joins-the-augmented-reality-party-with-arcore/