Google Unveils ARCore, Its Answer To Apple's ARKit (fastcompany.com) 40
Google has taken the wraps off its answer to Apple's ARKit -- a new augmented reality development platform called "ARCore." In a blog post, the company said it's releasing a "preview" software development kit for ARCore to Android developers today. From a report: Google released its Tango AR platform in 2014, but AR experiences built on that platform could run only on a few phones sporting advanced sensors and cameras. With ARCore, Google says, developers can create AR apps and games that run on virtually any Android smartphone -- existing and forthcoming. "We've been developing the fundamental technologies that power mobile AR over the last three years with Tango, and ARCore is built on that work," says Android Engineering VP Dave Burke in today's blog post. Developers who have already developed on the Tango platform, Burke says, can use that experience to help them create on the ARCore platform. ARCore games and apps will use an Android phone's camera to determine the position and movement of the phone itself within a real-world environment. The camera will determine the location of horizontal surfaces on which to place digital objects. The camera will also measure the ambient light in a given space, so that digital objects will appear to reflect light in convincing ways.
Re:AR? (Score:4, Informative)
They did explain their terms. Literally in the first line of the summary.
Re:AR? (Score:5, Informative)
Yup, AR stands for augmented reality, and it's shaping up to be interesting. In the few months since ARKit was announced by Apple, developers have been putting out some really fascinating demos, some practical, some simply experimental. ARKit is due for its official release later this year with iOS 11, so these demos are giving us a notion of what sort of uses we may end up seeing for augmented reality in the real world.
For instance:
- Measuring real world objects without a tape measure [youtube.com]
- Drawing without a pen [youtube.com]
- Perusing menu options at a restaurant [youtube.com]
- Becoming part of a music video [youtube.com]
- Bringing fictional worlds to life [youtube.com]
And these are just some of the early demos. There are demos for doing 3D sculpting, putting characters from existing video games in the real world, watching dance performances in your living room, and playing versions of everything from Pacman to Minecraft to a zombie game in the space around you. I originally thought this was all merely a gimmick, but now I'm starting to think that this technology will render a lot of single-use items we have in the real world obsolete, in much the same way that smartphones turned GPS devices, cell phones, and MP3 players into simple apps on our pocket computers.
Re:AR? (Score:5, Informative)
Oops, I meant to link to this measuring tape video [youtube.com], since I think it actually shows off the technology even better.
A few other videos I forgot to link before:
- Finding friends in a crowd using waypoints [youtube.com]
- Trying out makeup live on yourself [youtube.com]
- More portals to other worlds [youtube.com]
- Laying out furniture [youtube.com] (I believe IKEA has said they plan to use ARKit to allow people to virtually place IKEA's furniture in their homes so they can get a sense for how it'd look and feel)
Re: (Score:2)
Regarding the measuring tape, don't you ever hang pictures? Move furniture around a room? Want to calculate how much paint you'll need for your walls or how many tiles you'll need for your floor? My tape measures (yes, plural) are out in my garage, so they're rarely on hand when I want them for some quick work. This sort of thing would let me do small jobs (e.g. centering my media console under my TV) easily without having to go grab an extra tool.
Even better, if it can take a snapshot of the space as it's
Re: (Score:2)
Fuck AR.
Except if it can give me a virtual 3D anime wifu, then get out of my fucking way - nobody will stop me from getting AR.
Re: (Score:2)
Without some level of feature parity, Google couldn't convince that developing for their platform would be profitable for developers to target both devices.
And before we hear the "there's more Android phones out there", you just need to look at the version of these phones to know that it's inconsequential. Enterprise and high-paying users are the target. Not those stuck in 4 year old systems.
Re: (Score:2)
Enterprise and high-paying users are the target.
Wrong. Users are the target. The most popular applications are free and are made by companies such as Google and Facebook.
You have to realize there isn't a single "app market" but there are various markets for different needs. Those wanting a GPS navigation software won't cross-shop with $2 games.
$2 game developers will most likely target the platform with the most idiots buying their $2 crappy games, I agree. But that won't drive away other developers making useful stuff from Android. They'll remain becaus
Re: (Score:2)
Popular doesn't necessarily mean profitable. It certainly can, but the popular apps you're talking about are outliers, not the norm.
In contrast, my company routinely makes apps for engineering clients who are willing to shell out seven figures for something that meets their needs. The app may only ever be distributed privately, used by a few dozen people, and never make us a dime on an app sale to any given individual, but it'll make those few dozen employees so productive that it'll give their company the
Re: (Score:2)
Augmented Reality
iOS 11 introduces ARKit, a new framework that allows you to easily create unparalleled augmented reality experiences for iPhone and iPad. Introducing ARKit [apple.com]
Today, we’re releasing a preview of a new software development kit (SDK) called ARCore. It brings augmented reality capabilities to existing and future Android phones. Developers can start experimenting with it right now. ARCore: Augmented reality at Android scale [www.blog.google]
Re:ARCore and ARKit (Score:5, Informative)
From TFS:
Google has taken the wraps off its answer to Apple's ARKit -- a new augmented reality development platform called "ARCore."
Emphasis mine.
Does it matter? (Score:4, Insightful)
Does it matter? They'll probably discontinue it within a year.
Oh yah (Score:2, Insightful)
OOOO. Look. Another extraneous feature to turn off.
Let us not fix the search in our store. Lets us not fix our apps to be less shitty. Lets add more features!!! Fucking idiots.
I really truly wish there was a way to truly damage these companies to make them stop.
AR is what I want because... (Score:4, Interesting)
a real life ad blocker would be awesome. As far as I'm concerned, advertisements are information pollution.
"Virtually any Android smartphone"... in time (Score:4, Interesting)
From TFA:
To start with, Burke says, ARCore will run on Google’s Pixel phones, and Samsung’s S8 running 7.0 Nougat and above. It’ll run on more phones, from more OEMs, in time.
"In time" is a handy phrase that can mean whatever they want it to mean. For instance, it could mean "once everyone with a current Android phone has replace it with a new one".
Shameless imitation? (Score:2)
Does google really have no shame if they immediately rush to copy Apple within weeks of their own announcement and release? They even changed the project name to further mimic it.
Re: (Score:2)
They release Tango a while back, but only two phones support it due to needing two cameras and a specific distance sensor; this version is mostly the same but only needs a single camera (which most phones, including their flagship Pixel and the S8 have but one) and a more basic laser rangefinder. This opens up the same technology they already paid to have developed, to a much wider set of phones; no doubt they'll want to introduce this in to the daydream ecosystem at some point which they're also heavily in
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
No they didn't copy apple.
Developing a production grade slam system is a huge amount of work. Not only in raw FTEs, but you'd have a hard job getting one done in under a year regardless of the team size. Twice that of you needed to ramp up the team, because it's a very specialist job and in demand so practitioners are either mid PhD at one of the few institutions working VIO, or (if you want someone worth the experience to deliver a commercial project) already employed and well paid.
Google have been working
Re: Shameless imitation? (Score:2)
Google was working on Tango for ages. That was a major undertaking. But in this case it appears they stripped out many of its features and renamed it to match Apple's in a "Us Too!" strategy.
Can't wait for everyone else to fork/rehash (Score:2)
Cool idea (Score:2)
How about virtual wallpaper? I'd like the inside of my home office to look like I'm actually in a café in Paris while I code. Sort of a first step toward a holodeck, I guess.
Second step? Beautiful women in swimsuits sitting in the café.
Third step? Don't bother. We'll keep ourselves busy with step two.
Re: Cool idea (Score:2)
Third step could be a full suit that provides sensations. Something like racing and fighting games would be neat, and there's the porn aspect.
The R of reality is failing (Score:2)