Apple ARKit - a look at

by Startacus Admin

We have written before about ways in which virtual reality will shape the future and only recently about the closely related augmented reality, in the shape of mobile game Safari Central.

These are two sibling technologies that have been around for quite a long time, but are just now beginning to come into their own. The possibilities are exciting. But in order for designers and creators to make anything with augmented reality, they obviously need the means to do so. Enter Apple’s ARKit.

ARKit is the framework for creating augmented reality experiences (though unsurprisingly only for iPhones and iPads) that was introduced with iOS 11. It is not an app, but the means with which to create apps and experiences, using features and hardware already incorporated into Apple devices.

It can be used alongside third-party rendering and creation tools such as Unreal Engine (the game engine in which a large proportion of AAA video games are created).

Recently, the BBC released a video detailing a recent creation of Lord of the Rings’ Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Wingnut AR. Jackson was interested in the creative possibilities of augmented reality, and got together with Wingnut AR to create a short, minute and a half western/steampunk-ish battle scene.

For this, Wingnut was given early access to ARKit, and what is shown in the video is played through an iPad. This short scene gives an idea how CGI movies (the audience for which is admittedly small), and some types of tabletop games could utilize AR.

What kind of market there is for AR and what kind of longevity it may have are perhaps the biggest questions around augmented reality - after all, 3D TVs and cinema were all the rage just a few years ago, but how many of us are using the 3D feature on our TVs now? There’s no questioning, however, the fact that efforts are finally being ramped up, and augmented reality is on its way.

Like this article - you might want to read about SMARTIFY which aims to be your personal digital arts curator.

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• #apple
• #virtual reality
• #augmented reality
• #
• #technology
• #innovation
• #ar

Published on: 14th August 2017