Get started with Augmented Reality on Android
Like it or not, Pokemon Go ended up becoming one of the most downloaded gaming events of 2016 and the first mainstream app to bring the world of augmented reality (AR) to our collective mobile consciousness. Sure, AR tech has been with us since at least the 1960s and you could argue since WWII, thanks to the gyro-powered gunsight reflector used in the famed Spitfire fighter plane. But until Pokemon Go, AR was mostly reflected in standalone hardware – think Microsoft HoloLens or Google Glass. But over the last 12 months or so, we’ve started seeing new AR capabilities reach right down into surprisingly affordable Android devices. Throw in new free software development kits from Google and the world of AR looks set to go far beyond chasing pocket monsters.
HOW MOBILE AR WORKS
In broad brushstrokes, AR on your phone typically works by taking the view from your rear camera and augmenting it with a 3D view of some virtualised 3D object. The trick is that the 3D view maintains perspective in alignment with your real-world view using a technique called ‘motion tracking’. This works so that if you rotate your phone around the 3D object, the 3D perspective view of that object follows your real-world view.
But if you lift the bonnet and
