Adam Kos Terms like augmented reality are thrown around the world every day. But if we look at it with a sober eye, where do we have any usable technology that would be used en masse? Nowhere. But what is not, may be soon. The only question is whether it will be with Apple.
Apple has its ARKit platform, which is even already in its 5th version. Augmented reality is supposed to transform how we work, learn, play, shop, and how we keep in touch with the world around us. It was, and still is, an excellent way to visualize things that would otherwise be impossible to see or do. To a certain extent, there are a few interesting titles, then a few that one tries and immediately deletes, and a lot of those that are not even interested in installing.
By the way, check out the App Store. Select a bookmark Application, scroll all the way down and select AR application. You'll only find a handful of titles here, and even fewer are usable (Night Sky, Ikea Place, PeakVisor, Clips, Snapchat). Apple has the largest augmented reality platform in the world, supported by hundreds of millions of devices, but somehow they can't take advantage of it (yet). Many people may think that they have somehow resigned to everything about AR. Although the fact is that WWDC is just ahead of us, and maybe he will wipe our eyes with his AR glasses or VR headset.
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A surprise attack from Epic Games
For Apple, Epic Games is a dirty word with regard to the case surrounding the game Fortnite. On the other hand, this company has a vision, and it cannot be denied a certain effort in the field of AR. We are talking about the title RealityScan, which is currently in beta testing through Test Flight, but at first glance it brings what Apple has not been able to do so far - simple and usable scanning of objects from the real world.
Although the application should not be released on iOS and Android until the end of this year, the preview of its possibilities looks really engaging. Epic Games bought the company Capturing Reality last year and they are working together to create a title that will allow you to simply scan real objects and convert them into faithful 3D models.
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Using RealityScan is quite simple. It is enough to capture at least 20 images of the object from different angles in ideal light and with a minimally distracting background, and you are done. Once the capture is complete, the 3D object can be exported and uploaded to Sketchfab, a popular platform for publishing and discovering 3D, AR and VR content. These models can be used for a variety of purposes, such as turning them into augmented reality objects or adding them to Unreal Engine games.
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It just shows
Apple did not make a mistake in introducing ARKit and its next generations. He made the mistake of underrepresenting this platform and not creating something of his own for it. The Measurement application is fine, as are the effects in Clips, but it's still not enough. If he had already shown his version of the upcoming RealityScan years ago, he could have kicked the whole thing in a completely different direction. The user needs to see and know what to use it for, and you can't just rely on creative developers whose app can also easily fit in the App Store. Personally, I'm very curious if he'll get to ARKit at the developer conference this June, or if Apple will keep it under wraps so he doesn't reveal the cards for his future devices, or just because he doesn't have anything to say.
Truly an "enemy" 🤔
It is not better to write a competitor 🤷♂️
It's not, Epic is Apple's enemy because of the court battles.
If it is not because both AR and VR are more or less birds with very limited use. No one has yet invented an app that everyone "must" have. For example, Ikea Place is a pretty unusable piece of crap - I've tried using them, but it's more work than good.
Apple is mainly concerned with creating tools/libraries/sdk for developers, which they then have to use for similar things. ARKit is good and it rather depends on what the developers want to do with it. It certainly has its flaws, but as Apple pushes it further with each release, it keeps getting better.
It should also not be forgotten that Apple also introduced RealityKit, which makes it even easier to work with 3D objects, scenes, etc. in AR. E.g. I was creating a fence display: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/best-visio-vr/id1570139618
Both libraries are under development and future releases are expected.