Augmented Reality (AR) is experienced in many different ways. One of the most common is via smartphones through ‘face filters’ on social media apps such as TikTok, (which I have previously written about and demonstrated).
However, AR face filters do not have to be accessed via social media apps only. Game development engines, such as Unity and Epic’s Unreal are rapidly expanding their offerings into Extended Reality (XR) and that includes Augmented Reality. Importantly these tools are allowing cross-platform deployment i.e. Apple iOS and Google Android.
I have been looking at the Unity AR Foundation System in particular. It allows the use of Unity tools to develop an Augmented Reality app and deploy it to Apple iOS and Android without having to rewrite the code. Potentially a massive time saver for those wishing to deploy AR experiences to both iOS and Android.
The demo app I have developed (video demo below)shows the Augmented Reality face-tracking features of Unity’s system. This app shows a user different pairs of glasses. The user can change spectacles and their colour, even if they go off camera the app remembers the last pair chosen and restores them.
This kind of app can be exported for use in another app. For example, a shop may want to allow sunglasses to be previewed or a museum might want to allow visitors to try on a helmet.
Leave a Reply