Wikitude Expands 3D Tracking Features in its SDK
We spend a lot of time looking at flat objects and surfaces but, in reality, the world is mostly three dimensional. That’s why enterprises need support for 3D capture and visualization of 3D assets in their Augmented Reality systems. As obvious as it sounds and as fundamental a requirement for success it is, stable and robust 3D tracking is very difficult on any platform, especially for mobile devices.
That said, most authoring and delivery systems worthy of consideration for enterprise Augmented Reality offer 3D tracking for small and simple objects with texture. The more texture the better. A few months ago, Wikitude introduced a beta of 3D for small spaces in their SDK. They designed it to work on a space about the size of a desk.
As the size of the 3D space a system maps increases, the challenges change. There are more shadows and occlusions. There is more potential for calibration issues. Outdoor differs completely from indoors. Getting 3D to work reliably in large spaces is not easy. The author of this post on the Wikitude blog explains how computer vision engineers have tackled the problem and have released the first beta of their SDK’s new 3D tracking features.
Download the WikiWings Android app to test it first hand, if you want to test the current state of their technology.