I’ve been interested in learning how iOS applications can provide engaging Augmented Reality experiences since Apple released the ARKit framework in 2017. Much to my surprise, the framework is backed by comprehensive documentation making it incredibly straightforward for someone with proficient iOS knowledge to build an AR experience. One capability within ARKit I decided to hone in on was the quick image detection. With the capability of detecting if a specified image appears in the camera’s view, I decided to overlay the image with a music video using the rendering engine SceneKit.
Overlaying A Tribe Called Quest’s Low End Theory album cover with the We Got the Jazz music video.
Now that Apple is releasing ARKit 3 with iOS 13, I’m excited to play with the new features such as People Occlusion. This allows for someone to walk in front of or behind an object on the AR plane thus creating an even more immersive experience. With image detection, overlay and people occlusion, the potential for Augmented Reality is vast.