Google announced "ARCore" that allows you to experience AR on regular smartphone, start fighting for hegemony with Apple's "ARKit"

With Google on a regular Android smartphoneAugmented reality(AR) Platform to make content available "ARCore"Has been released. With the advent of ARCore, a competing horse of already announced Apple's "ARKit", AR contents on mobile terminals can spread all at once.

ARCore: Augmented reality at Android scale
https://www.blog.google/products/google-vr/arcore-augmented-reality-android-scale/

An example of content using "ARCore" can be checked with the following movie.

Introducing ARCore - YouTube


A woman turning a smartphone camera on the desk.


Features of ARCore Part 1 "Look"


A dot appeared on the desk. ARCore can accurately grasp the plane using a smartphone camera.


Tap the mountain icon ......


A virtual mountain appeared on the desk.


ARCore is an augmented reality (AR) content that allows 3D objects to be arranged three-dimensionally in real space.


AR mountain can be easily changed in size and position by touch operation.


You can place 3D objects freely on the desk.


A woman working in the office ......


On the desk of the lion AR object.


Features of ARCore Part 2 "Moving"


I placed mountains and clouds on the road.


These objects are arranged three-dimensionally, so you can watch around and see. Of course it can be hidden in objects.


Objects can have movement. On the car's hood ... ...


You can arrange objects that make a comical movement in the middle of the road.


Features of ARCore Part 3 "Light"


In ARCore, it is possible to recognize light and render "reflection" and "shadow" according to it in real time.


Turning off the lights in the room ......


The Lion of AR showed the movement "I will not ... ...". In addition to the appearance expression reflecting the shadow, you can also evoke actions according to the lighting situation.


There are natural 'shadows' in the dolls that join the row just like humans.


Lion joining dance.



Features of ARCore Part 4 "Play"


A robot that hesitates to cross the road on which the car runs.


A lion barking on a watchdog.


Droid you lined up on the road as there are no footsteps.


It is possible to express "play" by incorporating characters that are desperate with contrasting characters to the real world.


Depending on the play elements of ARCore, ARCore 's content range seems to expand widely.


In order to use the AR content, Google has installed a dedicated depth camera "Tango"Has been developed since 2014, but correspondence to Tango is Lenovo's"Phab 2 Pro"Or ASUS's"Zenfone AR"It was limited to some terminals such as. On the other hand, ARCore is the biggest feature that it can be used on general Android terminals. Google already pre-published ARCore's SDK and aims to use it on 100 million Android devices before the official release of the application.


ARCore's preview version SDK can be downloaded from the official page below. At the time of article creation, it corresponds to Google Pixel and Galaxy S8 of Android 7.0 Nouga or higher, and in collaboration with manufacturers such as Huawei, LG, ASUS, we plan to respond sequentially to each smartphone.

ARCore - Google Developer | ARCore | Google Developers
https://developers.google.com/ar/

Regarding the AR function, Apple rival Apple's new OS "IOS 11"so"ARKit"We announced that it will incorporate. Furniture arrangement andMap applicationIt is expected to be utilized in. Apple announced ARKit at WWDC 2017 announced that "it will become the world's largest AR platform", but Google is likely to be waiting for Apple to try to advance with AR content at ARCore.


In addition, Google also reveals that it is developing "Visual Positioning Service" (VPS) which maps indoor space for AR content and AR compatible browser which can use AR content embedded. With this AR compliant browser, developers can create websites with AR functions, say ARCore on Android and ARKit on iOS respectively.

With the advent of Apple's "ARKit" and Google's "ARCore", AR content seems to enter the full-fledged popularization period.