Developers Demo Augmented Reality Improvements Coming in iOS 11.3

[riverfreak]

Not hating but is anyone actually really using AR to advance their daily work flow? I have yet to find any use for it. I feel like even on Pokemon Go most people turn AR off

Its just weird to hold your phone up on your face like that and spin around like a crazy person. Imagine using it in combination with Siri haha smartphone zombies 2.0

I am. I have an app (totally alpha) that projects my to-do list onto the wall in front of me. When I tap on tasks to mark them as completed, it makes an image of a tunnel on the wall. Then a cockatoo flies through it. Later it papers over the tunnel with a random piece of artwork from the Dutch masters so when I add more items to my task list it’s like I’m scribbling on a Vermeer. It’s a huge time saver and totally disruptive.

 

[nofunsir]

In the future, you might be able to scan a barcode with ARKit to get a virtual popup of nutritional information, calories, and more.

What a time to be alive!

Why do I need a virtual popup, and not just a regular popup?
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I plotted the area of my irregular shaped driveway to estimate for a seal coat. It was close to within a couple percent.

Landscaping and other estimates such as this is represent the best use case of this technology so far and by far.

 

[davie18]

Not hating but is anyone actually really using AR to advance their daily work flow? I have yet to find any use for it. I feel like even on Pokemon Go most people turn AR off

Its just weird to hold your phone up on your face like that and spin around like a crazy person. Imagine using it in combination with Siri haha smartphone zombies 2.0

I agree. I don’t think AR through a phone screen works very well. I have used AR on hololens and applied that way I think it is phenomenal, if you have a chance to try it I guarantee you’ll be amazed. And that can have many practical uses, I actually work on a construction site and we are using it to walk around and see what has been constructed and in AR see the 3D model as we walk around so we can see if any clashes are going to happen or pull up the data for any item onto the holographic screen thing.

I really want one myself just to play around with but they’re damn expensive.

Apple will for sure be developing something similar in their labs I think. Whether they ever release such a product is another matter but there’s no way they won’t be researching into making their own AR headset

 

[Baymowe335]

Not hating but is anyone actually really using AR to advance their daily work flow? I have yet to find any use for it. I feel like even on Pokemon Go most people turn AR off

Its just weird to hold your phone up on your face like that and spin around like a crazy person. Imagine using it in combination with Siri haha smartphone zombies 2.0

Time and place for everything.

Looking down texting makes people look stupid too and is extremely annoying.

AR can be extremely useful.

 

[trip1ex]

I loved this part from the article: "In the future, you might be able to scan a barcode with ARKit to get a virtual popup of nutritional information, calories, and more. "

As opposed to reading the label next to the barcode.

 

[Glockworkorange]

Gimmick was gimmick remains. Maybe in a few years it will become actually useful, for now it's a waste of time. I remember some people here saying that iOS 11 would be revolutionary because of AR. LOL

I admit I bought into it originally. Appears to be ca-ca now.

 

[Cmd-Z]

Not hating but is anyone actually really using AR to advance their daily work flow? I have yet to find any use for it.

The only "useful" application I have ever been able to think of for AR might be industrial applications. For example, where an assembler might wear AR headset/glasses as a guide on step-by-step guide showing where virtual parts of a complex mechanical assembly go, where the real parts are then placed according to what the AR view is showing (probably for training purposes). Or, maybe even for a surgeon during a complex operation (OK, a bit on the fringe!)

 

[metalsquid]

Augmented Reality is not "new" tech at all. What's new is Apple created their own framework for it. There have been other licensed and free to use AR SDKs for the better part of a decade or more. And people said the same thing back then, it's "the future". On it's own, no it's not. It needs other synergistic technologies to catch up first to create a compelling use case. In its current state it's a bit like the projection mapping fad. People see it once or twice and go wow that's amazing then the wow factor is gone and it's out of fashion. Speaking from experience as I worked with AR 7 or 8 years ago for some clients and people got bored of it then. I'm witnessing the same thing now too as there is still no compelling use case for it a decade later beyond fleeting amusement.

The thing with AR is that SDK makers like Apple, Vuforia etc. can tweak their image/plane detection and positioning algorithms. After that, it's really up to the developers and 3D artists to create something believable with it. As these tech demos show, if you just download some freebie 3D assets from the internet or half-ass your own, AR looks like ****. Honestly they look no better than I've seen done with AR since I last worked with it 8 years ago. Professionally done ones like the Ikea app will look good, they have the budget to hire proper 3D artists to create the assets. The vast majority of AR apps will be mildly average to terrible because now that Apple has made the barrier to entry so low with ARKit, any bedroom coder can place overlays and 3D objects in a scene. But making an awesome product that truly fools the senses requires highly skilled artists. And those cost time and money. So maybe it's a chicken and egg problem. No one wants to pull their talented developers off other projects to work on AR as there's little evidence that the fad won't pass as it always does. Yet, AR will never enter mainstream consciousness until someone devotes a talented development team to create that compelling app that shows what is possible.

 

[AFDoc]

Thank god they finally came out with something that lets me see Im looking at chips with my phone..... I was dying without that!!

 

[subjonas]

I think AR has potential potential (potential squared) to be very useful. Accuracy needs a lot of work, but I think the main holdup is this: AR is meant to enhance your world, but in order to use it you have to take your eyes off the world and look at your little phone screen. It’s contradictory. But at the same time I don’t think people are going to be willing to wear AR glasses any time soon. At least not for fashion. I could see people wearing AR glasses for certain jobs and certain entertainment experiences, but not for walking down the street and hanging out with friends. So I don’t think it will be mainstream for the foreseeable future, but I think it will fill a lot of niches, depending how affordable they can make it.

Edit- AR contact lenses may happen someday but count me out. I don’t like anything touching my eyes. And forget about any implanted tech.

 

[ignatius345]

A realistic-looking tunnel is projected on a wall, and while this doesn't have any immediate usage implications, it's a useful demo of how ARKit sees walls in iOS 11.3.

Pretty sure Wile E. Coyote was doing this 30 years ago.

 

[chelsel]

For me, this is 3D TV all over again... when's the last time you saw one of those?? Same with the curved TV screen. I don't think AR/VR is a mass market technology right now. But, there could be a new app that appears which changes the game.

 

[davie18]

For me, this is 3D TV all over again... when's the last time you saw one of those?? Same with the curved TV screen. I don't think AR/VR is a mass market technology right now. But, there could be a new app that appears which changes the game.

Maybe not mass market but I think it has practical uses in industry

 

[Koh Phi Phi]

I am sure it is just me being short sighted, but... I am not feeling AR

All demos I have seen so far feel gimmicky, like a solution desperately searching for a problem.

 

[CarpalMac]

For me, this is 3D TV all over again... when's the last time you saw one of those??

I was just about to say the very same, you beat me to it. Films suddenly had completely frivolous events occur within them just to try and "wow" people with the failed fad.

Anything that requires people to wear the tech on their face need only look at Google Glass and Snaps Spectacles to see how warmly they are received by the market.

 

[GaryMumford]

Is it me, or is this all a bit pointless? I don't need my phone to scan a barcode to tell me i'm looking at a box of trash bags, and what's the point of having an unrealistic digital bird fly through a window? I just can't see any real world use for any of it

 

[davie18]

Is it me, or is this all a bit pointless? I don't need my phone to scan a barcode to tell me i'm looking at a box of trash bags, and what's the point of having an unrealistic digital bird fly through a window? I just can't see any real world use for any of it

For general consumers I agree. But as I said above I think it has many many practical uses in business/industry. And I just mean AR in general and more specifically an AR headset (I have been using hololens), using it on a phone screen it pointless imo.

But we have been using it on a construction site as a very helpful tool or for example it would be great for architects to use if they want to modify a room or something or build something entirely new to be able to have a more immersive experience of what it will be like rather than just seeing something on a 2D screen.

But I am very sceptical about how useful it’ll be to the general public

 

[triton100]

I got obliterated with hateful responses and abuse on this forum more than a year ago when I politely mentioned that other than possibly enterprise use and measuring devices there was no real day to day practical use for regular consumers, especially awkwardly holding a phone up in front of your face for AR.
I would love to see what all those awful forum posters have to say now with there pompous and self righteous attitude. Some of the people this website attracts are very unpleasant

 

[groovebuster]

Seriously... Technology, especially around mobile devices and computers are "innovated" to a level by now that nobody really needs anymore. I never had a need for AR in my daily work or private life and don't see the need any time in the future. Just because things are technically possible, doesn't mean that they make sense and should be realised. Things like that are just the wet dreams of some creative tech nerds and the industry, in the ever lasting need to innovate in order to keep the revenue up and the share holders happy... But nobody needs that stuff... As much technology in pu lives as necessary, not as possible...

 

[err404]

For me, this is 3D TV all over again... when's the last time you saw one of those?? Same with the curved TV screen. I don't think AR/VR is a mass market technology right now. But, there could be a new app that appears which changes the game.

The difference is that AR is software. It can be added at no extra cost. While the tech is limited in it use right now, it is building on and improving the tech used in AR headsets. This will lead to better inside out tracking and recognition of your environment.
This tech needs to be developed anyway, so I think it is great to make it available as an API today instead of being locked up in an R&D lab.

 

[rkanaga]

That art gallery application is the only remotely compelling use of this technology that I've seen yet. Point your phone at a painting or exhibit in a museum and get more information on the object in question - this would only be useful though if you were given more information than was shown on the exhibit's label.

Or you could actually look at the painting and soak in the effect created painstakingly by an artistic genius, with a depth of colour that no 6cm screen can rival!

It’s why I hate audio guides

I want to be able to form my own impression of a work nor be lectured to.

 

[5105973]

Not hating but is anyone actually really using AR to advance their daily work flow? I have yet to find any use for it. I feel like even on Pokemon Go most people turn AR off

Its just weird to hold your phone up on your face like that and spin around like a crazy person. Imagine using it in combination with Siri haha smartphone zombies 2.0

I do, sort of...if you count Google’s use of the camera lens for Translate and Lens to bring up information for you as AR. Translate can use the lens of the camera to see almost any foreign words on anything and translate them for me. It’s helped me get back into reading French. I used to be able to read French pretty well 25 years ago but I got rusty. Now I can check myself as I read by scanning texts with my camera. It doesn’t even have to be on a book. The words can be up on a pretty much anything that the camera lens can “see”.

In my Pixel there’s a feature called AR Stickers that lets me make pictures or videos with movie characters, like Stormtroopers or Porgs in them. It’s fun and I enjoy it more than Animoji. It is gimmicky, but I find myself using it often. It works pretty well. I don’t know if there’s an iOS App that does this.

 

[Supermacguy]

Some of this stuff is so dumb. A barcode scanner that scans a product and says what it is - when you can just look at the bag and see what it is??!! Or an app to detect images to tell you the name, in an art gallery where the info about the art IS RIGHT THERE? C'mon I am going to need a better example of how this helps me in any way. FWIW the furniture in your home app, or directions while you are walking are the only 2 uses I've seen that have any merit.

 

[Edsel]

Didn't Timothy Leary pioneer AR?

 

[triton100]

I do, sort of...if you count Google’s use of the camera lens for Translate and Lens to bring up information for you as AR. Translate can use the lens of the camera to see almost any foreign words on anything and translate them for me. It’s helped me get back into reading French. I used to be able to read French pretty well 25 years ago but I got rusty. Now I can check myself as I read by scanning texts with my camera. It doesn’t even have to be on a book. The words can be up on a pretty much anything that the camera lens can “see”.

In my Pixel there’s a feature called AR Stickers that lets me make pictures or videos with movie characters, like Stormtroopers or Porgs in them. It’s fun and I enjoy it more than Animoji. It is gimmicky, but I find myself using it often. It works pretty well. I don’t know if there’s an iOS App that does this.

iPhone already had this capability well before it introduced AR.

AR Is not needed to use virtual translation