When we launched Wikitude SDK 6 nearly 2 months ago, we were excited to see developers jump onto markerless SLAM tracking and creating fascinating augmented and mixed reality experiences. Today we are proudly releasing an update for SDK 6 with stability updates and a few new features. Check out what’s new:

Support for OpenGL ES 3.x Graphics API:

Over the past weeks, we have seen that many augmented reality projects are based on more modern graphics API than OpenGL ES 2.0. Developers using Wikitude SDK 6.1 can now make use of OpenGL ES 3.x. Support for Metal Graphics API is currently being worked on and a new iOS rendering API will be included in our next release.

Improved stability for image tracking:

This release comes with an updated computer-vision engine for image tracking, which delivers a smoother AR experiences. Particularly when holding the device still or using larger augmentations, developers will notice a more stable tracking and little to no jittering. See video below for a performance comparison.

Reworked communication from JavaScript API to native code:

An essential part of the JavaScript API is the ability to communicate with parts of the app that are not involved in the augmented reality experience as such, often written in Obj-C or Java. This communication has been based on a custom URL protocol to send and receive data. In Wikitude SDK 6.1 we are introducing a different approach to the communication between JavaScript API and native code based on exchanging JSONObjects directly.

Several stability updates:

 SDK 6.1 comes with many stability updates and improvements – the most noticeable being the fix of a nasty bug that prevented 2D and 3D augmentations to be rendered separately. With this fix, the z-order of augmentations is properly respected. Additionally, developers now can use the ADE.js script again to debug experiences in the browser.

For a full list of improvements and fixes, make sure to check out the release notes for all supported platforms and extensions:

• Android: Android JavaScript API, Android Native API
• iOS: iOS JavaScript API, iOS Native API
• Extensions: Unity, Cordova, Appcelerator Titanium, Xamarin
• Smart glasses: Epson.

For customers with an active subscription, the update is free – depending on your current license key, it might be necessary to issue a new key. Please reach out via email for any license key related issues.

All other existing customers can try out Wikitude’s cross-platform SDK 6.1 for free and purchase an upgrade for Wikitude SDK 6.1 anytime.

The update SDK package is available on our download page for all supported platforms, extensions and operating systems. If you have any questions feel free to reach out to our developers via the Wikitude forum.

Download SDK 7.0