Download now: Wikitude SDK 8.2

Phil

Our team is proud to announce the availability of Wikitude SDK 8.2 today. This update brings some exciting new features and performance improvements such as:

• Support for Windows in Native API
• Increased performance of Wikitude’s computer vision (CV) engine
• Bug fixes and general improvements on the SDK

Run Wikitude Apps on Surface and other Windows devices

Back in summer 2018, Wikitude made its first step into the Windows universe by adding support for Windows-based apps (UWP) through Unity. While Unity 3D is a great rendering engine and a comprehensive tool to create AR apps, more and more developers need to be in full control of their apps.

With SDK 8.2 UWP you can use the UWP Native API to embed augmented reality features directly into their UWP apps. We’re launching this in a Beta version today and are looking forward to your feedback on using the new Native APIs and running the SDK on more UWP hardware – based on customer feedback our primary target device is the Microsoft Surface tablet.

As with all Wikitude SDK products the trial version of the UWP Native API is entirely free and can be used to test the SDK on your specific business use-case.

Newest version of the Wikitude CV engine

Since the beginning Wikitude has placed great emphasis on its own independent computer vision engine to power the features of the Wikitude SDK.

SDK 8.2 incorporates the newest version of the engine with improvements in the following areas:

Instant Tracking: More accurate and faster mapping for all scenes;

Object Recognition and Tracking: Faster and more accurate recognition with a significantly enhanced tracking behavior;

Plane Detection: Since its first experimental appearance in SDK 8.1, we ran many tests with the goal to improve the overall performance of plane detection. In 8.2, we still label this feature experimental, but you will find many improvements in detection speed and detection accuracy.

Note, the overall behavior at the beginning changed in a way, that the initial area is not assumed as plane and it will take a little bit longer to see planes. This prevents the “plane blinking effect” in which false planes are detected, then removed, and substituted by the correct plane detections within seconds after starting.

Quality, Quality, Quality

Wikitude has invested a lot of time to ensure a stable product and increased quality. This release includes the first improvements of this investment with numerous fixes and enhancements throughout the code-base. Some of them are listed below:

• Camera2 API (Android) now accessed faster
• Gestures now behave correctly when targets and objects are rotated
• Fix for 3D model animations when a target is lost/found
• Fix for the Unity Editor where the indicator for target quality was wrongly calculated
• Fix a networking issue for iOS when loading content from https servers using SNI

Start developing with Wikitude

Getting started with SDK 8.2 has never been easier! Here’s how:

• Download the SDK free trial and sample app (included in the download package)
• Check out our handy setup guide
• Select your license plan or apply for a free startup license
• Got questions? Our developers are here for you!

We can’t wait to hear your feedback! Spread the news about SDK 8.2 on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram using the hashtag #Wikitude.