Tag: Cloud recognition

Categories
SDK releases

The future of AR creation is here – try the all-new Wikitude Studio Editor now.

AR content creator

Today Wikitude starts a new chapter launching the next generation of our AR content creator: our next version of Wikitude Studio, called Wikitude Studio Editor – currently in beta.
We introduced the world’s easiest AR creation tool back in 2013. Studio was phenomenal for its time! The old version of our tool was considered the most viable alternative to Metaio Creator, back then, the benchmark AR authoring and publishing tool – and one which is no longer available.
Since then, a lot has changed: new tools appeared in the market – and others have disappeared. AR experiences have become more sophisticated, and the need for customer engagement is now that much higher.
So as technology advances, so must the tools we use to create it! We’ve opened up public access to the next generation of our platform– the beta version of Wikitude Studio Editor. Our mission was to create an even more powerful tool that would allow anyone to build awesome AR experiences in just a few clicks.
160502_WT_Studio_Comparison_01_03
With the beta version you will be able to use all functionalities of Studio, including previewing and testing of AR projects. With the official release of the new Wikitude Studio, you’ll be able to export to both the Wikitude app and to your own apps.

Here’s everything you need to know about Wikitude Studio Editor!

Augmented Reality experiences – bring any print to life

Wikitude Studio Editor enables you to create interactive augmented reality experiences for magazines, newspapers, business cards, billboards, catalogues, or any 2-dimensional or planar surface. You can add the following digital content to your print:

  • 3D models
  • Videos and transparent videos
  • Images
  • Social media sharing buttons
  • Other buttons and labels

New features and navigation

“Quick, easy and fun” was our motto when developing the new Studio Editor. The list of what’s new on Studio is long – but here are the highlight features:

  • 3D model visualization – a reason to celebrate for our old Studio users: now you can see 3D-model silhouettes making it much easier to work with your augmentations.
  • New 3D space for targets – see your target and augmentations from different angles, freely move and adjust augmentation properties with the new Studio view.
  • Integration with Wikitude Cloud Recognition – Studio is now connected with our Cloud recognition service, which allows you to access your targets much faster online
  • Quick-load of projects via QR-code – preview and test your projects in just one scan, on the QR code reader of your choice
  • Monitor and report of projects – Use Google Analytics to follow your project performance and create precise report for your AR campaigns

What’s coming next?

  • Final version of Studio: our new Studio Editor is now available for free trial on the European set-up, so you can get started with our new AR content creation tool. The final version of Studio is planned for 2017. The old Studio remains with all its functionality and exporting properties until summer 2017.
  • Project exporting: this beta version currently doesn’t allow exporting of projects. This functionality will be available on the full release of the next Wikitude Studio.
  • Project migration: if you currently have projects in the old Studio, no need to worry! All projects remains untouched. Wikitude will provide a full migration guide once the new Studio is released.

Try it now!

We hope you enjoy working with Wikitude Studio Editor!

If you have any questions or feedback feel free to drop us a line on the Feedback section on the new Studio page. Spread the good news on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
The Wikitude team

Categories
SDK releases

Wikitude adds Cloud Recognition and upgrades its SDK

At the biggest annual and global industry event, the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Wikitude announces the expansion and upgrade of its product portfolio by adding the all new Wikitude Cloud Recognition service and by releasing its latest version of the award winning augmented reality SDK, now in its 4.1. release.

Wikitude’s all new Cloud Recognition

Bigger projects require bigger storage, that’s where the Wikitude cloud recognition comes in. Building upon Wikitude’s in-house developed image recognition engine, the Wikitude Cloud Recognition service is designed primarily for enterprise organizations that have the need to work with a large number of target images (1000+) including usage within their own content management system. The stand alone Wikitude SDK already includes an on-device / offline recognition service, allowing apps to recognize up to 1,000 images without a network connection.

However, there are projects and apps that have the need to recognize a whole lot more images. The solution for this is the Wikitude Cloud Recognition service. Wikitude’s Cloud Recognition allows developers to work with 50,000 target images hosted directly in the cloud.

Main features of the Wikitude Cloud Recognition include:

  • Search an image database with up to 50,000 images
  • The service is used in combination with the Wikitude SDK offering a simple and convenient way to use Cloud Recognition
  • Two modes supported:
    • Continuous Search (camera constantly screens for target image)
    • Tap to Scan  (take a photo of the target image)
  • Free trial available – each commercial license includes 1,000,000 requests to the service

An enterprise example use case for the Wikitude Cloud Recognition service can be found in the wine industry. Here, a vast number of different packaging and labels require a large database of targets that can be scanned and recognized. 1,000 target images would be a good start, but in industries where there are millions of images to be scanned, the Wikitude Cloud Recognition service is the appropriate solution.

To get started, Wikitude provides a trial token for each user account to test the Cloud Recognition for free (free developer account required). This trial token has a set quota limit that allows developers to try and test the functionality of the service. For production systems, Wikitude offers commercial licenses with various quota limits based on the number of images in your database.

The all-new Wikitude Cloud Recognition service is now live and ready for use. More information as well as a free trial are available at www.wikitude.com/products/wikitude-cloud-recognition/.

The Wikitude SDK 4.1

Concurrently, Wikitude is releasing an updated version of its augmented reality SDK. The Wikitude SDK 4.1 for Android and iOS integrates the functionality to conveniently work with the Wikitude Cloud Recognition service. The SDK can either periodically send images to the cloud server to be recognized (Continuous Search) or transmit just a single still image of the camera live feed (Tap to Scan). The Wikitude SDK does all the heavy lifting for developers in terms of network communication and camera handling – working with the Cloud Recognition service in the SDK is straightforward and simple.

The Wikitude team worked on further pushing the limits on the performance on-device recognition. The results are considerably improved speed and reliability for recognizing target images. Please see the migration guide on how to benefit from the new target collection format. This also includes the ability to define the physical size of your target image, which then enables a feature called “Distance to user” – the Wikitude SDK calculates the distance to the target image, which can then be queried.

The Wikitude SDK 4.1 now also is able to use the front-facing camera as input feed. Augmenting your selfies has never been easier. This also brings additional controls for interacting with the camera for SDK developers. If needed developers can control zoom and focus of the camera image for their augmented reality experience.

Together with native support for devices running a 64-bit ARM chipset like the Tegra K1 (Nexus 9) the team worked on optimizing low-level functions, taking further advantage of the ARM NEON technology. This makes image tracking faster and less computationally intensive.

On the 3D rendering side the Wikitude SDK 4.1 release fixes several issues leading to increased memory consumption, an issue with animated 3D models not clickable and added supported for clicks on different 3D model parts. The click event now will return the clicked 3D mesh part.

All the new features are captured in an updated sample app shipping together with the SDK and also available on GitHub. Immediately available for Android and iOS. Supported extensions (PhoneGap, Titanium and Xamarin) will be updated in the next days.

This is a free upgrade for all 4.0 users – customers running SDK 2.x or 3.x can purchase upgrades for Wikitude SDK PRO and Wikitude SDK LITE in the online store.