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Augmented Reality with Unity AR Foundation

Augmented Reality with Unity AR Foundation

By : Linowes
4 (7)
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Augmented Reality with Unity AR Foundation

Augmented Reality with Unity AR Foundation

4 (7)
By: Linowes

Overview of this book

Augmented reality applications allow people to interact meaningfully with the real world through digitally enhanced content. The book starts by helping you set up for AR development, installing the Unity 3D game engine, required packages, and other tools to develop for Android (ARCore) and/or iOS (ARKit) mobile devices. Then we jump right into the building and running AR scenes, learning about AR Foundation components, other Unity features, C# coding, troubleshooting, and testing. We create a framework for building AR applications that manages user interaction modes, user interface panels, and AR onboarding graphics that you will save as a template for reuse in other projects in this book. Using this framework, you will build multiple projects, starting with a virtual photo gallery that lets you place your favorite framed photos on your real-world walls, and interactively edit these virtual objects. Other projects include an educational image tracking app for exploring the solar system, and a fun selfie app to put masks and accessories on your face. The book provides practical advice and best practices that will have you up and running quickly. By the end of this AR book, you will be able to build your own AR applications, engaging your users in new and innovative ways.
Table of Contents (14 chapters)
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Preface
Preface
Who this book is for
What this book covers
To get the most out of this book
Download the example code files
Download the color images
Conventions used
Get in touch
1
Section 1 – Getting Started with Augmented Reality
Section 1 – Getting Started with Augmented Reality
Free Chapter
2
Chapter 1: Setting Up for AR Development
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Chapter 1: Setting Up for AR Development
Technical requirements
Defining Augmented Reality
Getting started with Unity
Preparing your project for AR development
Setting up for mobile development
Building and running a test scene
Summary
3
Chapter 2: Your First AR Scene
Chapter 2: Your First AR Scene
Technical requirements
Exploring the AR Foundation example projects from Unity
Building the SimpleAR scene in your own project
Starting a new, basic AR scene
Placing an object on a plane
Creating a prefab for placing
Summary
4
Chapter 3: Improving the Developer Workflow
Chapter 3: Improving the Developer Workflow
Technical requirements
Troubleshooting with log messages
Debugging with a debugger
Testing with an editor remote tool
Simulating with Unity MARS
Summary
5
Section 2 – A Reusable AR User Framework
Section 2 – A Reusable AR User Framework
6
Chapter 4: Creating an AR User Framework
Chapter 4: Creating an AR User Framework
Technical requirements
Understanding AR interaction flow
Installing prerequisite assets
Starting with a new scene
Creating the UI canvas and panels
Creating the UI controller
Creating an Interaction Controller mode
Creating the interaction modes behavior
Testing it out
Using the Unity onboarding UX assets
Creating a scene template for new scenes
Summary
7
Chapter 5: Using the AR User Framework
Chapter 5: Using the AR User Framework
Technical requirements
Planning the project
Starting with the ARFramework scene template
Adding a main menu
Adding PlaceObject-mode with instructional UI
Wiring the menu buttons
Performing a Building and Run
Hiding tracked objects when not needed
Advanced onboarding issues
Summary
8
Section 3 – Building More AR Projects
Section 3 – Building More AR Projects
9
Chapter 6: Gallery: Building an AR App
Chapter 6: Gallery: Building an AR App
Technical requirements
Specifying the Art Gallery project UX
Getting started
Collecting image data
Creating a framed photo prefab
Hanging a virtual photo on your wall
Selecting an image to use
Adjusting for image aspect ratio
Summary
10
Chapter 7: Gallery: Editing Virtual Objects
Chapter 7: Gallery: Editing Virtual Objects
Technical requirements
Creating an Edit mode
Selecting a picture to edit
Highlighting the selected picture
Selecting an object from Edit mode
Avoiding intersecting objects
Deleting a picture
Replacing the picture's image
Interacting to edit a picture
Summary
11
Chapter 8: Planets: Tracking Images
Chapter 8: Planets: Tracking Images
Technical requirements
Understanding AR image tracking
Specifying the Planets project
Getting started
Tracking reference images
Configuring the user interaction modes and UI
Creating and instantiating a virtual Earth prefab
Building the app's Main-mode
Expanding the project with multiple planets
Making a responsive UI
Summary
12
Chapter 9: Selfies: Making Funny Faces
Chapter 9: Selfies: Making Funny Faces
Technical requirements
Understanding face tracking
Getting started
Configuring a new AR scene for face tracking
Tracking the face pose with 3D heads
Building the Main mode and menu
Attaching 3D Accessories
Making dynamic face meshes with a variety of materials
Using eye tracking (ARKit)
Attaching stickers to face regions (ARCore)
Tracking expressive face blend shapes (ARKit)
Summary
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Chapter 1: Setting Up for AR Development

Augmented reality (AR) is widely recognized as the next-generation computing platform where digital content is seamlessly merged into real-world experiences. This book will help get you started with developing your own AR applications using the Unity 3D game engine and the AR Foundation toolkit provided by Unity.

In this chapter, you will take your first steps by setting up your computer for AR development using the Unity 3D game engine. We will begin by briefly defining augmented reality, thus setting the context for this industry and some of the basics of AR technology. We will then install the Unity software, the AR Foundation toolkit, and make sure your system has been set up to develop for Android and/or iOS mobile devices. Finally, we'll build and run a test scene to verify things are working as they should.

We will cover the following topics:

  • Defining augmented reality
  • Getting started with Unity, including installation and using Unity
  • Preparing your project for AR development, including XR plugins, AR Foundation, Input System, and the Universal Render Pipeline
  • Setting up for mobile development (Android ARCore and iOS ARKit)

    Note for Experienced Readers

    If you are already familiar with Unity, already have it installed on your system, and are set up to build for your iOS or Android mobile device, you may be able to skim through details related to those topics that are interspersed in this chapter.

End of Section 1
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