Empower Augmented Reality (AR) App Development using Wikitude- a leading SDK for AR Apps

What is Augmented Reality ?

Augmented Reality (AR) derived from word Augment which means to improve something or addition of something. The technology is proving itself as a very fruitful feature in our routine lives. It is dramatically growing in popularity because it brings elements of the virtual world to the reality, so we can feel it, hear it and see it. It is vitally used in almost sectors of business like education, arts, military, healthcare, tourism and advertising business. These days it has been booming the market of Gaming though huge number of AR apps development companies and research centers have started to hire AR Developers. AR apps can be developed using native library or third party libraries available in the market and one of them is, Wikitude.

What is Wikitude and How it Works ?

Wikitude is the world’s easiest and credulous augmented reality tool which has instant tracking feature rock the world. Its SLAM makless AR tracking system is one of the most popular and adaptable cross platform 3D Tracking system present for the mobile platform. Instant Tracking generates the perfect digital recreation of reality of world stuffs at anytime at any place without the user having to scan any image. Presently, Wikitude has been used significantly in top AR Development companies. Simply, it works with the following architecture:

Source: https://www.wikitude.com/external/doc/documentation/latest/ios/

Where / When / Why Wikitude is used ?

After all, you will be wondering where, when and why should I use wikitude for my routine ? so the answer is, definitely it will be useful to your routine life if you start using it. Some of the examples are as follows:

Shopping Malls

When you go for the shopping in the mall and there if the AR system is implemented by AR Development Company then you can look at product information for instance, check the size of shirt or T-shirt, set colour of product or design of your choice by just selection from your wikitude AR app or by scanning the image using Wikitude AR apps.

Plumbing / Electrical Work

In case a plumber forgot the structure of piping, he can remember through wikitude AR apps by scanning the image of piping structure. Same way, an electrical worker can remember the structure of wiring.

Architect / Interior Designer

For architect, the features of wikitude AR apps are very useful as it is giving strong output for the architectural or design related work. An Interior designer can design a house or corporate office by just scanning the image just a place of four walls.

Medical

In big multispeciality hospitals, AR apps can be used for surgery of human. Along with that, user can search nearby emergency medical center and gather information of the medical center. Also, user can find the content of medicine by scanning the medicine name using wikitude AR apps.

Apart from the above usage, there are so many useful features of wikitude which can be developed and make it available in the market. Let’s see how it can be developed and what is the basic requirement of developing AR apps using Wikitude through following steps:

Wikitude Setup for your Project

1. Download Wikitude SDK from website

Download Wikitude SDK from this URL, https://www.wikitude.com/download/ and select SDK for iOS tab and download Native API.

2. Pickup Wikitude Framework and add it in to your project

Move to the folder where SDK is downloaded and from there, copy Wikitude.framework and paste it into your project.

3. Add required linked frameworks and libraries

To use wikitude in our project, there are also having requirement of linked frameworks and libraries which needs to be added into the project.

4. Add Key of Wikitude

Using wikitude, you will need to define Wikitude SDK license key which is only valid for respective application’s bundle identifier. The licence key needs to be purchased from wikitude website or it allows temporary support. The key is mentioned as follow,

#define kWT_LICENSE_KEY @”<LICENCE-KEY>”

5. Wikitude Methods

Wikitude works with two ways, either you predefine AR images in the project or else you download it from web and store it to the database. Once it is there, it needs to be loaded for the preview of AR feature. Some of methods and wikitude delegate methods mentioned here which are used to load AR images for the preview.

To load wikitude architect view, Licence key and delegate must be defined:

– (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];

/* Architect view specific initialization code
* – a license key is set to enable all SDK features
* – the architect view delegate is set so that the application can react on SDK specific events
*/

[self.architectView setLicenseKey:kWT_LICENSE_KEY];
self.architectView.delegate = self;
self.currentlyActiveCaptureDevicePosition = AVCaptureDevicePositionUnspecified;
}

WTArchitectView Delegate Methods:

/* This architect view delegate method is used to keep the currently loaded architect world url. Every time this view becomes visible again, the controller checks if the current url is not equal to the new one and then loads the architect world */

– (void)architectView:(WTArchitectView *)architectView didFinishLoadArchitectWorldNavigation:(WTNavigation *)navigation
{
if ( [self.loadingArchitectWorldNavigation isEqual:navigation] )
{
self.loadedArchitectWorldNavigation = navigation;
}
}

– (void)architectView:(WTArchitectView *)architectView didFailToLoadArchitectWorldNavigation:(WTNavigation *)navigation withError:(NSError *)error
{
NSLog(@”architect view ‘%@’ \ndid fail to load navigation ‘%@’ \nwith error ‘%@'”, architectView, navigation, error);
}
/* As mentioned before, some architect examples require iOS specific implementation details. Here is the decision made which iOS specific details should be executed. */

– (void)architectView:(WTArchitectView *)architectView receivedJSONObject:(NSDictionary *)jsonObject

{
id actionObject = [jsonObject objectForKey:@”action”];
if ( actionObject && [actionObject isKindOfClass:[NSString class]])
{
NSString *action = (NSString *)actionObject;
if ( [action isEqualToString:@”capture_screen”] )
{
[self captureScreen];
}
else if ( [action isEqualToString:@”present_poi_details”] )
{
[self presentPoiDetails:jsonObject];
}
}
}

/* Use this method to implement/show your own custom device sensor calibration mechanism. You can also use the system calibration screen, but pls. read the WTStartupConfiguration documentation for more details. */

– (void)architectViewNeedsDeviceSensorCalibration:(WTArchitectView *)architectView

{
NSLog(@”Device sensor calibration needed. Rotate the device 360 degree around it’s Y-Axis”);
}

/* When this method is called, the device sensors are calibrated enough to deliver accurate values again. In case a custom calibration screen was shown, it can now be dismissed.*/

– (void)architectViewFinishedDeviceSensorsCalibration:(WTArchitectView *)architectView
{
NSLog(@”Device sensors calibrated”);
}

– (void)architectView:(WTArchitectView *)architectView didSwitchToActiveCaptureDevicePosition:(AVCaptureDevicePosition)activeCaptureDevicePosition
{
self.currentlyActiveCaptureDevicePosition = activeCaptureDevicePosition;
}

6. Wikitude Example Output

This is how Wikitude works with its features. The image is scanned and relative image is displayed along with it. Tapping on Product Details, it redirects to the product information.

In a nutshell, Wikitude AR is more efficient library which has number of features to develop AR apps as per the requirement and can be used in diverse sectors.

How Let’s Nurture helps for Augmented Reality App Development using Wikitude?

Let’s Nurture, a leading IT company known for custom mobile app development in India has got the expertise in providing many solutions based on Augmented Reality (AR) app development, also using Multilingual language.

If you want to know more about AR app development or want to implement this technology in your existing mobile app, get a free consultation to hire AR app developers at affordable price.