Augmented reality (AR) looks like a distant concept, but it has been around for years in one form or the other. AR, in simple terms, is superimposing computer-generated images on the real-life space, this creates a composite view that augments the real world. AR apps today offer immersive print and advertisements to AR games, social media toys, and practical utilities. And while you are locked at home during this pandemic, exploring this exciting technology would be a great idea.
Check out this crisp list of some interesting AR apps in the market today:
BBC’s Civilisation
BBC’s app is based on the broadcaster’s documentary series Civilisation. This app uses augmented reality to bring the user 30+ uniques artefacts from across many historical periods and great civilisations of the world. Each artefact can be seen in 3D rendering using a smartphone as an AR viewfinder. The AR app gives the user the ability to locate, rotate, and resize the artefacts with tutorials on how to use the app.
The app also offers interactive features like x-ray views and narrations, origins and history of the artefacts, and learn about their secrets.
SketchAR
SkethAR gives a user to turn their smartphone into an augmented reality drawing assistant. It is essentially AR tracing which means, when a user plots a particular shape on a piece of paper and chooses a sketch from the phone, SketchAR will project that image onto the paper, which allows the user to trace around it. How good the trace is will depend on the user’s familiarity with handling the pencil. This app is perfect if one wants to practice a particular sketch.
SketchAR will work best on a small piece of paper and phones with ARCore.
Mondly
Mondly might be the perfect app to learn new languages, to be precise, 33 different ones. The user will be able to choose from daily exercises to keep one learning. One needs to find the AR button, and the app asks the users to search for a flat surface. Once the flat surface is detected, the app will ask them to slide down the AR teacher, which will begin the lesson.
Since Mondly works on a phone, it might be the most viable option for one to learn different languages on the go.
Ink Hunter
If one ever wants to get a tattoo and is unsure about which one to get and where to get it, then Ink Hunter might provide a viable solution to these problems. The app lets one try out some premade tattoos and their own designs too. These tattoos can be positioned in any way one likes it, on any part of the body. Tattoos placed on the body part through the AR app look very realistic, so the risk of getting the wrong one is eliminated. The app previously only supported black and white tattoos, but in its recent version, the support for the coloured tattoos is updated.
Just A Line
This is one of the standouts of Google’s AR experiment project and it is great to explore AR’s potential with a simple premise. When one starts the app, it takes some time to calibrate the environment in front of it. Once that is done, they can draw on the screens using their fingers, and it can be anything they want. Then, after drawing, the app renders the drawing in 3D space. This app is for fun purposes because one can move around inside the drawing and vary the results, stretching lines as they move. One can also soot short videos.
Quiver
Formerly known as ColAR Mix, this app brings children’s’ 2D colouring book to life with animated images that come out directly from the sketches. The app requires printed colour pages which can be downloaded from Quiver website, which contains a wide range of pages, from dragons to cuddly bears. Once drawn, users merely have to ensure the page is visible within their phone’s camera, the image is then brought to life with some music too. Users can watch the animations anyway possible; one can pause, zoom in and out as if the image is a real-life object.
Also Read: Can Facebook Deliver On AR/VR
