ARKit

The best of ARKit: Falcon 9 landing, Minecraft, Van Gogh bedroom tour, and more [Videos]

Chance Miller | Jun 26 2017 - 3:12 pm PT

Apple officially unveiled its new ARKit platform earlier this month at WWDC, and since then developers have been playing with the feature and showing off just how powerful it is. We’ve highlighted some implementations of ARKit thus far, but head below for a full roundup of some of the best ARKit uses yet…

Apple’s ARKit framework aims to help developers build out augmented reality experiences and mixed reality experiences on the iPhone and iPad. Tim Cook has spoken very fondly of AR in the past and as more and more examples of ARKit emerge, it’s starting to become clear as to why he’s such a fan.

I regard it as a big idea, like the smartphone. The smartphone is for everyone, we don’t have to think the iPhone is about a certain demographic, or country or vertical market: it’s for everyone. I think AR is that big, it’s huge. I get excited because of the things that could be done that could improve a lot of lives. And be entertaining.

We’ve highlighted a few examples of ARKit over the last month, but it seems that neat projects are emerging almost every day. For instance, Tomas Garcia today shared an ARKit demo video that depicts the Falcon 9 landing in a swimming pool. Watch it below.

Falcon 9 landing at the ASDS in a swimming pool using ARkit and Unity.

Furthermore, another interesting demonstration from just today depicts using ARKit to draw in 3D. As you can see in the video blow, this is a really cool use of the augmented reality technology, and while it’s not exactly clear how this feature could be useful in real-life situations, it’s interesting nonetheless.

Watch drawing in 3D with ARKit below:

A more advanced video from Mark Dawson demonstrates the process of using ARKit with an interesting “virtual copy of Van Gogh’s bedroom,” then offering a tour of the room. The detail shown in this example is absolutely incredible…there are paintings on the wall, detailed furniture, and amazing tracking.

Dawson has shared a few other examples of his work with ARKit on Medium, while also offering sample code. Check it out here and watch his Van Gogh tour below.

Another recent video from Econsor Mobile shows a whole-home tour and suggests the idea of commissioning construction projects directly on the construction site using augmented reality. The developers also offer some insight on how ARKit compares to Google’s Tango initiative:

I personally think that the tracking is better on Tango for indoor use (much, much faster and more stable). But we had some issues when we tried Tango outside, there the tracking was quite bad. I love the fact of the massive amount of compatible devices with ARKit (iPhone 6s and above). For the next AR projects we will probably use ARKit.