It seems with Gamescom 2017 taking place last week the big tech companies have planned a slew of big announcements for this week and it’s only Tuesday. Microsoft had its Windows Mixed Reality news and today Google gone on the augmented reality (VR) offensive against Apple, unveiling the first developer preview for the ARCore software development kit (SDK). Just releasing ARCore on its own might not have been enough, so Google has enlisted the support of one of the biggest videogame engines in the world Unity.
As Unity has become one of the most popular engines for AR and virtual reality (VR) development – the company regularly states that 2/3rd’s of all immersive experiences are made with it’s software – it was only natural that support would be part of the SDK.
“We’re excited to work closely with Google to expand our Augmented Reality offering to our developer community and look forward to further exploration in this emerging landscape,” said Scott Flynn, Director of AR/VR Development at Unity Technologies. “We believe the accessibility of Augmented Reality presents a unique opportunity to reach a massive global audience through innovative applications and new possibilities for content delivery.”
ARCore leverages native integration with Unity 2017.2 Beta 9 and higher, enabling Unity developers to build AR experiences for Android devices, as well as add AR to existing Android apps.
“We’ve been working closely with Unity on Virtual and Augmented Reality for some time now. We share a vision in making this technology accessible to everyone, and a big part of that is giving developers the tools and platforms on which to build great immersive experiences,” said Clay Bavor, VP of Augmented and Virtual Reality, Google in a statement. “With ARCore, we’re taking the next step towards that goal, and we’re excited to be working together again to bring these new capabilities to developers large and small.”
Expect plenty more updates in the months to come for ARCore, so stay with VRFocus for the latest news.
via Mint VR