How long is a piece of string? Okay that’s somewhat obvious. How about… how deep is a suitcase? Well if you want to be precise about it, a new augmented reality (AR) app coming your way from Apple will be able to tell you.
Revealed as part of Apple’s presentation into the changes and developments implemented in the forthcoming iOS 12, which also included a brand-new file format for AR, USDZ, which Apple created with the help of Disney’s famous 3D animation studio Pixar. Apple’s Craig Federighi introduced on stage new app Measure, which does exactly as the name suggests.
Using Measure, an Apple iPhone or iPad user is able to drag a line between two specified points, as recognised within the three-dimensional space to give an approximate measurement. The app is, naturally enough, powered by Apple’s own AR developer platform ARKit and the lines and measurements stay ‘on’ the measured objects, allowing additional measurements to be taken. The first iteration of the app can also identify rectangles and show their dimensions.
It is, of course, not the first instance of an app using the power of AR in order to get an idea as to how long a distance is of objects or the dimensions of the space between them. Regular VRFocus readers might recall another ARKit powered tool called Survey, developed by start-up company DigitalBridge, which came out in October last year. But even as recently as last month a new feature was added to iStaging’s VR Maker app which utilised ARKit and your mobile device’s camera in order to scan the interior or a property to create a set of floor plans. Enabling people to be able to not only have a better idea as to the size of a property, but – for say, an events venue – enable estimations as to its potential capacity. This again operates in essentially the same way.
Whatever the case, it seems would-be AR users will soon have an ‘official’ option when it comes to measuring things on the Apple Store. VRFocus will bring you more news on the various AR related developments at this year’s WWDC shortly.