With Apple’s release of iOS 11 later this year, its ARKit makes it easier for everyone to use 3D or CAD style applications.

Last year, Apple announced that it is developing the ARKit. This new framework which will allow users to superimpose onto the real world with an iPhone or iPad. It will be publically available with the release of iOS11 this year.

So far, there have been many interesting developments using ARKit. Modiface developed a way in which you can try on makeup without heading into a store. Or you could witness the Apollo moon landing in your kitchen.  In fact, AR/VR publication UploadVR found that as phone-based Augmented Reality, ARKit will become the most important element for mainstreaming VR.

Essentially, the technology will make augmenting your 3D space as simple as pointing and tapping (for the user’s side, that is). You’ll easily be immersed in the experience, all the while simply using your phone. If you’re not familiar with the concept, think Pokemon Go.

In fact, there are endless possibilities for VR developers who can use Apple’s new toolbox. For example, developer Osama Abdel-Karim shows future users a simple, yet mind-blowing, example of what’s possible by creating a 3D castle.

The developer of iOS/Mac apps is an expert on the subject and uses ARKit to create a 3D sketch and modeling tool. Amazingly, he just uses his finger to draw four lines and circles, before turning the 2D drawing in 3D. By simply pulling the drawing towards himself, he creates an extruded 3D model of a castle. Watch it here:

Endless Possibilities for Apple’s ARKit

In order for Abdel-Karim to be able to create the 3D model castle, he relies on ARKit’s camera location and horizontal plane detection. Both of these features mean Osama can register his drawings as 3D virtual objects in 3D space.

Visual Inertial Odometry (VIO) is the technique used by the kit. The way it works is to use camera frames and motion sensors to work out where exactly objects and the 3D plane are.

Then, Abdel-Karim also developed the ARKit Swift code to recognize his fingers as a stylus. You can find out more about the developer’s clever tool by reading his iOS ARKit Tutorial: Drawing in the Air with Bare Fingers over on Toptal.

Amazingly, the result is the ability to design and create on the go, using just an iPhone. Drawing and manipulating 3D models become simple and the technology is literally at your fingertips.

Source: Solid Smack