The Latest AR Technology & Experiences to Increase Business in 2021
Tags: VR, Virtual Reality, AR, Technology, Augmented Reality

Augmented reality experiences are becoming more commonplace than you expect. With the need for businesses to engage with customers and employees in more ways than one, they are turning to technology. Here are a few new and innovative ways that AR is providing experiences to help close the engagement gap in 2021.

WebAR

WebAR is an Augmented Reality experience that is accessed via a web browser instead of an app. It provides this web-based AR experience by using technologies like WebGL, WebRTC, WebVR, and APIs. In simple words, you just need a phone to access it.

Web-based Augmented Reality enables smartphone users to discover AR technology in the easiest way via the web without the burden of installation. It simply breaks barriers and creates interactive 3D models one can access through QR-code or a link.

For now, WebAR offers a slightly limited functionality compared to an app-based AR, but it includes animations, video, and a high degree of interactivity. Also, WebAR supports image target detection.

LIDAR

An acronym for “light detection and ranging” and LIDAR has been around for a while. It uses lasers to ping off objects and return to the source of the laser, measuring distance by timing the travel, or flight, of the light pulse.

Apple has recently added a new sensor to its iPhone 12 pro that adds depth scanning for better photos, but the future points to AR glasses, 3D imaging, and more. This also means that Lidar allows the iPhone 12 Pro to start AR apps a lot more quickly, and build a fast map of a room to add more detail.

A lot of Apple’s AR updates in iOS 14 are taking advantage of lidar to hide virtual objects behind real ones (called occlusion), and place virtual objects within more complicated room mappings, like on a table or chair. Expect a lot more AR apps that will start adding lidar support like this for richer experiences.

AR Portals

Transport your audience into new virtual worlds using AR portals. In short, AR portals are doorways, windows, and portals that open entrances to new and exciting virtual worlds.

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Using augmented reality, people can place virtual portals in real-world locations, which they can then walk through and be virtually transported into new dimensions.

These portals can appear anywhere from games to everyday apps like ARCore. We are constantly striving for new levels of immersion and escapism, and it is this habit that makes AR portals an increasingly popular medium.

Using your smartphone you can enter and explore whole worlds, all at the touch of a button. As technology continues to develop and amaze, so will people’s need and expectation for immersion scale with it. What AR portals offer is an easily accessible way of doing just that.

AR Product Visualization

Visually communicate your products and objects in a physical setting and experience them as if they were really there. This isn’t new technology but now that smartphones are getting faster and hardware such as cameras and sensors are improving, the experience and the content are being optimized.

AR visualization is largely adopted in the retail industry to allow consumers to try products such as clothing, furniture, and decor in a space before buying. These powerfully realistic interactions provide the consumer with a unique buying experience and they often move through the purchasing process more informed.

Now more than ever more industries are seeing the benefits of product visualization for more than just selling products. Using the immersive and interactive experience businesses are using it to train employees on the latest products, provide proposals, and aid in keeping overhead costs down.

AR Mini Games

AR gaming is the integration of game visual and audio content with the user’s environment in real-time. Unlike virtual reality gaming, which often requires a separate room or confined area to create an immersive environment, augmented reality gaming uses the existing environment and creates a playing field within it.

An augmented reality game often superimposes a pre-created environment on top of a user’s actual environment. The game itself can be as simple as a game of virtual checkers played on a table surface. More advanced AR games may actually build an environment from user surroundings using newly introduced tech like LIDAR. Such a game could involve, for example, in-game characters climbing from coffee tables to sofas on virtual bridges.

Creating quick and purposeful gamifying experiences creates an instant increase in engagement. Now, layer this with augmented reality and now you have a one of a kind gaming experience that can be played anywhere. AR gaming expands the playing field, taking advantage of the diversity of the real-world environment to keep the games interesting.

Applying AR technology to your business

To learn more about how you can create and use Augmented Reality for your business contact Elevux. We specialize in creative experiences and content for AR VR and Web that capture and amaze your audiences. See more at www.elevux.com

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