Edit : Today is a really sad day. I found out that Arcolib so far did not update their software yet to support the ARM64 architecture. That means we can no longer use Arcolib for Android apps and Apple apps soon. It will still work on Desktop soluions though. Play Store will start to enforce the removal of non ARM64 apps by August 1 this year. Exception is given for apps that is built using Unity 5.6.7 and elow until 2021. Lucky break for me coz my app are created using 5.6.7. Don’t judge me…, if something works i don’t touch it and I still keep the content updated.
Arcolib
First thing first: I know what you are thinking, he’s paid to blog this. Nope. This is just my view of Arcolib. One of my go-to solution for Simple to Intermediate AR applications.
Arcolib is found hiding among the waters of the Unity Assetstore. I happened to type Augmented Reality one day in the search box and there they are.
Cheap, simple, and good enough
I am a Vuforia user as well so i do have bias towards it there. But for simple, low cost projects I would go for Arcolib. It has seamless import into Unity, the event handling is okay once you get to know it, and there are examples to help along the way. Without being too babbly, i will try to tell what i really like about Arcolib
In-Unity Marker Generation
One of the things that draws me into Arcolib is the in-Unity marker generation. Image Targets can be created inside Unity, which is a godsend for people who like to work at cafes and random places where internet connectivity is a question mark. The ImageTarget generation is really fast and you can bulk generation markers from a selected folder. You can generate their version of barcode markers too. Handy if you are juggling a museum level Augmented Reality
QR Code as marker
One thing i like about Arcolib is the ability to use QRCode as markers as-is so no need to install 3rd party QR reader and stuff. This feature is especially useful when, again you have so many items to show Augmented Reality of.
Some aspects that they could improve on
Number one in the fix it list is the demos. If you are reading this dear Arcolib devs, please craete a starter kit, name it starter kit, so that when i start i would already have an AR with Image markers, with animated model capability, and sound playing capability in one scene. So that i could just duplicate that particular marker, swap in my stuff and i’m ready to go. You are seriously missing out man. If there are template based development like that AR would be a lot easier for beginners and educators, the kind of people you should be going for as target market. They are teachers and beginners, many of them whom i taught say they do not have a lot of money but can afford your software.
Conclusion
If you are developing simple AR and the project budget does not allow for you to use high-end AR SDK, this is a good Simple-Interdiate level solution if you just need Image based or QR based AR.
SYAZMEDIA PLT 