AR cards are Nintendo 3DS cards that allow the player to play real games that AR Games may not like. For them, the player uses outer cameras to point to one of the AR Cards to play on-screen games in an AR Card location, such as a table. Six cards come integrated with the entire Nintendo 3DS unit, the first being a question mark AR card, while the other five include a Nintendo character. They are not to be confused with amiibo card versions, which use NFC.
How Do AR Cards Work?
Using live tracking technology, available for both Iphone and Android, using their ARKit and ARCore technology, the app can find and track your card, allowing you to paste whatever you’ve been expecting from mobile apps to the tracking image, be it more information, some dope-made AR experiences: from animation or even a little game.
After creating an app with this technology, it’s just a matter of pointing the phone camera at your card and watching the magic happen on a mobile phone screen.
This is just a point of what ARKit and ARCore can really do, but it is already a huge improvement in dying communication methods.
How to Make Your Own 3D Animated Cards?
Fortunately, creating an AR Business Card is very easy, thanks to the integration and one of those packages, ARFoundation, which incorporates and explains many ARKit and ARCore features, easy to use and agnostic ar components.
Making the AR card (or postcard) you need is a working PC with Unity Engine, any equipment you can use (3D models, additional images,), a visual business card, and other great ideas! Imagine showing your social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn) without your contact details.
AR Card Tutorial
Step 1: Design your Business Card
A good AR business card should follow the traditional guidelines for readiness, composition and art, but it should also be a good illustration of AR compliance guidance, good luck to us, here are some guidelines and best practices for that.
Step 2: Unity Project Setup
Install and download Unity, make sure to add support for building to your desired platform (Android / Iphone). In this example we are using version 2019.4.16f, targeting Android.
Create a new project from the Universal Render Pipeline template.
Switch the project target platform to Android or iOS.
Install the following Packages:
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XR Plugin Management
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ARCore / ARKit, version 4+.
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AR Foundation
Configure the XR Plugin Management:
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Access the Project Settings window (menu: Edit > Project Settings).
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Select the XR Plugin Management tab on the left.
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Under the desired platform, check ARCore / ARKit plug-in.
Step 3: Create the AR Reference Library
The AR Reference Library is where you configure which images which you want to be tracked by the ARKit / ARCore libraries.
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From the Project window, create a Folder “Textures” inside the “Assets” folder, and move your business card image there.
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Under the folder called “Settings”, right click and Create > XR > Reference Image Library.
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With the Reference Image Library selected, on the Inspector window, hit “Add Image”.
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Click the “Select” button inside the square, and find and select your business card image.
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On the name field add “BusinessCard”.
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Check “Specify Size”, and input the real-world dimensions of your card.
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Check “Keep texture at Runtime”.
Step 4: Create an AR Scene
A scene in Unity contains the objects of your application, and in our case will be used to add the necessary components that make AR work.
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Under the folder called “Scenes”, right click and Create > Scene and name it ARScene.
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Double click the ARScene, and let’s start adding the AR components needed.
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Right click the hierarchy window and XR > AR Session.
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Right click the hierarchy window and XR > AR Session Origin
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Delete the main camera.
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Select the “AR Session Origin” object, on the Inspector window click “Add component” and choose “AR Tracked Image Manager”.
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Click the circle with a dot on the field “Serialized Library” of the newly created component, and choose the only entry (that is our previously created Reference Image Library).
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Set “Max Number of Moving Images” to 1.
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We will set the “Tracked Image Prefab” in a bit.
Step 5: Create Tracked Image Prefab
Now we need to create what will actually be created when the AR Foundation detects the tracked image. Unity has a prefab feature for this.
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Right click the hierarchy window and hit “Create Empty”.
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Right click the created gameObject, hit “Rename” and change it to “ARBusinessCard”.
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Right click the ARBusinessCard gameObject, and hit “3D Object > Quad”.
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Rename the Quad to “CardReference”, and let’s edit its components from the inspector window.
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Change the X rotation to 90, and the scale to match your business card size. Here 1 means 1 meter, so a default card of 3.5” x 2” would be equal to 8.9 cm x 5.1 cm, and on the inspector 0.089 x, 0.051 y, 1 z.
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We are now creating a tool for this quad to show a picture of your business card, and use it as a reference for the AR results, we put above it. The “CardReference” is only intended for development, when you are building a product, remember to disable it.
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From the Project window, Inside the Items folder, Right-click and hit “Create> Items” and name it “ReferenceMaterial”.
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With the newly selected option, in the Inspector window, click the circle with a dot next to “Base Map”, then find and select an image for your business.
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Select the CardReference gameObject in the royal window, then in the Inspector window click the dotted circle in the field “Element 0” under the Items in the Mesh Renderer book, find and select “Preferred Matter” made before
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From the Project window, create a folder called “Prefabs”, and drag the “ARBusinessCard” gameObject from the Herarchy window to the newly created “Prefabs” folder, gameObject should turn blue to Herarchy.
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Now we just need to tell the AR components to use this prefab when it gets tracked images.
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With “AR Session Origin” selected in the Administration window, drag the newly created ARBusinessCard from the Prefabs folder to the “Tracked Image Prefab” field which we left blank earlier.
Step 6: Make it Pop
With the pre-set you are ready to create your AR Card experience, any 3D Model, photos or effect you add to the prefab will appear when your card is displayed in the app.
The possibilities are endless, here are some aspects of unity that can help you:
Photos
Time line
Particle Effects
Processing Post
3D models
The example shown in the original gif is made entirely of pre-built Unity features, and requires no code at all. You can find the project here, or via the github repository.
Step 7: Build and Test your app
Finally, we need to build our app.
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Set up ARCore build settings by following these Android instructions.
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Open the Build Settings windows with “File> Build Settings”.
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Remove any possible Scenes in Build scenes, then click on “Add Open Scenes” which should add our ARScene to that list.
Make sure your phone is connected to a pc, hit Build and run, select a location to create construction files and wait for it to be completed.
The app should open automatically when the process is complete, then point it at your business card, and watch the magic happen.
A Guide to AR Cards
AR we see is transforming the environment around you into a digital connector by placing material objects in the real world, in real time. Augmented reality (AR) can be seen in a variety of experiences. We classify 3 major categories of AR tools.
AR 3D viewers
AR 3D viewers like Augment, allow users to place 3D life-size models in your area with or without the use of trackers. Tracks are simple images that can be attached to 3D models in AR.
AR Browsers
Augmented Reality browsers suggest displaying your camera with contextual information. For example, you can point your smartphone at a property to display its history or estimated value.
The way in which AR is kept is often played is to gaming, to create the experience of a diving game using your location. Just imagine shooting games with Zombies moving in your bedroom! The biggest use of AR we see so far by Pokémon Go, which allows users to capture the hidden Pokémon hidden throughout the real-world map.
AR Devices
AR can be applied to all screens and connected devices:
With mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, Augmented Reality (AR) works like a magic window; with the viewer you can see holograms and use 3D models. Hundreds of Augmented Reality (AR) apps are available for iPhone, iPad, and Android.
For PC and connected TV players, Augmented Reality (AR) works with a webcam and is transferred to the screen. This can be especially difficult when you have to use a tracker in front of your screen.
In the head-pointing displays, glasses, and lenses, the AR we see becomes part of your entire viewing field, resulting in more real-life experiences such as life. You almost feel like Ironman with the help of Jarvis.
AR Best Practices
Choose augmented Reality (AR) solution based on the needs of your business:
The unpopular truth lies in various forms of business. If you need to improve the performance of your sales team, choose a turnkey solution like Augment.
Need to add augmented Reality (AR) feature to your app or create a brand-new game? Integrate with Augmented Reality (AR) SDK.
Need to create a collaborative print campaign with Augmented Reality (AR) features? Enter a clear call to action in your print, and use the existing Augmented Reality (AR) viewer before investing time and money in your app.
There is a wide selection of Augmented Reality (AR) tools available to help you create the next gaming experience, improve sales, digital marketing, navigation, and design, just to name a few vertical. Augmented reality (AR) is currently being used to help visualize things that are not in the room and create a sense of a focused product that engages consumers at another level.
Frequently Asked Questions
Following are the frequently asked questions by people related to AR Cards which are answered briefly.
1. What is an example of AR?
Augmented Reality applications are software applications that integrate digital visuals (audio and other types also) into the real world of the user. Other popular examples of AR apps include AcrossAir, Google Sky Map, Layar, Lookator, SpotCrime, PokemonGo etc.
2. What is AR in simple words?
Augment Reality (AR) is the use of time information in the form of text, graphics, sound, and other visual enhancements integrated with real-world objects.” Gartner’s IT Glossary. “The AR we see is the provision of digital images or data on real-world objects.”
3. What are Google services AR?
ARCore is Google’s platform for creating AR activities. Using a variety of APIs, ARCore enables your phone to feel its environment, understand the world and share information. Some APIs are available across Android and iOS to enable shared AR experience.
Conclusion
With an AR card, you can stand out from other people and create a wow effect. These can vary from videos, text, web links about your business and interesting 3D models to connect with your social media and website and call to action using an AR-based tag. Mark-based AR uses image recognition to detect “markers” in the real world. This allows mobile devices to stabilize AR content in a fixed location relative to the marker.
Basically, by tracking where the marker is with your phone’s camera, it “remembers” where AR content was placed in relation to it. This is how the AR card works. The business card itself acts as a signal that the user scans through his or her phone to access AR-roaming content. This content appears above or around the card and the user can communicate with it. An AR card with a printed tag is an easy way to ensure that a large number of people can easily scan your card, even though it will require them to have Facebook or Snapchat applications on their phone, unless it is a web-based AR card.
The AR card application is a mobile application that a user can use to scan a business card. This method does not require QR code or applications such as Facebook. To prepare for the near future in a professional and profitable way with the best use of AR technology, it is recommended that you contact Technostacks Infotech IT company and introduce their technology to your business.