AR is expanding to areas like marketing, education, advertising, and industrial training, powered by programming and computing power improvements.
Adobe, a software domain pioneer that revolutionised the global design industry, is devising a groundbreaking technology to enhance AR’s future. During Apple’s MAX flagship event in Los Angeles, the company previewed Project Aero, its latest AR tool.
AR is a technology which enables developers to overlap live camera feeds with virtual objects; creating an impression of the objects actually being there. AR technology has existed for a while, but it still has not been incorporated in popular software, due to lack of development and usable software. Adobe plans to integrate Aero with Illustrator and Photoshop, enabling simultaneous use of created graphics for augmented reality.
Project Aero will help developers create AR experiences and immersive content. The specialty of this development is that it will allow novice users with limited technical knowledge to create end-to-end augmented reality experiences.
Shanmugh Natarajan, managing director, Adobe India, stated that the company has always been open to innovative storytelling avenues. The company has developed platforms in all domains including print, web, PC, and mobile.
He stated that the goal of Aero is to revolutionise immersive design for developing top-notch AR experiences.
AR and VR have been major technological talking points since the late 2000s.
AR does not need a headset, unlike VR. It works on mobile or tablets using device cameras. AR is a moving and virtual object on a camera’s real-time video feed. Ideally, the virtual objects should remain stationary when the camera moves.
AR has always needed refined programming skills and know-how. Mapping surroundings and superimposing graphics over real objects are achieved, even with movement of the entire system. AR development is in demand due to the level of skill involved.
Manu Trivedi, founder, and CEO of VR product start-up Tantransha explained that substantial coding knowledge is required due to 3D design aspects. Adobe wants to use Aero to help users generate more experiences without technical knowledge.
UK-based AR firm Blippar which has Bengaluru engineering operations takes special steps for promotion. For instance, customers can point their phone cameras at a food product and view its ingredients and nutrients on their phone screen.
Tech companies in the education domain are creating solutions to let engineers and workers point their phones at chip circuits, in order to view component labels during training.
With Project Aero, Adobe is making an attempt to incorporate standard protocols and patterns. Natarajan from Adobe stated that a wider ecosystem is necessary to truly understand AR possibilities. He explains that Adobe is forming associations with tech leaders for the standardisation of file formats and interaction models, and to provide creative tools.
The company is utilising open standards including gITF and usdz, and prominent platform vendors, along with Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Pixar, and creatives, to deliver AR offerings.
According to Adobe, Aero is in beta stage presently and available to invite-only users. It will be launched in 2019.
