Augmented Reality for Developers

How AR works

We've discussed what augmented reality is, but how does it work? As we said earlier, AR requires that we combine the real environment with a computer-generated virtual environment. The graphics are registered to the real 3D world. And, this must be done in real time.

There are a number of ways to accomplish this. In this book, we will consider just two. The first is the most common and accessible method: using a handheld mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet. Its camera captures the environment, and the computer graphics are rendered on the device's screen.

A second technique, using wearable AR smartglasses, is just emerging in commercial devices, such as Microsoft HoloLens and Metavision's Meta 2. This is an optical see-through ...