Google launches ARCore 1.7 update, adds filters for faces and extends support for animation «Mobile AR News :: Next Reality

Snapchat has made the selfie effects in augmented reality famous, Facebook having copied this feature on its mobile applications. Of course, others have followed, but their face tracking applications are often very pale compared to the original.

Now, Google gives Android developers the keys to add face filters to their apps. On Friday, Google detailed AR features coming from Android via ARCore 1.7. This release brings a number of new features to the AR toolbox, but the main one among these is the new Augmented Faces API.

The API offers developers a 3D mesh for the front camera that tracks 468 points on the face of the user. Although this is far from the 30,000 points followed by the TrueDepth camera on the X series of Apple, this should be enough for the realism of virtual masks, glasses, hats and others.

This is not everything, though. ARCore 1.7 expands its existing animation selection. The latest version gives 3D models the ability to jump, dance, rotate and move via Sceneform extensions, the Android structure for 3D content.

The new version also standardizes the user interface for augmented reality experiences with ARCore Elements. For starters, ARCore Elements consists of common assets for looking for plans and manipulating objects, but Google plans to add more elements over time. Google has also released an app to introduce the new feature.

In another enhancement to the user experience, ARCore 1.7 also adds access to the shared camera, which allows users to easily switch between standard and AR modes within an application. For example, the shared camera can allow users to easily capture images of their RA experience.

"For RA's experiences to capture the imagination of users, they must be immersive and easily accessible." With tools for adding selfie enhancements, animation and user interface, ARCore version 1.7 can to help you achieve both of these goals, "says Evan Hardesty Parker, a software engineer at Google. in a blog post.

Nearly a year ago, Google released ARCore version 1.0, about six months after the introduction of the toolbox preview. Since then, the company has quickly improved the initial version, even exceeding the features of Apple's ARKit at some point. The company also expanded the world of supported devices, which numbered just 130 smartphones and tablets (though some of them are iOS devices that support only Google's multi-player cloud-anchor protocol) .

Because ARCore updates are provided through application updates rather than new operating system versions, Google can easily continue to publish regular updates for ARCore. We can expect to see at least one more iterative update before Google presents a major update to Google I / O in May.