Tutorial: How to properly use Instant Tracking

Instant tracking is an algorithm that, contrary to those previously introduced in the Wikitude SDK, does not aim to recognize a predefined target and start the tracking procedure thereafter, but immediately start tracking in an arbitrary environment. This enables very specific use cases to be implemented. One such use case, a furniture product visualization app, is implemented by our final example.

The algorithm works in two distinct states; the first of which is the initialization state. In this state the user is required to define the origin of the tracking procedure by simply pointing the device and thereby aligning an indicator. Once the alignment is found to be satisfactory by the user (which the users needs to actively confirm), a transition to the tracking state is performed. In this state, the environment is being tracked continuously, which allows for augmentations to be placed within the scene.

To get the best result during the initialization please follow following steps:

  1. Make sure to find a working scene. As instant tracking creates a point cloud of the scene, it relies on some features which can be captured. A structured floor or carpet work best. Clean surface might be a problem.
    170110_WT_SDK6_Infografik_FloorTracking_00.png
    Please also take into consideration that lightning is sufficient. Especially when you are testing outside then the lighting conditions could influence the result.

  2. Initialisation done right. To make sure you get a good map of the scene, different viewing angles and perspectives are necessary. This works best if you make a step back after you started initialisation and move left and right some steps around the scene.

          

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When you place the 3D model in your scene, you can walk up to 90 degrees to the left and 90 degrees to the right. However, there are cases where a full rotation is possible. This is highly dependable on the surroundings of your environment, so you would need a 'good' tracking environment for that, and the performance of your mobile phone. Since we cannot control these parameters, we can guarantee that a 180 degrees rotation is possible, without however excluding a 360 degrees rotation.

Finally, there is a nice video tutorial if you want to learn how to develop a Markerless AR with Wikitude Instant Tracking and Unity. SImply follow the link here.


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