User Manual

ARDK Fundamentals

• Getting Started with ARDK - Get started with developing AR experiences with ARDK.

• ARDK Downloads - Downloads page for ARDK.

• Adding ARDK to Unity - How to import ARDK into Unity.

• Authentication - How to retrieve an authentication token.

• Building for iOS - How to build and deploy your ARDK app to iOS devices.

• Building for Android - How to build and deploy your ARDK app to Android devices.

• Using ARDK’s Feature Managers - The Manager components provide simple Unity-friendly ways to access ARDK features.

• Subscribing to ARDK Events - Get notified when AR and networking events relevant to your experience occur.

• System Requirements - ARDK requirements for Mac, iOS, and Android.

• Validating Device Requirements - How to check a device for AR support and update software.

AR & World Tracking

• Creating an AR Experience - How to create an AR experience with the ARSession class.

• Tracking AR Anchors - Designate and track points of interest in the physical environment.

• Detecting Planes - Detect and interact with real-world planes to create a more immersive AR experience.

• Detecting Images - Search for images in the real world and use them for a variety of AR effects.

• Hit-Testing - Using a screen location, find points on real-world surfaces and objects.

• Tutorial: Basic Placement - Learn how to use basic AR features to place virtual objects on floors and walls.

Context Awareness

Depth

• Generating Depth Data - Take advantage of depth maps to create immersive AR experiences.

  • Depth-Based Occlusions - Place or move content behind real world objects without breaking immersion.

  • Point Clouds - Turn a depth buffer into a world-space point cloud.

  • Tutorial: Basic Occlusions - Learn how to use depth to do basic object occlusions.

  • Tutorial: Depth Textures - Learn how to extract the depth buffer into a texture and then overlay the texture on the screen using a full screen shader.

Semantic Segmentation

• Semantic Segmentation - Identify real world features in your scene.

• Tutorial: Querying Semantics - Learn how to do basic inspections of the semantic buffer to determine what types of objects the user can see.

• Tutorial: Semantic Texture Using CopyToAligned - Learn how to do get an aligned version of the semantics texture using the CopyToAligned API.

• Advanced Tutorial: Semantic Segmentation Textures - Learn how to extract masks from the segmentation system and use these to overlay simple effects on the detected objects in the scene, like changing the color or pattern of the sky.

Meshing

• Meshing - Understand what meshing is, what it’s best suited for, and how to best leverage its capabilities.

  • Getting Started - How to setup meshing or add meshing to an existing scene.

  • Advanced Tutorial: Meshes in the Unity Editor - How to save a mesh as a file and reuse it on a device.

  • Advanced Tutorial: Garden Chunks - Build a simple custom AR meshing experience that turns the real world into a garden.

  • Advanced Tutorial: Meshing and Collisions - Learn how to use meshing and collide objects with the generated mesh

  • Addendum: Low Level Meshing - See an example memory layout of a low level mesh.

Gameboard

• Gameboard - Use Gameboard to query the environment for object placement, procedural gameplay and character navigation.

• Advanced Tutorial: GameBoard - Walk through the steps for adding Gameboard to your AR experience.

Multiplayer

Networking

• Creating a Multiplayer Experience - Using ARDK’s peer-to-peer networking for a fluid multiplayer experience.

• Additional IMultipeerNetworking Features - Learn about additional networking features available in the ARDK.

• Networking Limits and Best Practices - Some networking nuances to keep in mind when creating networked logic.

• Networking Error Codes - A list of the possible error codes surfaced through the IMultipeerNetworking.ConnectionFailed event.

• Serializing Data - Learn how to use helper functions to serialize data for IMultipeerNetworking.

• Tutorial: Pong - Creating a Multiplayer AR Game - An example Unity project in which ARDK’s features are used to create an AR Multiplayer version of Pong.

High-level networking API

• Using the High-level networking API - Quickly create distributed, stateful gameplay with ARDK’s built-in high level networking API.

• Hlapi Network Spawning - How network spawning works with the High-level network API.

• Hlapi FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions about the High-level networking API.

• Tutorial: Pong - HLAPI Version - How to create an AR ping-pong game using HLAPI.

Localization

• Creating a Shared AR Experience - Enable nearby players to join the same AR experience.

• Establishing Localization - Synchronize clients using environment data or marker data to ensure all clients can interact in a shared AR environment.

• Marker Sync - Using CV objects (such as QR codes) for fast join and sync in multiplayer.

Rendering

• Rendering in ARDK - Customize how the camera feed is rendered in your app.

• Using the Universal Render Pipeline - How to use ARRenderingManager with the Universal Render Pipeline.

Tools

• Virtual Studio - Improving the experience of developing with ARDK using Virtual Studio.

  • Playing in Mock Mode - Using Mock mode to test without a mobile device.

  • Playing in Remote Mode - Using Remote mode to test on a device without redeploying to it.

See Also

• Unity API reference documentation