Getting and using ARToolkit

This section describes the ARToolkit SDK for augmented reality development (http://artoolkit.org/). If you don't want to use ARToolkit, you can skip this section.

ARToolkit is an open source software project. It is free to use both for the development and the distribution of your apps that use it. Unlike Vuforia, there are no license fees. As an open source project, the source code is available to anyone who wants to use it, read it, and even extend it. ARToolkit is owned by DAQRI, a prominent AR industry leader, and is free to use under a LGPL v3.0 license (see http://archive.artoolkit.org/artoolkit-licensing).

If you distribute an app built with ARToolkit, it needs to include an acknowledgement and license notice, for example, in an about box. ARToolkit has the distinction of being perhaps the first and continuously supported open source AR SDK since 1999.

ARToolkit compares favorably to Vuforia, provided your needs fit within the scope of its features. However, Vuforia supports more target types, and if you need one of those, such as shape recognition, ARToolkit may not be a fit. Vuforia may seem to have a more polished developer experience, partly because of their easy-to-use, cloud-based services. On the other hand, ARToolkit offers more direct access to low-level tools and parameters that may be important to your application. Some people will want and need this extra level of control. Also, since it's open source, you can go in and see how it works, make custom changes, and write your own extensions to suit your requirements. Its GitHub repositories can be found at https://github.com/artoolkit.

ARToolkit with Unity supports building AR applications for various platforms, including:

• Android smartphones and tablets, using Windows or macOS
• iOS iPhones and iPads, using macOS only
• Windows and macOS desktop

To begin, open a project in Unity. As described in detail earlier in this chapter, if you want to start a new project, do the following:

1. Open Unity and click New on the startup dialog box. Give the project a name and location, ensure 3D is selected, and click Create Project.

2. Or, if you already have Unity open, you can add a new scene to an existing project by going to the Main Menu, and clicking File | New Scene (or pressing Ctrl + N on Windows or Command + N on macOS).