Vuforia AR alternatives

In my experience, it's easier, but as usual, YMMV.

 

Hello, everyone!

I read the entire thread, and I'm just wondering what is the best solution as of March 2016 that allows me to:
- View a simple 3D model in AR through my iOS or Android phone
- Includes the ability to "pinned" the object to a flat surface (requires an SDK/library with good implementation of SLAM?)
- Is compatible with Unity 5.3+ (personal edition)
- Is low-cost (< $200) or free?

I found this comparison chart, but it doesn't really give me the Unity-centric answers I seek ^^
http://socialcompare.com/en/comparison/augmented-reality-sdks

Cheers in advance,
Isidro

 

Hy,
just stumbled upon this thread and thought of a asset i've seen in the asset store. Could this probably be an alternative to vuforia?

https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/21088

Best regards,
Max

 

Have you upgraded to Vuforia 5.10.X or 5.5.x Unity plugin? PM off list if you have not solved this.

 

OpenCV is the Core to Vuforia. You would need to combine a few methods in OpenCV to create the Vuforia equivalent (edge detection and registry of pattern and then build a cloud or local database to allow your camera to relate the pattern to a image -> game object).

 

Hi,
So best alternative of Vuforia? ARToolkit, EasyAR, or OpenCV for Unity in assetStore?

Thanks

 

Another Unity-compatible AR solution:
www.kudan.eu

But no experiences with it yet.

 

Well I see videos in youtube about comparison Kudan vs other AR.
here the link:

I think kudan is great, but the price is so expensive GBP 1000/year/app.
well for a small indie I cannot afford it.

 

GBP 1000/year/app is way too much for what we are using it.
We go with $499 per app with vuforia.

 

All the AR engines are based on openCV. You need to be some kind of genius to create your own AR engine as good as Vuforia out of openCV. There is no complete AR function with openCV. You need to combine multiple view geometry with feature detection and even if you get that far, chances are it won't be as smooth as Vuforia

 

How about Wikitude, people? Has a Unity SDK, does 3D Tracking (tested it myself) but I'm not sure it is fast enough...

 

Just wanted to mention Wikitude too, but my experiences with the tracking quality were not the best.
Vuforias tracking was much more stable, but my testings with wikitude are some weeks ago.

 

I did also test with wikitude framework for unity3D, it is not stable.
They found a bug last month, and are going to upgrade a new unity release sometime.
What is the alternative for object recognition, other than Ar-Media?
Is it possible to try Ar-Media in unity?
Best regards

 

I already shelled $1,500 for Unity 5 Pro only to find out later that it will become practically obsolete when version 6 releases. Now I have to give more money to a completely different company to use AR simply because Unity hasn't implemented it's own AR capabilities. I'll just go ahead and make my prediction of what the headline for Unity's next version will be:

"All new AR capability! Only available with Unity 6 Pro. Now you can finally attempt to catch up to the AAA developers who were actually able to fund their creative endeavors last year. Take your games to the next level this year for a mere $2,000."

Someday I'll get my money's worth from a dev platform however, today is not that day and tomorrow doesn't look good either.

 

Just to be clear, I love Unity3D with a passion. I just wish that it offered us more features like AR so us little guys can actually compete with the Big Fish. I would still like to say thank you to Unity Technologies, your efforts do not go unnoticed.

 

You will *never* be able to "compete with the big fish" simply because you don't have the budget for it. Anything you can do, they can do plus put millions of dollars into the art. Unity has already gone a long way to helping us be able to get anything to market in the first place and lowering the barrier to entry, but expecting them to put us on equal footing with AAAs is just dreaming.

 

You can also try Catchoom's CraftAR as an alternative to Metaio o Vuforia. It has it's own web-based Creator tool, a one-off fee for the AR SDK (EUR2,000) and you can publish in unlimited apps.

 

has anyone looked into how non-Vuforia solutions work with Hololens?

 

check it out this
https://forum.unity3d.com/threads/arcolib-augmented-reality-components.452213/

 

I just started using EasyAR Unity package for develop my own AR Android App and I export my App by Unity engine and when I connect to the internet I have an error:
"Error Invalid Key or Package Name"
why is that? because of my fault in programming?
or EasyAR have a pro version SDK or premium Account that I should use?

 

http://www.easyar.com/view/docs/Getting-Started/Getting-Started-with-EasyAR.html

 

here we go again.. i guess they learned nothing last time : /

"Hello Vuforia Developers,

We are reaching out to give you advanced notice that our perpetual Classic license will be replaced with a new subscription Basic license on May 29th.

The Basic license is an annual subscription similar to our Cloud and Pro licenses. It will be charged at $504 annually and offers free Vuforia Engine updates along with all the powerful functionality in the Classic license.

Classic licenses will still be valid and can be used to publish applications after the May 29th date. Any Classic license keys that you purchase now will be honored for the term of the license."


Does someone have other AR (marker tracking) frameworks to recommend? (without subscriptions)

 

Hello,

Please send me information for a Vuforia alternative. What are Unity's future plans for customers that do not want a subscription service with Vuforia? See below. Thank you

 

Hello,

I am testing Wikitude. I will update my experience later. They have free version.

SisMoon

 

Hello everyone.
If you're looking for a good alternative to Vuforia - feel free to try Wikitude.


The main features of the Wikitude SDK are:

• Geo AR
  
  
• Image Tracking
  
  
• Object Tracking
  
  
• Scene Tracking
  
  
• Instant Tracking
  
  
• Cloud Recognition

We are also working on a new version of SDK, that is designed purely for Unity.
This version includes new features and improvements to existing.

Moreover, Wikitude supports and values AR development agencies, that use Wikitude SDK in their AR projects, providing the following perks:

• Client referral opportunities according to the demand of your region/specialization area
• Partner discounts, depending on the revenue generated by recommending our SDK
• Promotion among our online communication channels
• Opportunities for joint marketing activities (showcases, case studies, event participation, among others)
• Priority support
• Early access to Wikitude’s upcoming technology

If you have any questions, you can contact me here or via skype live:ligintir

Best,
Norbert

 

Have been checking wikitude over the years, but unfortunately pricing is bit too much (for small ar projects).

 

Hello Norbert,

do you have anything similar to Vumarks on the pipeline?
Furthermore I noticed on the pricing page that in order to get all tracking options you have to go with the Enterprise Tier which to me seems rather extreme and also why are "multiple apps" required as "Add-On"? Does that mean I have to pay for every app I integrate the SDK?

Regards,
Ruben

 

I've tried Unity's AR Foundation 3 a few month back. The tracking was actually better than Vuforia.
It doesn't have fancy marker functionality, but does support image recogniton with a reference library.

https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.xr.arfoundation@4.0/manual/index.html

 

tried the older version while ago also, seems ok for a free system.

Doesn't support moving markers though, or atleast it didn't at that version,
and initial tracker detection felt slower than vuforia.

Hopefully model tracking comes to android also.

 

Moving image markers works fine for me here with ARCore though ARKit is not stable but I think Apple has big plans for ARKit v4 if the new iPhones will have depth-sensors on the backside.

Still I find solutions like WikiTude very interesting since one is not dependent on the mercy of big corps like Apple/Google, its multi-platform and I like to support smaller companies.

 

I personally do not recommend Vuforia, I bought a classic license in 2018 and used it in a product, currently they inform me that to update that product I have to buy a new license. I mean, it's the same app! but even if you want to change something they demand that, it smells like a scam.