Search Unity

  1. Welcome to the Unity Forums! Please take the time to read our Code of Conduct to familiarize yourself with the forum rules and how to post constructively.

Question What's the relationship between AR Foundation and Vuforia Engine and ARcode/ARKit

Discussion in 'AR' started by leoahum, Nov 15, 2022.

  1. leoahum

    leoahum

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 2022
    Posts:
    2
    Hi,

    To start with an internet routine, I am new to AR with Unity. All these concepts start to bite me when I am trying to build a test piece. I understand ARcode/ARkit is for Android/IOS to operate AR apps, but no more than that. I don't know when build an app how that will affect the build, why they show up in XPlugin Management of Unity3D, but Vuforia doesn't, do I still need Vuforia if AR Foundation is available, etc.

    I am currently trying to do an Architectural AR project that Vufoira's area target seems to be the right path, but I can't even have its Area Target Test app installed to my android and get the scanned database shown there. (Followed the official guide but didn't help much, the folder they suggested is not functional).

    There seems to be a lot to learn, but could someone tell me where to start? Thank you in advance!
     
    leoahum, Nov 15, 2022
    #1

  2. andyb-unity

    andyb-unity

    Unity Technologies

    Joined:
    Feb 10, 2022
    Posts:
    840
    AR Foundation and Vuforia are unrelated, and using both of them in a single app is unsupported and likely to cause errors.

    We can't comment on the architecture of Vuforia, but AR Foundation is architected as a Unity package in C# that defines an AR API, and then various dependent packages called provider plug-ins can implement that API using platforms such as ARCore or ARKit. Unity supports provider plug-ins for ARCore, ARKit, and OpenXR.

    See our Architecture page for more information.
     
    andyb-unity, Nov 15, 2022
    #2
    KyryloKuzyk likes this.

  3. leoahum

    leoahum

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 2022
    Posts:
    2
    Thank you! Those are pretty helpful!
     
    leoahum, Nov 16, 2022
    #3
    andyb-unity likes this.

  4. schirDev

    schirDev

    Joined:
    Mar 7, 2018
    Posts:
    12
    So Vuforia states that using booth is possible. But While trying to set this up my App always crashes, when a Vuforia Image Target is detected. You are saying this is not recommended to try from unity's perspective?
     
    schirDev, Feb 25, 2023
    #4

  5. schirDev

    schirDev

    Joined:
    Mar 7, 2018
    Posts:
    12
    schirDev, Feb 25, 2023
    #5

  6. davidmo_unity

    davidmo_unity

    Unity Technologies

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2019
    Posts:
    99
    Vuforia is opaque and iirc they implement their own SLAM algorithms so there should be no contention for platform libraries, however it's not something we at Unity support or test so generally as far as we are concerned it's not a supported use-case and can result in undefined behavior.
     
    davidmo_unity, Feb 27, 2023
    #6