What is the ARmedia 3D SDK main purpose?

Augmented Reality SDKs can be organized in these broad categories:

Geo-located AR Browsers
Marker based
Natural Feature Tracking

AR Browser SDKs allow users to create geo-located augmented reality applications using the GPS and IMU available on today’s mobile and wearable devices. Unfortunately, standard GPS and IMU are not sufficiently accurate for the vast majority of applications.

Marker based SDKs employ special images, like the popular b/w markers, to create augmented reality experiences. Unfortunately, this requires the engineering of the environment and it is not always possible.

Natural Feature Tracking SDKs rely on the features that are actually present in the environment to perform the augmentation. These kinds of SDK can rely on different methods. The majority of the currently available solutions in the market just have the functionality of tracking planar images, few others are based on a SLAM (Simultaneous Location And Mapping) approach.

ARmedia 3D SDK is based on a 3D model tracking approach that does not just recognize planar images but also complex 3D objects independently of their size and geometry.

We intentionally offer mainly 3D tracking capabilities, and we do it along with all that is required to create powerful computer vision and AR applications easily and modularly. Generic tracking SDKs tend to offer capabilities that either are not sufficiently powerful for the most interesting application scenarios or too complex to be easily integrated with your application architecture. We believe that high performance 3D tracking, modularity and ease of integration with real code are much better than having an inextricable multi-tracking solution in the vast majority of cases.

Does the SDK fit my needs?

If you need to create an augmented reality experience on mobiles that does require just geo-location and it does not matter if the 3D content is 5 up to 20 meters away from where it should be, then any GPS + IMU solution will work fine for you. If you had the time, you could even create a GPS + IMU tracker by yourself without any problem.

If you need to create a standard application that just employs planar images, then you could resort to other existing 2D Natural Feature Tracking solutions. There are dozens of those and some are excellent and also offered for free.

If instead you’d like to create mobile or wearable AR solutions on the go which are capable of recognizing and tracking a real world 3D object both indoor and outdoor independently of its size and geometry, if you need a tracking module on which you have full control, or if you need an easy and flexible way to do it all, then you have to think of a different tool, i.e. one that:

is available for mobiles, standalone computers and other wearable devices as well
can be used indifferently both indoor and outdoor
allows to track objects practically at any size and with any geometry
offers flexible and low-cost subscription options.

ARmedia 3D SDK fills the gap here. It is available for mobiles and compatible smartglasses (and soon also for Windows PCs and Mac OS X), it allows you to create applications that can work indoor or outdoor, it allows to recognize and track real world 3D objects at any size and with any geometry and allows to create applications on the go by offering flexible and low-cost subscription options.

What application scenarios can I address using the SDK?

Some SDKs allow you to create outdoor experiences, others enable desktop experiences, yet others enable just indoor experiences. Some allow to track just small objects, others need an additional reference trackable to set the correct scale of the virtual scene.

ARmedia 3D SDK allows you to create outstanding outdoor, indoor and desktop AR applications in gaming, cultural heritage (see video), architectural visualization (see video), maintenance (see video), marketing, just to mention some.

How is the SDK supported?

Find the SDK's website: is it clear? Does it look like the company wants you to contact them if you have an issue, or are they trying to hide from you? Can you find their phone number easily? Does a human answer the phone?

Find the documentation: is it clear? Is it searchable?

Find the user forums: does it look like the company is active on them?

From day one, customer service is something we like to focus on. Here's our website, our contact information, our support portal and our SDK Forum. We're also active on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn.

Who's behind the tool? Will they stay in business?

A pretty website doesn't mean that there's a serious company behind it. Always go visit the company page.

What is the company ecosystem? Will it be easy to do business with them? Does the company look trustworthy? When was the company established? Does it look like this company is built to last or to be flipped to someone who'll likely acquire it and ruin it in the process?

We are building a company we'd like to do business with ourselves. We are in the AR business since 2008, and since then our company has grown up a community of more than 50.000 registered users for its AR content creation tools. We have established strong collaboration relationships with some of the most important research centres on Mixed Reality in the world. The SDK is developed with the joint effort of Inglobe Technologies. Our company page describes what we're up to.

How much does the SDK cost?

Does the tool have clear pricing information on their website? Does it seem priced fairly for what it does?

Is the company's business model clear? Will the company behind the tool be in business to improve the software and answer your support requests when you need them?

ARmedia 3D SDK is a low-cost software with a flexible cloud based model to let users easily access the online tools. Low-cost does not equate to cheap. We do offer several subscription plans, starting from one week to one year. With the available plans you can create as many applications as you want. You need not renew the subscription once it expires. Just buy another one in case you need it. You can see our full pricing information on our buy page.

Where can I find a list of Augmented Reality SDKs?

These sort of lists become outdated very quickly, but here is one that covers several SDKs. It’s not updated in real time though:

http://socialcompare.com/en/comparison/augmented-reality-sdks

One last note

Remember, most software comes with a free trial period, and most companies will be happy to extend your trial period if you need more time evaluating their software. Take advantage of it!

Good luck, and happy software shopping! :)