6 Amazing Free AR Experiences on iPad
Even though
augmented reality (AR) apps have been around for a long time, we’re still only
beginning to scratch the surface of possibilities. New iPads are among the best
way to experience AR thanks to the large screens, faster processors and Apple’s
ARkit framework. Hitesh Raj Bhagat tries out some genuinely astonishing AR apps
that are available completely free
AirMeasure
Using tape measures is so old school now that you
have AR to help. It sounds almost unbelievable but you can actually measure
(with a fair degree of accuracy) things like a person’s height, the diameter of
a circular table, the length of a sofa and even the height of a building. AirMeasure
gives you a point and shoot ruler — just tap to start and move the device along
the plane you want to measure. But that’s not all, you can use it to create a
floor plan, project a level line (to see whether your painting is hung
straight), measure distance to a far away wall (like a laser distance
measurement tool) and much more. Our favourite is the virtual furniture — you
can place things like tables, chairs, beds, desks, shelves and so on into your
room. Then walk around them to see how they look from different parts of the
room.
Holo
Holo is short for holograms — actual 3D animals and
people you can place into your real surroundings. Some of the holos you can
download for free include Spiderman, a zombie, tigers, celebrities and even
Bollywood dancers. The developer is constantly adding more holos that you can
download to your device. Holos are dynamic, which means they’re not static
images but accurate, moving avatars. Once you scan a flat surface and place a
holo, you can rotate it and scale it up or down in size to match real world
sizes. Then you place yourself into the frame and snap a photo or capture a
short video. In the right kind of lighting, it can look quite convincing too.
Holo is also available for Android.
GeoGebra AR
Learning is a lot more fun in AR and if a complex
subject like math can be visually represented in your real world, it might make
concepts a lot clearer. GeoGebra places math objects in your world so that you
can explore them from different angles. You can place solid objects into your
view while little exercises teach you about pyramids, prisms and cubes. More
advanced users can look at the impossible Penrose triangle, 3D functions,
spiral staircase and Sierpinski pyramid among others. You will have to
physically move around the virtual objects to complete the tasks and take the
required screenshots.
Vuforia Chalk
This app is a great example of how AR can help solve
problems even in long distance. If you’re tech savvy, you’ve probably been
asked for help with common tech issues over the phone. Problem is, over the
phone, it’s really hard to explain to someone which button to tap, which menu
item to click and which port to use. Vuforia’s Chalk opens up an AR guided
private chat between you and the person you’re helping. They can activate their
camera and you can doodle with virtual chalk right into their view — making
circles, drawing arrows and illustrating as needed. But that’s not even the
best part. Whatever you draw on sticks to the item you drew it on, so even if
the camera moves around, the instruction stays true and correct.
World Brush
Graffiti in a public place can help beautify but it
can also be an eyesore, with authorities stuck in a never-ending cycle of
removing unwanted art. What if that graffiti only existed in the virtual world
and was only visible through an augmented reality app? That’s the idea behind
World Brush. You open up the app, hold it up and start drawing in virtual
space. You should do this somewhere outdoors and your art will be geo-locked —
this means it’s approximate GPS location is tagged and if another World Brush
user comes along at a later date and holds up the app, he/she will be able to
see and walk around what you drew. Another similar app without the GPS position
(but more brush options) is 3DBrush — Augmented Reality.
WWF Free Rivers
Imagine seeing an entire, living landscape on your
table. You can zoom in, look around and learn more about why free flowing
rivers are so important. Through helpful little floating tips, you learn more
about the journey of water, how it impacts the area through which it flows, the
people it affects and how building dams can cause damage to delicate ecological
systems. Place a dam and you can see (in accelerated time) how the river
changes and how everything else is affected downstream. This app is the WWF’s
concerted effort to educate about how human development can either be harmful
or sustainable.
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