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TODD KERPELMAN: Hi, I/O Live.
It's Todd Kerpalman And I am here
with Asad Naweed, who is a software engineer on AR Core.
So Asad, what's new in the world of augmented reality?
ASAD NAWEED: Hi, Todd.
So today at I/O, we're announcing
two new features in AR code that we're really excited about.
We are announcing Augmented Images and Cloud Anchors.
TODD KERPELMAN: OK, those sound very impressive,
but what are they?
What's Augmented Images?
ASAD NAWEED: So Augmented Images is
a set of APIs inside AR Core that allow developers to create
AR apps that can recognize images in the real world,
and then anchor virtual content with respect to them.
So if your app can recognize an image that's, say,
this portrait up here, then it can
make that image come to life, and overlay virtual content
on top of that image, and make it do interesting things that
weren't possible before.
TODD KERPELMAN: So what kind of apps
do you see taking advantage of Augmented Images?
ASAD NAWEED: One other thing that I'm really passionate
about is education.
And children's education, in particular,
you could create an app that recognizes the images
in a children's storybook.
And if kids, previously, when they're just
reading a storybook can now point their cellphones
at the storybook, and then see the story
come to life, on top of their books, right there and then.
TODD KERPELMAN: All right, let's check out one of these demos
here.
ASAD NAWEED: Yeah.
So this is Augmented Images.
And we'll see that AR Core finds this image
and then makes it come to life like that.
TODD KERPELMAN: Whoa.
ASAD NAWEED: So this is what I was talking
about when I meant immersive experiences is that, as we move
the phone slightly at an angle, we see that the 3D
model actually turns with us.
And if we end up going a little closer,
we'll see that the effect is much more pronounced.
You can actually take a look at the structure of the cubes
as they are there.
And it's so much more immersive than the standard 2D painting,
because now, you have this box that's reaching into the wall.
And the image is no longer there.
And it's actually even superimposed
by this 3D model that's dynamic and can move.
And I can get different perspectives on it,
depending on where I am.
So yeah, that's what's really exciting about this.
TODD KERPELMAN: And is it a phone
with any special hardware, any special features?
What is this that we're looking at this on?
ASAD NAWEED: So this is just a phone that's running AR Core.
And AR Core doesn't have any specific hardware requirements,
short of maybe just a good camera and a good gyroscope,
an accelerometer.
But that's about it.
TODD KERPELMAN: All right.
And here, we have another augmented image.
Let's see what's going on here.
ASAD NAWEED: Yep.
So this is another image that the app knows how to recognize.
And now that it's done that, we can see what
grows as we move the phone up.
And this then grows into a massive tree
that an artist has put together that's rooted
at the augmented image.
So if you keep going all the way up,
you'll see that it becomes a really, really, really
nice tree.
And as you bring the phone down, the tree
will automatically sink back into the augmented image
that it detected.
So these are the kinds of visual experiences and things
that come to life, rooted at images,
that the app knows how to recognize.
And that's what we're really excited to see what developers
are going to do with.
TODD KERPELMAN: Wow, that is super cool.
I could actually just stay here all day
and watch the tree grow and shrink,
but I think I have other interviews to do.
ASAD NAWEED: [LAUGHS] No, you're more than welcome to come back
when you're done.
TODD KERPELMAN: All right.
Well, if you need me, folks, I'll
be hanging out here making augmented reality trees grow.
And then the second piece of technology
you were talking about were Cloud Anchors.
So what is that?
And what does that allow me to do, as the developer?
ASAD NAWEED: Cloud Anchors allow you to create and host
anchors, AR Anchors, and share them
between different people and different devices.
And that's really exciting because then suddenly, you
have the ability to create apps that two people can
use together to anchor content in the world
and see where other people have anchored content in the world,
as well.
One other thing that we're really excited about
is that THE Cloud Anchors are actually cross-platform.
We're also really excited to announce
that anchors created on AR Core devices
will also be recreateable on iOS devices running AR Core on iOS.
And that opens up the door to so many different possibilities
and a significantly larger user base.
So now, iOS developers can also use AR Core Cloud Anchors.
TODD KERPELMAN: All right.
So basically, we are setting up a multi-player game
where both devices, an iOS and an Android device,
are agreeing on the same augmented reality space
that they're sharing.
Is that basically what's going on here?
ASAD NAWEED: Yes, that's exactly what's going on here, Todd.
I have in my hand an iPhone that's running AR Core on iOS.
And Brian has an Android device.
And we are going to play the same game together.
And--
TODD KERPELMAN: All right, let's give this a try here.
ASAD NAWEED: Now that's-- you can see right there is where
Brian has placed his board.
And I will place mine here.
And when I am ready, we are now going
to play a game where I have to fire onto Brian's light board.
And when I do that, it effectively
lights Brian's board up.
And then, he has to color all of my dots
before I manage to do the same thing for him.
And he is seeing these boards in the exact same place
that I'm seeing them in.
And I can see him playing the game with me.
And the only reason why this shared area experience
is possible is because of the magic of Cloud Anchors.
Ooh.
So yeah, just to kind of reiterate, this is an iPhone.
It's not an Android device.
And we do have AR Core Cloud Anchors supported on both iOS
devices and Android devices.
And we're really excited to see what developers
are going to do with this.
TODD KERPELMAN: That is super awesome.
I can't wait to play some really fun, augmented reality
multi-player games around my living room.
ASAD NAWEED: [LAUGHS] Well, definitely, yeah.
It's a blast for everyone, like the whole family.
Yeah.
TODD KERPELMAN: Oh my gosh, that was super cool.
If you want to see more exciting videos like this one,
head on over to g.co/io/guide for lots more videos featuring
me and the rest of the I/O Live crew.
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