AR Model Showcase
Overview
Graphics aid comprehension and add greater context to concepts. By combining mobile augmented reality with high-quality 3D models, we built an app that brings ideas and products closer to users.
AR Model Showcase for High-Quality Product Visualization
Very few aspects are as important in product visualization as details are. AR Model Showcase brings out the smallest of details in 3D models letting users engage with the product and experience it viscerally.
In a sales context where product presentation is the core element of a successful transaction, augmented reality solutions bring a host of benefits to the table:
The benefits of augmented reality:
- Greater degree of detail compared to a regular 2D picture (in a print catalog, for example)
- Simplicity in showcasing how something works through animations or dynamic interactions
Together, these benefits make for a more interactive and immersive product visualization experience during sales conversations.
But the solution itself has one possible drawback: the need to install the app to launch the AR presentation. However, at Labs, we’ve been working on another solution that doesn’t require installation to work. Learn more about RefinedAR.
How We Built The Augmented Reality Viewing App
The AR Model Showcase was built in Unity, which simplifies later code reuse when extending the solution to other platforms (e.g., Oculus Quest 2 or other augmented reality glasses). Currently, the AR Viewer works on Android and iOS.
Using mobile technologies like Unity offers a few benefits: higher customizability and more opportunities for future extensions to other platforms.
Multiplayer mode
Collaboration in real time is one of the elements that make working in augmented reality so exciting and productivity-enhancing. That’s why we decided to implement Niantic Lightship — a multiplayer solution from Niantic (the company behind Pokemon Go).
Niantic Lightship makes it possible for up to eight people to work on a 3D model in augmented reality. With the multiplayer extension, the app becomes more accessible and usable in professional contexts.
AR Asset Viewer use cases
Sales-focused meetings
Because the AR showcase renders models in high quality, it’s a useful tool in any sales-focused setting. Professionals can upload 3D models of their merchandise and present them to clients anytime and anywhere. This eliminates the limitations of presenting large-scale products to people who would like to gauge their bulk. For example, industrial machinery.
Class rooms and education
The more complicated the concept, the easier it is to understand it when it’s explained graphically. The AR showcase can be installed on a majority of iOS and Android smartphones. It’s affordable and highly available. Schools can use the AR viewer to encourage kids to see how specific items are made and work (e.g., an engine, a mitochondrion). Detailed graphics can showcase the minute workings of an organism or phenomenon from multiple angles and stages of development.
Trade shows
Effective product presentation during trade shows can be a catalyst to many fruitful business relationships. You can add more immersiveness to your presentation by showing merchandise on a smartphone as opposed to relying on a much less interactive medium such as physical collateral (e.g., catalogs). The app can be loaded with high-quality detailed 3D models that the user can manipulate in real time in a real-world setting.
Curious if your idea can be built? We can check it for you
