Best Augmented Reality Development Platforms for Unity

PlugXR is a Creative Design Software development platform for spatial computing and immersive augmented reality (AR) applications. It helps creators, designers, and brands enhance customer experience with virtual showrooms, immersive AR product visualization & configuration, and other immersive content for marketing, branding, and other business applications. AR experiences can also be integrated directly into products to enhance the user interface or provide visual aids to users. It simplifies the process of developing immersive tech applications, including Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality (MR), Immersive UI/UX designs, Spatial Computing experiences, and Metaverse applications.

Zapworks is a user-friendly and powerful tool for creating immersive and engaging WebAR experiences, regardless of the user's skills or experience level. Designer is our no-code solution for creating engaging webAR experiences without downloads, apps, or coding. Studio is built specifically for AR content creation with complete creative control, a user-friendly interface and the power and flexibility of a code editor. We also offer a best-in-class computer vision library as SDK's for multiple platforms, including Unity. Within each of the tools, we have built in tools for analytics and tracking to monitor user engagement, interaction data, and performance metrics. These insights help creators understand how users are interacting with their AR experiences and make data-driven improvements. Create immersive and engaging AR scenes within the tool of your choice, add QR codes, deeplinks or 3D web embeds to launch your experiences. Provide your audience with a memorable experience with interactivity, 3D assets, animations and more! Zapworks offers tools and features for all skill levels, simplifying the process of creating AR content and enabling users to build engaging experiences without extensive coding knowledge.

MRTK-Unity is a Microsoft-led initiative that offers a comprehensive suite of components and functionalities designed to streamline the development of mixed reality applications across various platforms using Unity. It includes a versatile input system and foundational elements for spatial interaction and user interface creation. The framework allows developers to quickly prototype through in-editor simulations, providing instant feedback on modifications made. Additionally, it serves as an adaptable system where developers can easily interchange essential components. Among its features is a button control that accommodates multiple input methods, inclusive of the articulated hand tracking available on HoloLens 2. Users can also access a standard UI for the manipulation of objects within a three-dimensional environment. There are scripts available for object manipulation with either one or two hands, and a 2D-style plane that supports scrolling through articulated hand input. The toolkit includes scripts to enhance object interactivity with visual feedback and theme customization. Furthermore, it offers various object positioning behaviors, such as tag-along, body-lock, constant view size, and surface magnetism, along with a script designed for arranging an array of objects in a three-dimensional configuration, making it a robust choice for MR app developers. Ultimately, MRTK-Unity empowers developers to create immersive experiences with greater efficiency and flexibility.

Experience a powerful and user-friendly SDK that drives 60 million augmented reality experiences each month. Enhance your applications with 3D face masks, effects, and more, boasting superior performance compared to Snapchat, all within an SDK designed for iOS, MacOS, Android, and HTML5 platforms. This versatile SDK allows for the addition of 3D face masks and effects, also outperforming Snapchat, and is compatible with Unity. Users can apply augmented reality effects to up to four faces simultaneously across any device without any glitches or delays. Utilizing cutting-edge deep learning techniques, the SDK enables real-time hair color changes during live video streams. Furthermore, it allows for the seamless replacement of backgrounds to create immersive AR experiences. The technology can detect a range of emotions—sadness, happiness, anger, surprise, and fear—within the video feed. It also tracks 17 key body points, including the waist, shoulders, elbows, arms, and head for enhanced interaction. Any 3D file can be transformed into an AR asset, allowing for extensive creative possibilities. Enjoy the advantages of every feature while adopting a pay-as-you-grow model. Signing up is free, and you can integrate the SDK in just a few minutes, with numerous prebuilt integrations available to simplify the process even further. With such a comprehensive set of tools at your disposal, you can easily elevate your AR projects to new heights.

AR Foundation is a specialized framework designed specifically for augmented reality development, enabling the creation of immersive experiences that can be deployed seamlessly across various mobile and wearable AR devices. It incorporates essential capabilities from leading AR technologies such as ARKit, ARCore, Magic Leap, and HoloLens, while also offering distinctive features unique to Unity for developing robust applications that can be distributed to internal teams or published on any app store. This framework allows developers to leverage a cohesive workflow that integrates all these functionalities. Furthermore, AR Foundation provides the flexibility to carry forward features that may not currently be available when transitioning between different AR platforms. Should a feature be active on one platform but absent on another, the framework includes provisions to ensure it can be seamlessly activated later. When the feature becomes available on the new platform, developers can easily integrate it by simply updating their packages, eliminating the need for a complete app rebuild. Additionally, Unity users can benefit from an array of innovative features and workflows, including the Universal Render Pipeline and ECS, enhancing their AR development experience even further. This comprehensive approach positions AR Foundation as an invaluable tool for developers in the rapidly evolving field of augmented reality.

MAXVERSE offers an unparalleled development environment for users looking to build immersive metaverses. As an XR Software Development Toolkit (SDK), it features tools for XR spatial mapping, an XR SDK, and a platform that simplifies the simulation of AR applications and VR websites. Developers can effortlessly create a metaverse using MAXVERSE in conjunction with Unity, which serves as an integrated platform for crafting metaverse services. Additionally, MAXVERSE has the capability to transform recorded videos into interactive metaverse spaces. It includes a client tool that allows users to modify the gravity direction and scale of point clouds while positioning points of interest (POIs) and topological features within the generated 3D environments. This toolkit facilitates the creation and management of spatial maps derived from captured images, enabling users to register and edit POIs alongside space map authoring tools. With its comprehensive suite of content development tools and APIs, MAXVERSE stands as a robust platform for metaverse service development, providing users with essential resources to bring their visions to life. Furthermore, it offers free tools for constructing metaverse space maps, making it accessible for developers at all levels.

ARCore provides the tools to create innovative augmented reality experiences that merge the digital realm with the physical environment. This technology revolutionizes how individuals engage in activities such as playing games, shopping, learning, creating, and interacting with the world on a large scale. As Google's dedicated platform for augmented reality development, ARCore offers a range of APIs that empower smartphones to perceive their surroundings, comprehend the environment, and engage with digital information. Some of these APIs facilitate shared AR experiences on both Android and iOS devices. The motion tracking feature allows smartphones to gauge and follow their position in relation to the physical world, while the environmental understanding component enables them to identify the dimensions and locations of various surfaces, including horizontal, vertical, and sloped areas like floors, tables, and walls. Additionally, light estimation helps the device assess the current lighting conditions of its surroundings, enhancing the realism of the augmented reality experience. Furthermore, ARCore's motion tracking utilizes the smartphone's camera to locate distinctive points within the environment, paving the way for more immersive interactions.

VisionLib serves as a versatile SDK for augmented reality tracking, functioning seamlessly across various platforms. Its advanced model tracking capabilities facilitate effortless 3D object tracking, catering to sophisticated AR applications and fundamental augmented reality scenarios. Users can enhance their experience by extending the context, augmenting objects, and seamlessly blending, overlaying, or pinning digital information onto the real world. The Model Tracking feature of VisionLib underpins a diverse array of AR applications that demand exceptional object recognition and accurate tracking, which play a crucial role in the digital transformation of industrial workflows. By revolutionizing our approach to work and education, augmented reality allows us to visualize concepts and elements that would otherwise be invisible. It effectively connects the digital realm with the physical world, providing essential information relevant to various tasks. Users can utilize CAD and 3D data for precise object tracking, as VisionLib supports an array of file formats. Additionally, VisionLib can be implemented as either a Unity or native plug-in, making it adaptable for integration into individual applications or comprehensive platforms, thus expanding its usability across different sectors. This flexibility ensures that developers can leverage its powerful features to create innovative solutions tailored to their specific needs.