Augmented Reality authoring tools for technical communicators

Although still a nascent field, there are over 30 purpose-built tools and platforms for authoring Augmented Reality (AR) experiences. Which tool is most suitable will depend on your existing authoring workflows and the use cases for which you aim to create AR support. Here is an overview of the options currently available.

Text by Christine Perey

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Augmented Reality authoring tools for technical communicators

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How AR works

All AR authoring platforms produce outputs composed of trigger data, presentation data and interactions – sometimes referred to as "scenes". When projects are published, the group of scenes will provide users with the AR experiences. When turned on, the software client extracts features in the user’s environment (captured on video through a camera or sensors) and recognizes one or more targets. Once the target is recognized, an event is triggered and the client software (also known as the "execution engine") retrieves presentation data from a media service interface and presents it in real time and in context to the user.

Depending on the choice of authoring system, the developer will be able to publish individual projects (e.g. a mobile app) or enable content retrieval in a manner that will provide on-demand AR experiences from an enterprise CMS. Regardless of whether the ...