New Image Recognition SDK v2 and Augmented Reality SDK v3

We’ve released brand new versions of both the Image Recognition SDK and the Augmented Reality SDK.
Here are the most important new features:

1. Faster Cloud Image Recognition with our recently deployed global infrastructure. 2. Attach Augmented Reality content to the screen. 3. Continue rendering Augmented Reality content when the reference object moves outside of the field of view. 4. Full support for 64-bit architectures on iOS.

Image Recognition uses the new global server infrastructure

The new version of the SDK seamlessly connects to our new global server infrastructure. We’ve rebuilt our architecture to support multiple regions. By accessing the server closest to each individual smartphone running your app, the response time of each Image Recognition request can be reduced by half.

Response time from the US to the CraftAR service measured by independent service Pingdom.com

Attach Augmented Reality experiences to the screen

Specific to the Augmented Reality SDK, we’ve introduced a new feature that allows the user to attach the AR content to the screen instead of the real-world object.

In a regular Augmented Reality experience, the content is attached to the reference object from the real world when your app is augmenting the scene. While tracking the real-world object, the user can move around and interact with the Augmented Reality experience from different viewpoints.

Depending on the application, it may be handy to attach the contents to the screen so the user can move away from the reference object. For instance, sometimes the user wants to lean backwards into her sofa to continue browsing through the content. Adding this flexibility to your apps improves the user experience.

This functionality is available programmatically through the SDK. You can choose to keep the same angle as when it got lost or even set a different viewpoint manually.

Continue rendering AR content when the reference object moves away

Also specific to the Augmented Reality SDK, we’ve introduced a new feature that allows you to control the behavior of the AR content whenever the tracking is lost.

Depending on the application, you may want to offer seamless experiences for the user even if she moves away from the reference object. Typically, this happens because the user points the device in another direction and the reference object is no longer visible by the camera.

This functionality is available programmatically through the SDK. The SDK sends notifications when the tracking is lost. This allows you to attach the experience (as described above) and continue rendering it.

Support for 64 bits

Starting February 1st, Apple will no longer approve apps that do not support 64-bits and that are built with the iOS 8 SDK. With this requirement in mind, and with the objective of supporting the most common chip architectures out there, we’ve added arm64 to the family of ARM architectures supported to date.

Changes in the names of classes for both SDKs

Starting with these versions, we’ve renamed the classes in the SDK to better reflect their connection with our CraftAR Service. The classes are now called CraftARxxx.

With new versions of the SDK, we’re adding more and more functionalities to items, which are not only related to Cloud Image Recognition. From now on, CloudRecognitionItem class is now called CraftARItem.