Premises for creating a modern AR content standard

AR apps are currently at a very early development stage, but even relatively simple apps, which render simple objects, create a WOW-effect. Meanwhile, it’s clear that in the years to come, the complexity of AR apps and the requirements for them will grow very quickly.

The existing paradigm of 3D-app creation involves a complete preliminary upload of 3D-content to the device. It is the consequence of the fact that the engines that are now used for developing AR apps were created as engines for game creation, which are characterized by the presence of all uploaded resources from the outset (all of a game’s files are already on a user’s device at launch time). The world of augmented reality, the world we’re all dreaming of seeing, requires an entirely different approach. It requires continuous interaction with the surrounding space, the scale of which is unlimited.

The revolutionary nature of the Spheroid Universe platform is in the capability of infinitely streaming AR content to mobile devices.

Technically, the streaming quality (AR content detail elaboration) will be determined by the internet connection bandwidth, as well as processor power and the mobile phone’s graphic subsystem. AR streaming works via the progressive upload of AR content and its immediate rendering in the first seconds, without waiting for the entire scene to download, while managing its quality parameters (detail elaboration, use of textures, objects of various polygonal complexity) depending on the conditions under which this AR content is rendered.

As a fundamental feature of an AR app, AR streaming should be implemented on the platform level. This is the premise for the creation of a new type of 3D models, and one of the reasons to design and develop the proprietary Spheroid Universe environment.

Other crucial factors that require a proprietary programming environment include:

From the technical viewpoint:

• The environment should combine maximum ease for novices, and full low-level control for professional programmers

  • The products created on the platform should possess the following characteristics:

    • Cross-platform characteristics

    • Energy efficiency

    • High performance rate, close to native

    • Quick launch, minimal time from launch to beginning of AR content rendering.

From the conceptual point of view:

The platform has a need to resolve the issues of protection of the AR product developers’ intellectual property rights.

For that purpose, the platform is integrating a developing environment, a worker marketplace and an advertising subsystem into a unified space. As a result, it will obtain synergetic results unavailable to other platforms. For instance, it will be possible to create unique models of AR content distribution – automatic calculation of payouts to all AR content creators, depending on its commercial success.

The specifications for platform protocols will be published, supported and backward compatibility will be ensured.

The software development environment will have open source code and will be available to any company or developer to use for the purpose of creating independent products and participating in the advancement of the existing ones.