Wallace Wang
Beginning ARKit for iPhone and iPadAugmented Reality App Development for iOS
Wallace Wang
San Diego, CA, USA
ISBN 978-1-4842-4101-1e-ISBN 978-1-4842-4102-8
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-4102-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018962490
© Wallace Wang 2018
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
Trademarked names, logos, and images may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, logo, or image we use the names, logos, and images only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights.
While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.
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This is book is dedicated to everyone who has an idea for an app but didn’t know what to do first or how to get started. First, believe in your idea. Second, trust that you have intelligence to achieve your dream even if you don’t know how you’ll get there. Third, keep learning and improving your skills all the time. Fourth, stay focused. Success will come one day as long as you persist and never give up on yourself.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1:​ Understanding Augmented Reality and ARKit 1
Augmented Reality on Mobile Devices 5
Introducing ARKit 7
System Requirements for ARKit 15
Summary 16
Chapter 2:​ Getting to Know ARKit 19
Understanding the Swift Source Code 25
Understanding the User Interface 29
Creating Augmented Reality with the Single View App Template 31
Summary 48
Chapter 3:​ World Tracking 49
Displaying the World Origin 50
Resetting the World Origin 57
Displaying Shapes at Coordinates 63
Adding and Removing Multiple Objects 67
Summary 78
Chapter 4:​ Working with Shapes 79
Displaying Different Geometric Shapes 83
Displaying Text 88
Adding Textures to Shapes 93
Changing the Transparency of Shapes 101
Drawing Shapes 105
Summary 112
Chapter 5:​ Working with Lights 113
Using Color, Intensity, and Temperature 114
Using a Spotlight 130
Summary 143
Chapter 6:​ Positioning Objects 145
Defining Relative Positions 145
Combining Geometric Shapes 155
Summary 162
Chapter 7:​ Rotating Objects 163
Rotating Objects Using Euler Angles 163
Relational Object Rotation 174
Summary 180
Chapter 8:​ Drawing on the Screen 181
Summary 202
Chapter 9:​ Adding Touch Gestures to Augmented Reality 205
Recognizing Touch Gestures 210
Identifying Touch Gestures on Virtual Objects 213
Identifying Swipe Gestures on Virtual Objects 219
Identifying Virtual Objects with Pan Gestures 223
Identifying Long Press Gestures on Virtual Objects 230
Adding Pinch and Rotation Gestures 232
Summary 238
Chapter 10:​ Interacting with Augmented Reality 239
Scaling with the Pinch Touch Gesture 244
Rotating with the Rotation Touch Gesture 248
Moving Virtual Objects with the Pan Gesture 254
Summary 260
Chapter 11:​ Plane Detection 261
Displaying Planes as Images 269
Placing Virtual Objects on a Horizontal Plane 281
Detecting Vertical Planes 290
Summary 297
Chapter 12:​ Physics on Virtual Objects 299
Applying Force on Virtual Objects 310
Colliding with Virtual Objects 317
Detecting Collisions 324
Summary 331
Chapter 13:​ Interacting with the Real World 333
Detecting Points in the Real World 345
Defining a Point in the Real World 352
Measuring Distance Between Virtual Objects 355
Summary 362
Chapter 14:​ Image Detection 365
Storing Images 369
Detecting Multiple Images 374
Displaying Information in Augmented Reality 379
Summary 389
Chapter 15:​ Displaying Video and Virtual Models 391
Displaying Virtual Objects in Mid-Air 393
Displaying Video on a Plane 399
Summary 405
Chapter 16:​ Image Tracking and Object Detection 407
Detecting Objects 418
Scanning an Object 418
Detecting Objects in an App 426
Summary 435
Chapter 17:​ Persistence 437
Saving a World Map 444
Loading a World Map 447
Clearing an Augmented Reality View 451
Summary 460
Appendix A:​ Converting 3D Model Files 461
Converting COLLADA (.​dae) to SceneKit (.​scn) 462
Convert 3D Models into a COLLADA (.​dae) File 463
Appendix B:​ Creating Virtual Objects Visually 469
Creating a SceneKit Assets Folder 470
Creating a SceneKit (.​scn) File 471
Adding Virtual Objects to a SceneKit (.​scn) File 473
Customizing Virtual Objects 475
Linking Virtual Objects 476
Displaying a SceneKit (.​scn) File in Augmented Reality 477
Index 479

About the Author and About the Technical Reviewer

About the Author

Wallace Wang

has written dozens of computer books over the years, beginning with ancient MS-DOS programs like WordPerfect and Turbo Pascal, migrating to writing books on Windows programs like Visual Basic and Microsoft Office, and finally switching to Swift programming for Apple products like the Macintosh and iPhone.

When he’s not helping people discover the joys of programming, he performs stand-up comedy and appears on two radio shows on KNSJ in San Diego ( http://knsj.org ) called “Notes From the Underground” (with Dane Henderson, Jody Taylor, and Kristen Yoder) and “Laugh In Your Face Radio” (with Chris Clobber, Sarah Burford, and Ikaika Patria).

He also writes a screenwriting blog called “The 15 Minute Movie Method” ( http://15minutemoviemethod.com ) and a blog about the latest cat news on the Internet called “Cat Daily News” ( http://catdailynews.com ).

 

About the Technical Reviewer

Wesley Matlock

is a published author of books about iOS technologies. He has more than 20 years of development experience in several different platforms. He first started doing mobile development on the Compaq iPaq in the early 2000s. Today, Wesley enjoys developing on the iOS platform and bringing new ideas to life for Major League Baseball in the Denver Metro area.