What’s new and exciting for ARKit?

At WWDC 2024, Apple introduced several exciting updates for ARKit, particularly for visionOS. Here are the key highlights:

1. Room Tracking: A new feature that allows apps to customize experiences based on the room they are in. This can enhance the spatial understanding of the environment.
2. Plane Detection: Updates to plane detection improve the ability to recognize and interact with surfaces in the real world.
3. Object Tracking: A new capability that helps create interactive visualizations for real-world items. This can be particularly useful for precise placement of virtual content on physical objects.
4. World Tracking: Enhancements have been made to make world tracking more robust under various lighting conditions.
5. Hand Tracking: Improvements in hand tracking include display-aligned hand anchor updates for gesture detection and drawing smooth strokes, as well as hand predictions for attaching content to hands with minimal latency.

For a detailed overview, you can watch the session Create enhanced spatial computing experiences with ARKit (00:57).

Additionally, RealityKit has been updated to support these new ARKit features, making it easier to build immersive and interactive 3D content across macOS, iOS, and iPadOS. For more on RealityKit, you can check out the session Platforms State of the Union (42:32).

Relevant Sessions:

1. Create enhanced spatial computing experiences with ARKit
2. Platforms State of the Union
3. Build a spatial drawing app with RealityKit
4. Compose interactive 3D content in Reality Composer Pro
5. Explore object tracking for visionOS