Unity Technologies has launched Unity MARS to allow creators to build intelligent and location-aware augmented reality apps that completely integrate with and responds to the real world. The experiences created with this one-of-its-type authoring studio, which brings the environment and sensor data into the creative workflow, can work with any type of surrounding data.
With Unity MARS, the creators will be able to deliver digital content that appears to react to the real world. Timoni West, Director of Product, XR Tools, Unity Technologies says “We have recognized three main problems AR creators face, and we resolved them with Unity MARS.”
With this solution, AR creators can author data-oriented and complex apps visually and test developed experiences inside the Unity Editor. Let’s check out the unique features of this authoring studio:
Key Features of Unity MARS
Fuzzy Authoring
The new authoring studio for intelligent AR has gizmos for fuzzy authoring. It means you can utilize gizmos to set maximum and minimum values for the real-world objects without coding accurate measurements.
Responsive Visual Authoring
Unity MARS follows proxy-based workflow, where the procedural authoring system makes the use of proxies to characterize real-world actions, situations, and objects as a framework.
WYSIWYG Authoring Experience
The authoring studio comes up with a simulation view that helps creators to see, prototype, test, visualize, and experience apps exactly as they will run in the real world. AR creators can do this through a customized window that further has different tools and UI.
Smart Real-World Recognition
The query system included in the Unity MARS provides AR apps contextually related behavior by observing the user’s surroundings. You can look into any type of data, including location, semantic object, product, map, and more from any source to utilize in your augmented reality application.
Multiplatform AR Dev Framework
Unity MARS allows the developers to create their experience once and deploy across different AR platforms, which include Magic Leap, ARKit, Hololens devices, and AR Core by using AR foundation (a method to bring real-world understanding into this new authoring studio by Unity).
Test in the Unity Editor
After creating AR experience, the creators can now test it against different indoor or outdoor spaces or wherever you want it to work, without actually leaving the editor.
Responds Smartly to the Physical World
Unity MARS intelligently responds to the real world as you can use any kind (images, surfaces, etc.) of real data into your AR app.
Customized Building Blocks
Unity MARS offers Starter Templates, including real augmented reality use cases, to help you use this authoring studio. These cases also incorporate a training tutorial app that works with all the outdoor and indoor templates.
How to Purchase Unity MARS?
To purchase a Unity MARS plan, you need to have a Unity license with any plan. You can enjoy this authoring studio free for a period of 45 days and then you have to pay $50 per seat (paid monthly) or $600 per seat (prepaid) for the one-year subscription plan.
For more updates on new launches, stay tuned!