Chapter 1, Augmented Reality Concepts and Tools, introduces the two major Augmented Reality approaches: sensor-based and computer vision-based Augmented Reality.

Chapter 2, Viewing the World, introduces you to the first basic step in building Augmented Reality applications: capturing and displaying the real world on your device.

Chapter 3, Superimposing the World, helps you use JMonkeyEngine to overlay high-fidelity 3D models over the physical world.

Chapter 4, Locating in the World, provides the basic building blocks to implement your own Augmented Reality browser using sensors and GPS.

Chapter 5, Same as Hollywood - Virtual on Physical Objects, explains you the power of the Vuforia^TM SDK for computer vision-based AR.

Chapter 6, Make It Interactive - Create the User Experience, explains how to make Augmented Reality applications interactive. Specifically, you will learn how to develop ray picking, proximity-based interaction, and 3D motion gesture-based interaction.

Chapter 7, Further Reading and Tips, introduces more advanced techniques to improve any AR application's development.

If you want to develop Augmented Reality applications for Android, you can share a majority of tools with regular Android developers. Specifically, you can leverage the power of the widely supported Android Developer Tools Bundle (ADT Bundle). This includes:

Besides this standard package common to many Android development environments, you will need:

If you are a mobile application developer for Android and want to get to the next level of mobile app development using Augmented Reality, then this book is for you. It is assumed that you are familiar with Android development tools and deployment. It is beneficial if you have experience on working with external libraries for Android, as we make use of JMonkeyEngine and the Vuforia^TM SDK. If you have already used the Android N, this is great but not mandatory.

In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles and an explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows: "Finally, you register your implementation of the Camera.PreviewCallback interface in the onSurfaceChanged() method of the CameraPreview class."

A block of code is set as follows:

public static Camera getCameraInstance() {
  Camera c = null;
  try {
    c = Camera.open(0);
  } catch (Exception e) { ...  }
  return c;
}

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in the text like this: "in the pop-up menu, go to Run As | 1 Android Application."

Feedback from our readers is always welcome. Let us know what you think about this book—what you liked or may have disliked. Reader feedback is important for us to develop titles that you really get the most out of.

To send us general feedback, simply send an e-mail to <[email protected]>, and mention the book title via the subject of your message.

If there is a topic that you have expertise in and you are interested in either writing or contributing to a book, see our author guide on www.packtpub.com/authors.

Now that you are the proud owner of a Packt book, we have a number of things to help you to get the most from your purchase.