Developer Epic Games released version 4.20 of Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) that provides developers with, among a slew of quality of life enhancements, support for Mixed Reality (MR) capture and enhanced Augmented Reality (AR) support for Apple’s ARKit 2.0 and Google’s ARCore 1.2, and official support for the Magic Leap One AR Glasses.
Mixed Reality Capture
Previously only available as a third-party plugin, Unreal 4.20 now allows native capture of their MR experiences through Mixed Reality Capture within the engine to composite users on a green screen into a virtual environment for spectators to watch. With the aid of a Vive Tracker or other similar tracking devices, Mixed Reality Capture matches you camera location to the in-game camera to make the experience more dynamic and interesting. Epic Games notes that Mixed Reality Capture is still in early access and is looking for any and feedback to improve it.
Further AR Support
For AR developers on UE4, there is now official support for ARKit 2.0 and ARCore 1.2 for easier experience development. The official updates are as follows:
Mixed Reality Capture in action. Source: Epic Games.
Apple ARKit 2.0
- Better tracking quality
- Support for vertical plane detection
- Face tracking
- 2D image detection
- 3D object detection
- Persistent AR experiences
- Shared AR experiences
Google ARCore 1.2
- Vertical plane detection
- Augmented Images
- Cloud Anchors
Magic Leap One Early Access Support
Magic Leap One: Creator Edition. Source: Magic Leap
Following up on their announcement from GDC, Epic now has integrated support for the Magic Leap One AR glasses with UE4. Developers can now use UE4’s built in frameworks for camera control, world meshing, motion controllers, forward and deferred rendering, eye tracking, and gestures. Those who are interested in developing for Magic Leap can download its SDK and simulator at developer.magicleap.com.
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