What are the best practices for using AR in your career development?

Augmented Reality is a brand new field and there are tremendous career opportunities in this nascent market. It's vital to pick the right technology to specialize in and to decide where your passion lies. Unity is the dominant technology in the space, but GingerXR and a few other open source alternatives are starting to gain traction.

In the AR career development, I have used Unity which one of the best for making a AR projects. AR is a very fast growing field so for the carrer development every day makes a good AR project. Right platform for AR is mobile devices and laptops , tables which you can easily access of every place and that's a always in budget, and For the mobile devices ARcore - Android, ARkit - IOS for the use. Which you can easily access and easily operate the AR and its works very smooth with good quality AR.

AR is still growing. Although we have made progress, we are not at the stage where we have true AR smart glasses. On the other hand, almost every individual has a smartphone at all times. Targeting the right user base can be crucial and smartphones are an easy choice to develop for. It can help you reach a wide range of users. People have also been introduced to AR through filters and apps like PokemonGo. Handhelds are accessible, widespread, and people are more likely to learn the AR functionalities faster.

Selecting the right platform for developing AR applications involves careful consideration of various factors. Firstly, assess your target audience and intended devices – whether it's iOS, Android, or cross-platform. Evaluate the platform's AR development support, considering frameworks like ARKit (iOS) and ARCore (Android). Additionally, weigh the development community support and resources available for each platform. Consider your project's scale and complexity, as some platforms may better suit specific requirements. Ultimately, a thorough analysis of factors such as ease of development, device compatibility, and community support will guide you towards choosing the most suitable platform for your AR application development.

I had beta tested many types of AR training systems to be used in colleges and universities. I have found that in forklift safety training the use of VR-Virtual Reality has helped better train individuals in driving equipment such as forklift, pallet jack, scissor lift trucks. It aids to develop muscle memory but VR Tools are always used with conjunction with hands on training with actual equipment. VR-virtual reality tools helps to train in forklift safety, mistakes in VR cause no damage, but people learn from quicker. As a "subject matter expert in supply chain management" I encourage the use of these tools 100%. Sincerely, Bill Stankiewicz.

Augmented Reality (AR) should be inherently platform-agnostic, yet it's beneficial to have diverse platforms that cater to different creation needs. Some platforms could enable quick and easy development of AR experiences, ideal for straightforward projects. On the other hand, more intricate platforms could be suited for developing detailed and sophisticated AR campaigns over a longer period. This approach ensures that the choice of platform is always aligned with the specific requirements and complexity of the user's project.

It’s not just about choosing the right hardware platform but understanding the software side as well such as IDE’s, sdks and environments you’ll need to become familiar with to develop your experiences. Be prepared to adapt to different dev environments, and learn the differences in implementation that come with them. Most will have some similarities in feature sets and process, but there will also be a slightly different approach or even quality or result that you may take into account with experience. Influencing your final decision.

Choosing the right platform is very important. For me, when I started, I did not have enough resources to buy the best XR devices out there, but what I had is my phone that could run Augmented Reality. I started my AR career from there, and it has taken me far. The most important thing is to start with the limitations. Start with what you have, and over time, you can get the best XR devices for your needs.

Augmented Reality (AR) can be a valuable tool for career development, helping you enhance skills, showcase your work. Here are some best practices for using AR in your career development: Skill Enhancement: Familiarize yourself with popular AR frameworks such as ARKit, ARCore, or Unity AR Foundation. Networking and Collaboration: Attend AR-focused events, conferences, and meetups to network with professionals in the field. Continuous Learning: Stay informed about the latest AR trends. Professional Development Apps: Explore AR applications designed for professional development. Stay Creative: Use AR creatively to express your ideas. Stay Adaptable: Stay adaptable and open to learning new tools and methodologies.

One thing that I used to develop AR content is the usage of AR content development tools like Unity. It helps in the creation of good content. These tools also come with prefabs and assets which can reused in our content.

I would take a look at where AR content you have been consuming and see what you can do to make one. For me, I got started with Unity but then I saw many people posting filters on Instagram which I use frequently. That led me to use SparkAR, a platform that allows you to create AR filters on both Instagram and Meta. I have been making filters on SparkAR and a year ago I started working in EffectHouse for TikTok filters since they are quite translatable. I would encourage you to start with one application and once you are familiar with it, other platforms would be quite similar in terms of the interface design and function.

"Practice Makes Man Perfect!!" This proverb is also applicable in AR content generation. It would be best to practice using AR tools with its facilities to create a masterpiece in AR. To create advanced scenes, explore the tool with the provided UI and then learn to write scripts for it.

The opportunities for building a career in AR are dynamic. With applications across diverse hardware, your proficiency in terms of the tech stack can vary, too. Now the approach to applying your skill highly depends upon: - Your target audience - Your current experience and command of development tools - Your primary area of interest As a beginner, adopting a focused approach can effectively showcase your budding expertise. However, a general approach is to: 1. Choose your area of expertise (e.g., mobile or web AR). 2. Master the essential components like ARCore and Three.js. 3. Contribute to open-source micro-projects or build your own. 4. Be creative to solve real-world problems. 5. Develop an interactive AR-based portfolio.

In my experience attending meetups, conferences and workshops will help a lot to get more ideas about AR skills, AR developments, products, businesses and networks. I attended #IGDC2023 which gave more clearer picture of the gaming industry and AR-VR not only in India but around the Globe.

AR is constantly changing and there are new technology developed daily. I would recommend following Newsletters like TLDR and ARInsider to get the most up-to-date trend information.

I started learning AR in mobile apps by using tools like Reality Composer and few models in Unity. There are more tools like Vuforia, etc to apply your advanced model and features. As a part of career development, AR can be used in problem solving applications, learn it and try to explore more solutions with AR. Participate in Hackathons and other Tech Fest, explore your AR demos that may give you an new opportunity.

I think you cannot grow in your AR career if you do not keep up with AR trends. You might say that does not make sense, but it does. Without knowing what is happening in the AR world, how would you know the best tools to deliver a particular experience? Most time, you can gain new ways of implementing an experience or even know that it is possible to build an experience from the news and AR trends you follow. So, it is critical to keep up with AR trends if you want to take your AR career seriously.

I experienced very interesting programs in html5 which supported AR. Do try them. It needs no installation neither it needs learning new programming language or tool.