ARKit 2 opens up a new world of possibilities in LEGO's AR app
Dive into the fun
As we saw yesterday, WWDC 2018 had a big emphasis on improving Apple's AR technology. To surprise us all LEGO's Director of Innovation, Martin Sanders, took to the stage to talk us through their upcoming project.
With the announcement of ARKit 2, the new LEGO AR app incorporates the features boasted in yesterday's Keynote, including 3D object detection and shared experience. Sanders started off by checking out a physical LEGO set with an iPad. The set quickly burst to life in AR and became something you could interact with digitally.
When in use with the app, the LEGO structure suddenly comes to life as characters and buildings burst into frame. LEGO-folks can be interacted with, special characters can be added, and you can be joined by up to four friends for simultaneous play.
One of its cooler features is that you can open up buildings, peeking inside at what its residents are getting up to. In the case of the demo, a baker accidentally set his shop on fire so it was all very exciting. Firetrucks, helicopters, you name it.
Once you're done you can save your progress and pick up right where you left off the next time you play.