Instant World Tracking Best Practices

• Augmented Reality
• Instant World Tracking
• Mattercraft
• Tracking
• Tracking Types

The following best practices will help you to implement Instant World Tracking effectively in your experiences.

Creating an effective .zcomp

Creating an effective .zcomp will allow you to get the most out of your Mattercraft project. The following advice will go into more detail into how you may want to set up your .zcomp (Scene) for maximum benefit.

Developing anchor first

When positioning content in your experience, you should position anchor-first, rather than content-first. This means that your tracked content should be as close to the center of the InstantWorldTracker component as possible.

To move content along the x, y and z axes, you should start by manipulating the Instant Tracker’s CameraPreviewOffset parameters, not by positioning specific content (e.g. a mesh) x, y or z positions.

Positioning the content first could result in your content  ‘drifting’, or giving a somewhat unintentional parallax effect, which can appear as if content is unstable.

If it is a requirement to move content away from the center, try to keep it as centrally to to the tracker as possible.

Guiding the user

It is important to guide the user when they are using Augmented Reality experiences, as this may be a new technology for them. The below factors will aid you to allow users to get the maximum value with their time in your experience:

Provide clear instructions

Clearly communicate to users how they can interact with the AR experience and how to position the instant world tracked content correctly. This can be done on physical print, through on-screen instructions, tooltips, or an onboarding tutorial.

Some helpful instructions include:

• Place content on a matte, textured surface
• Reduce phone movement
• Keep a fair distance between your device and the tracked content

Consider the user’s environment

Different environmental factors can affect the experience. Try to control (or influence your user to control) factors such as the lighting or how much space the user has at the point of activation. For example, making sure that users are safe if they have to place content outside.

This article details Instant World Tracking; which does not require a complex understanding of the user's environment and allows users to place content without an initialisation phase. If you require an advanced understanding of the user's environment and thus an initialisation phase, we'd recommend using World Tracking.