Environment¶
Tracking on mobile devices¶
Contrary to headsets such as Hololens 2 or Magic Leap One, mobile devices are not equipped with infrared sensors. As such, their interpretation of a 3D environment is only based on the RGB information the camera gets.
That is why, in order to be sure that the tracking in Minsar will be acceptable on your mobile device, you have to keep in mind some characteristics of what makes a suitable tracking environment or not.
Guidelines¶
Make sure your environment is well-lit¶
As written above, your mobile device will rely entirely on the RGB information received by the camera to try and understand its environment. That is why it is fundamental for your environment to be well-lit.
Use distinct patterns and contrasts¶
If you use Minsar in a white-walled, white-floored room, your mobile device will certainly have a hard time knowing in which part of the room you want this virtual element to be, or that one. Indeed, the mobile device needs to get some bearings to decompose the room, some distinct patterns or contrast zones: furnitures in the room, patterns on the wall or on the floor.
Avoid mirrors or shiny surfaces¶
Mirrors and reflections will greatly confuse your mobile device. Indeed, it will first understand them as surfaces, like a wall or a table. But then, it will have a lot of trouble understanding why there seems to be other spaces within these surfaces, and the tracking will get very messy.
Don't hesitate to move¶
Think about it like this: you get hit in the head, and wake up in a dark place knowing absolutely nothing about where you are or what happened. What can you do to try and get your bearings? Well you will certainly get up and look around you, try to locate a window to determine how long you were unconsious, etc.
Indeed, your brain needs more information, that's why you have to move around so that your senses can pick up more data your brain can process. It is exactly the same thing with your mobile device: in order to help it locate itself and the virtual objects you want to place in your environment, you can move your device around. Don't move it too fast though, it could confuse it even more.
Avoid pointing at the floor¶
When you create a project, try not to point your mobile device at the floor, especially if you have just opened Minsar. At the creation of a project, you should point your device right in front of you, and move it slowly around you so that it can better understand the floor, the walls and the ceiling. It will then have enough data to get a sufficient knwoledge of your environment, and place the virtual objects accordingly inside.