Starting on the next release

On my project board for the next release is adding some options for perspective correction, this will probably be simple at first, just the current straight grid and a fast perspective correction, that can be set by individual layer. I’ve got the basics in place and should have that done in a day or so.

I also want to get rid of the current layer table view, it doesn’t really provide any benefit apart from changing the layer order, it would make more sense to show all the mapping layer geometries so users can instantly pick the layer they want to work with. I’ll add a different facility to change the ordering, just some move up/down buttons would do the trick.

I’ve still got a ton of ideas for new sources, usability and other features, I’ve probably got months and months of new updates to come! As usual, if you have any ideas, do let me know!

Next release almost there

Just putting the final touches to my next release, the new crop feature is in and working beautifully, there’s some better support for retina screens and a major bug has been fixed. You can now also use the same source as the source for a layer and it’s mask. I don’t know why I prevented that…

I’ll be submitting the new version for review hopefully today or tomorrow, I have to update all my screenshots for the app store and website to reflect some new GUI changes and it will take a while to go through every screen size and edit them appropriately.

Future features and changes

Making good progress on my next update for iOS, big new functionality update for that one will be the ability to crop sources, so they can be spanned across multiple surfaces, among other things.

Future improvements coming very soon (1-2 months)
I’ll be changing the layers view, the current table format isn’t the greatest way to see your layout. It will probably change to something like the geometry editor so the whole layout can be done in one screen.
Better perspective handling for layers.
Remove the standard Apple image and video picker, currently it can play havoc with connected displays by trying to be helpful, I’ve raised a bug report with Apple on it’s undocumented features but who knows if they’ll fix it?

Longer term plans and ideas
iPad users, I’ll be making improvements to better use the screen real estate over time.
Audio reactive sources/effects, lot of people like these.
Some sort of control center to better control the sources in one place.

And of course, with every update, bugs and annoyances will be fixed and addressed

If you have any thoughts or ideas, don’t hesitate to contact me!

Next update news

Just about to start adding an excellent major new feature for iOS, but it may take me a little longer than normal as it will take quite a bit of work to implement and rework the GUI, more news soon. I might also combine it with another change to the GUI to make geometry editing more intuitive.

More soon

Website updates and app news

Giving the app a break for a few days after the last release, I took some time to do some SEO updates to my website, it’s now getting much better search results, but I think I’ll be making quite a few changes in the near future to focus more on the iOS app. I’ve made the front page a bit clearer on the key points of The Reality Augmenter, we’ve now got a nice search description instead of the gibberish search result we got before, the app store description has been focused too.

I’m updating my other social media accounts, bringing them all under a single identity, I will be adding more media of the app in action, tutorial videos etc, they’re a bit thin on the ground at the moment and I think newcomers still struggle to understand what the tool does if not already familiar with projection mapping.

While the app takes a back seat for a week or so, it’s not that I don’t still have lot’s of features and improvements to add. I’m currently also prioritising new features and improvements, there’s some big stuff to come to really make the Reality Augmenter a powerful tool to challenge full featured desktop apps. While the Reality Augmenter probably won’t be as full featured as something like mad mapper, it will be a simple and powerful projection mapping tool for everyone, and hopefully, the very best you can get on a mobile device.

Version 1.5 out now, now supports Google Cast

Yep, new version of the reality augmenter is now out, now has Google Cast support! I wanted more ways to connect to a projector, while Apple’s adapters are OK, you still need the iPhone connected to the Projector. My app already supported Airplay, but not much supports that.

I started to look at Google cast, checked out the Chromecast and got one, it really is a fantastic little thing, and ideal for connecting to a projector to control remotely from your iPhone. It’s only ten chf more than Apple’s own adapter, offers the same functionality, has it’s own apps, is wireless and it’s tiny. I’m pretty excited about the possibilities, it makes playing around with projection mapping so much easier, slap a chromcast on a projector, leaving you to put the projector anyhere you like, and control from the iphone, all completely portable.

Other changes in this release include some substantial work on the rendering pipeline for a 10-20% performance gain, this included some sorting for more efficient object creation and drawing cycles, removal of redundant calls, removed aplha blending moved the work to shaders and some fixes where textures and drawables were larger than they should have been. I’ve made hot plugging and switching between the various connectedable devices much more reliable and finally in/out of background works better.