Build a Marker Tracking Experience

Construction of an AR experience using image or marker tracking

Introduction

This guide walks you through the process of building a basic scene using marker tracking or image tracking feature of WebAR SDK. The marker images can be tracked using the mobile app developed using WebAR SDK.

New attribute webar-marker="id: 123-xyz" can be added to an Aframe <a-entity> to display a 3D model on a marker/image surface.

Procedure

Follow the below steps to build a basic scene using marker tracking:

Add marker

Login to the HUB.
Click ‘Add Marker’ from ‘Your Licenses’ tab as shown in the image below

You will be redirected to a page where you can browse or upload the marker. You can also auto-generate a marker which will provide a sample marker for testing the tracking.

Click ‘Browse and Upload’ markers
Choose the desired marker you wish to upload
You can alternatively ‘Drag and Drop’ the marker as shown in the image above, or you can autogenerate a marker.
Up to 10 marker images can be tracked one at a time

Click Confirm
The marker is added to the project.

Manage Markers

The markers can be managed from the ‘Manage markers’ section once the user adds 1 or more markers. Manage markers section will include the following options:

Browse and upload up to 10 markers
Delete the uploaded markers
Download the uploaded markers
Autogenerate markers

Procedure to Manage Markers

Login to the HUB.
Select the specific license for which a marker has been added.
Click on 'Manage Markers' as shown below:

Browse and Upload Markers

Click ‘Browse and upload’ markers or alternatively ‘drag and drop’ desired marker in the section as shown in below image:

Delete Uploaded Markers

The uploaded markers can be seen in the ‘Manage Marker’ section
Click on the bin icon to delete an uploaded marker as shown in the image below:

You will get a pop-up to confirm the delete action.

Click 'Yes' to confirm the delete action.
The uploaded marker will get deleted.

Download Markers

Login to the HUB.
Select the specific license for which a marker has been added.
Click on 'Manage Markers' as shown below:

Click on the 'Download icon' next to the 'Bin' icon as shown below:

The specific marker is downloaded.

Build A Basic Marker Tracking Experience

New attribute webar-marker="id: 123-xyz" can be added to an Aframe <a-entity> to display a 3D model on a marker/image surface.

To track the uploaded markers using WebAR SDK follow the below steps:

While loading WebAR SDK script and integrating it, add this new attribute:

<script src="https://aframe.io/releases/1.3.0/aframe.min.js"></script>

<!-- Step 1: Include WebAR SDK script -->
<script src="../webar-sdk-v2.0.3.min.js"
  webar-mode="marker-tracking"></script>

When webar-mode="marker-tracking" attribute is added to the script tag, WebAR SDK will run in marker tracking mode instead of surface tracking.
SDK will run in marker tracking mode instead of surface tracking

From Webar SDK v1.1.0-beta and above, A-frame script has to be included separately
Supports A-frame version 1.3.0

To map a marker image to the <a-scene webar-scene> follow the below steps:

Click the copy icon next to the 'License Key' information to copy the marker ID from the ‘Manage Marker’ section as shown in the image below:

Create a parent <a-entity webar-marker> under <a-scene webar-scene>
Paste the Marker ID as shown in the below attribute

<a-entity webar-marker="id: b3ed7e4c-7423-44c0-8af1-63567b27a1e9">

To add more markers IDs replicate the above steps.

Mapping Marker ID with a 3D model:

To display a 3D model on an image surface, create a child <a-entity> under <a-entity webar-marker>
For example, we use gltf-model in the child <a-entity> element.

<a-entity gltf-model="#testmodel1" id="testmodel_1" rotation="90 0 0" position="0 0 0" scale="5 5 5" 
webar-loadmonitor="elType: glb"></a-entity>

Full Source Attributes

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<link rel="shortcut icon" href="#" />
<title>STAGE DEV: Blippar WebAR SDK</title>

<script src="https://aframe.io/releases/1.3.0/aframe.min.js"></script>

<!-- Step 1: Include WebAR SDK script -->
<script src="../webar-sdk-v2.0.3.min.js"
webar-mode="marker-tracking"
auto-init="false"
auto-start="true"
logo-src="images/test_logo_here.png"
logo-width="116px"
logo-height="116px"
progress-dot-ring-scale="0.30"
progress-dot-ring-color="#00AAFF"
progress-ring-scale="0.36"
progress-ring-color="#00FFFF"
progress-ring-line-width="5"

alert-border-color="#00FFFF"
alert-border-width="5px"
alert-background-color="#283747"
alert-message-text-color="#00AAFF"
alert-button-color="#00FFFF"
alert-button-text-color="#283747"
alert-button-height="50px"
alert-camera-permission-text="We need to ask for access to the camera so this experience can work!!!"
alert-camera-permission-button-text="No Problem"
alert-motion-permission-text="Now we need access to motion sensors!!!"
alert-motion-permission-button-text="No Problem"
alert-box-width="290px"
alert-box-height="182px"
alert-box-font-size="24px"

ui-background-color="#283747"
ui-text-color="#00FFFF"
desktop-logo-src="images/test_desktop_logo.png"
desktop-logo-width="108px"
desktop-logo-height="30px"
issue-img-src="images/test_issue_img.png"
issue-img-width="116px"
issue-img-height="116px"
show-guide-view="true"

auto-marker-detection="true"
auto-scan-instruction="Look for a marker to scan..."
auto-scan-instruction-detect="Detecting..."
auto-scan-instruction-idle="Move around to look for a marker"
auto-scan-instruction-text-style="color: orange"
auto-scan-style="display: none; position: absolute; top: 90%; left: 50%; transform: translate(-50%, -50%); z-index: 10000; width: auto; height: auto; text-align: center;"
auto-scan-style-display="block"
scan-btn-width="100"
scan-btn-height="100"
scan-btn-display="block"
scan-btn-instruction="Tap to scan"
scan-btn-instruction-style="color: white"
scan-btn-img-src="images/user_scan-btn-image_here.png"
scan-btn-img-width="50"
scan-btn-img-height="50"
scan-btn-img-x-coordinate="50%"
scan-btn-img-y-coordinate="50%"
scan-btn-img-transform="translate(-25, -25)"
scan-btn-progress-circle-cx-coordinate="50"
scan-btn-progress-circle-cy-coordinate="50"
scan-btn-progress-circle-radius="35"
scan-btn-progress-circle-style="fill: none; stroke: cyan; stroke-width: 6;"
scan-btn-progress-bar-cx-coordinate="50"
scan-btn-progress-bar-cy-coordinate="50"
scan-btn-progress-bar-radius="35"
scan-btn-progress-bar-transform="rotate(-90 50 50)"
scan-btn-progress-bar-color="blue"></script>
</head> 
<body>

<!-- Step 2: Add webar-scene attribute to AFrame's <a-scene> tag -->
<!-- Provide a valid Blippar license-key value in the key: property -->
<a-scene
webar-scene="key: 5439e9a1-c035-4eb0-a1a6-ebfb98273b33"
vr-mode-ui="enabled: false"
device-orientation-permission-ui="enabled: false"
loading-screen="enabled: false"
renderer="colorManagement: true;">

<!-- Step 3: Add webar-camera attribute to AFrame's <a-entity camera> tag -->
<a-camera webar-camera></a-camera>

<a-assets timeout="60000">
<a-asset-item id="testmodel1" src="models/MaterialsVariantsShoe.glb"></a-asset-item>
<a-asset-item id="testmodel2" src="models/astronaut.glb"></a-asset-item>
</a-assets>

<!-- Step 4: Add webar-marker attribute with a valid marker id value(obtained from Blippar hub), to AFrame's parent <a-entity> tag -->
<!-- The models defined as a child element under this webar-marker id, will be displayed on the marker image during marker image tracking -->
<a-entity webar-marker="id: b3ed7e4c-7423-44c0-8af1-63567b27a1e9">
<!-- Step 5: Add AR models under the webar-marker nodes -->
<!-- Add webar-loadmonitor attribute to the entities to display loading progress screen before starting the surface tracking -->
<!-- Refer API:Attributes documentation for more details -->
<a-entity gltf-model="#testmodel1" id="testmodel_1" rotation="90 0 0" position="0 0 0" scale="5 5 5" webar-loadmonitor="elType: glb"></a-entity>
</a-entity>

<!-- Step 6: Add another webar-marker attribute with a valid marker id to another parent <a-entity> tag -->
<a-entity webar-marker="id: 7a9ca8e2-bf27-44c1-828d-6bca876bb7a7">
<a-entity gltf-model="#testmodel2" id="testmodel_2" rotation="0 0 0" position="0 -0.5 0" scale="0.25 0.25 0.25" webar-loadmonitor="elType: glb"></a-entity>
</a-entity>

</a-scene>

<!-- Refer API:Functions documentation for more details -->
<script>
WEBARSDK.Init();

// Give a callback when the WebAR Stage <a-entity webar-stage> is ready to display the 3d object
WEBARSDK.SetMarkerDetectedCallback((markerId) => {
  console.log('Marker is detected for marker id: ', markerId);
});

WEBARSDK.SetMarkerLostCallback((markerId) => {
  console.log('Marker tracking is lost for marker id: ', markerId);
});
</script>
</body>
</html>

To switch between auto marker detection and manual marker detection

By default, auto scan mode is enabled i.e. auto-marker-detection = 'true'. You may switch back to manual marker detection by setting auto-marker-detection = 'false'.