For weeks 12 and 13, our class is having presentations about up and coming technologies related to augmented and virtual reality. Many spoke about different virtual reality experiences, such as mazes or video game best sellers that were later optimized for virtual reality, but one of the presentations that caught my eye was Adobe’s new software: Adobe Aero.
Adobe Aero just released its iOS application for free on November 9th, and its desktop software in Adobe Creative Cloud is currently in beta. Having an iPhone, I was able to download the application and play with it. It provides an easy tutorial and some basic 3D models for you to play around with. What’s interesting is that it also gives you the option to “program” the 3D models. By adding a 3D model to your AR scene and then selecting it, you have the option to make the 3D models have certain behaviors when you touch the augmented figure on your smartphone’s screen or when the camera gets within a certain proximity which you can define. On these triggers, you can make the 3D model hide, spin, rotate, or whatever you choose on the behavior menu.
The limitation of the mobile app is that the number of behaviors as limited, and there are only three types of triggers: on start, on touch, and when the camera is at a certain proximity. Yes, you can change the duration of certain actions, the distance of the proximity, or how high something jumps, but the tools aren’t quite as robust as I expected. Adobe software usually has a very high degree of freedom in the tools that they create.
Overall, the Adobe Aero app worked well. it loaded up very quickly and I didn’t notice any lag or frame drops. However, I eventually got old of the selection of free 3D models and the behaviors aren’t anything particularly special. There aren’t many animated models, nor are there any special particle effects. Yes, the application is free, but your creative freedom is stunted as an ordinary person. I don’t think Adobe meant for the mobile application to be robust, but to instead give people a chance to experiment with creating their own augmented reality scenes.
What’s interesting, however, is that the application provides you with the ability to import files from your phone. I was able place photos from my camera roll into the scene, allowing me to make a fun, augmented photo gallery. For people who already use Adobe’s Creative Cloud collection of software, they can import files into the scene. I don’t have anything artistic to share from Creative Cloud, so my creativity was limited. However, artists have clearly already been able to make interesting creations of their own because Adobe’s Instagram account dedicated to AR, adobe3dar, is already showcasing the creations people have already made with the Adobe Aero iOS application.
What I’m more excited about is the actual desktop version of Adobe Aero. Adobe has a great reputation of making well thought out, well executed software. I expect that Adobe Aero will join Photoshop, Illustrator, and the many other software in Adobe’s Creative Cloud library. I know that Aero will bring augmented reality to a much broader range of people who won’t have to worry about the programming or other technical aspects of creating augmented reality experiences. I have high expectations for the desktop version of this application, and I expect that people will create incredible augmented reality experiences.