Embedding Lightship in native iOS/Android apps

Hi there,

we are currently developing an app with Lightship ARDK, and will need to figure out how to implement the AR features into our app. So far, our plan is to offer a UI and frontend with react/Ionic, communicating via an API with the backend, and only when the user chooses to, should the AR be enabled and the view switched from the UI to the camera feed.

Has anyone tried to embed a Lightship Scene into a proper app yet?
If so, how did you manage building for iOS/Android separatley?
Are there any unexpected difficulties (with Unity in general)?
Is there going to be a guide/tutorial by Lightship on how to embed it into other apps?
Has anyone experienced with the capabilities of the Unity UI? Is it sufficient to develop a proper UI?

I am aware that this isnt really a Feature Request, but I dont know where I else I should post this question.

Thanks!

Hi Josef,

Please refer to the AR Voyage document, which provides a good starting point for you. Basically, this is the Lightship Demo Sample which is an example of a full ARDK app that uses several ARDK features.

You can develop an app with Lightship ARDK, please consider going through the terms of service beforehand located at Niantic Lightship Developer Platform Terms of Service and License Agreement – Niantic Lightship.

In addition, there is also a minimum OS version requirement for using ARDK features. You can check out our Runtime Requirements documentation for more information on that.

Good luck on your ARDK journey. Thanks.

Hi @Josef_Waschlab,

I don’t know about react/Ionic, but you should be able to run Lightship within an Unity Activity launched from a native app. Take a look here Unity - Manual: Using Unity as a Library in other applications I have tested it on Android and it works.

Regards

Ahh wonderful!
Thank you

Have you tested it on iOS too? I tried iOS but somehow the app seems to crash when ARDK is added using a library.

No, I didn’t tested it on iOS yet, but I would like to do it soon.

If you are able to solve your issue, please, post the solution here. It might help me or others.

A little note on embedding a Lighship Unity project in a native application (in my case ReactNative).

  • Export the project and add it into XCode
  • Follow the steps in “iOS” from this git repo GitHub - azesmway/react-native-unity
  • in XCode under your native Application - General - Frameworks, Libraries … add the libraries
    ardk_client_platform.framework
    infinitam.framework
    You should be able to find them under your Projects Build folder Frameworks - ARDK - Plugins - unity_exports - ardk_client_platform - Plugins - iOS

Include these and remove the same libraries from native Application - Build Phases - Link Binary with Libraries

Hope this helps

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