Softpedia >Windows >Programming >SDK/DDK >Vuforia SDK >  Changelog

Vuforia SDK Changelog

What's new in Vuforia SDK 10.21.3

Feb 8, 2024
  • Bugfixes / Features:
  • Session Recorder:
  • Removed deprecated XML playback capability from FileDiver. Please use MP4 recordings instead.
  • Other:
  • The content of the Core.h header has been split into separate dedicated headers: Basic.h, CameraIntrinsics.h, Geometry.h and Image.h. For code not using the VuforiaEngine.h umbrella header this will become a build breaking change if they continue to rely on Core.h to include this functionality.
  • The separate headers are included into Core.h for a transition period.
  • The Core.h header will be removed in an upcoming Vuforia Engine release.
  • Clients are advised to move to including one or more of the separate headers directly to avoid breaking builds in the future.
  • Android:
  • Added a new error code to indicate when the ARCore Platform Fusion Provider info (retrieved by the vuPlatformControllerGetARCoreInfo function) has been invalidated. The behavior of vuPlatformControllerGetARCoreInfo has been changed so that it will fail in the following conditions:
  • Attempting to call it from within a Vuforia Engine callback.
  • When Vuforia Engine is not running.
  • Unity:
  • Added support for Universal Render Pipeline (URP) in Unity. On import, the Vuforia Unity Extension will automatically configure resources to match the project type.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented building a project that includes Vuforia Engine with Unity using Xcode 15.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented importing both the Core Samples and the VFX Library into a single Unity project.

New in Vuforia SDK 10.20.3 (Jan 10, 2024)

  • Bugfixes / Features:
  • Area Targets:
  • The activation of large Area Targets has been optimized to allow for faster initial relocalization.
  • Model Targets:
  • The training speed of Advanced Model Targets was increased by up to 40%.
  • Improved performance of initial detection in DEFAULT and LOW_FEATURE_OBJECTS modes in certain situations.
  • Fixed an issue with the Model Target Mesh Observer where multiple VuMeshBlocks with the same VuMesh were not reported properly.
  • Fixed an issue where Model Target power saving settings would not get applied for camera mode SPEED on certain devices.
  • Model Target Web API:
  • When using the OBSERVATION preset in the Model Target Web API, only axis aligned up vectors are supported.
  • Session Recorder:
  • MP4 Session Recordings created with Vuforia 10.20 cannot be played back using older versions of Vuforia Engine/FileDriver.
  • Unity:
  • Fixed an issue that prevented from building a project for Android when the gradle.properties file contained empty lines.
  • Activating and deactivating RuntimeMeshRenderingBehaviour components now correctly shows and hides the rendered meshes.
  • RuntimeMeshRenderingBehaviour components are now correctly activated and deactivated by the DefaultObserverEventHandler.
  • The deprecated CameraController APIs for setting and getting camera fields have been removed.
  • Fixed an issue in the VFX Library where the DepthNormalContour shader did not render as expected in Unity 2022.3.13+.

New in Vuforia SDK 10.19.3 (Nov 15, 2023)

  • Bugfixes / Features:
  • Model Targets:
  • We improved the detection of Model Targets under certain circumstances.
  • API:
  • Fixed an issue where changes to the video mode via vuCameraControllerSetActiveVideoMode were not reflected in the APIs related to rendering. This might have caused several rendering related APIs to return values that were still based on the previously set video mode, including the values in the VuRenderState and APIs of the RenderController.
  • Android:
  • Vuforia Engine now triggers the error CAMERA_DEVICE_LOST (Unity) or VU_ENGINE_ERROR_CAMERA_DEVICE_LOST (native) when encountering a rare condition where the camera becomes unavailable while using Android with ARCore. Before, Vuforia Engine would have attempted to restart ARCore.
  • iOS:
  • Vuforia Engine now requires Xcode 14.3.1. and later.
  • UWP:
  • Fixed an issue where changes to the view orientation via vuPlatformControllerSetViewOrientation were not fully applied internally for the case where no render view config was set, either via vuRenderControllerSetRenderViewConfig or with a default one. This might have caused several features, such as Model Targets or the Session Recorder, to use outdated view orientation values and behave incorrectly.
  • This might have caused several rendering-related APIs to return values that were still based on the previously set video mode, including the values in the VuRenderState and APIs of the RenderController.
  • Magic Leap OS:
  • Vuforia Engine now requires Magic Leap SDK v1.3.0 or above.

New in Vuforia SDK 10.18.4 (Oct 4, 2023)

  • Fixes:
  • Area Target:
  • We have made enhancements to our Vuforia Area Target Capture technology, resulting in an approximate 15% increase of the space that can be captured
  • Web API:
  • The Model Target Web API supports a new OBSERVATION preset for training Advanced Model Targets, which in most cases gives better results than the DOME when used as a general-purpose entry point.
  • API:
  • Vuforia Engine have new vuMatrix44FGetTRS and vuMatrix44FGetTRSQuat functions to decompose 4x4 matrices into translation, rotation, and scale.

New in Vuforia SDK 10.17.4 (Aug 23, 2023)

  • Fixed:
  • We have resolved tracking issue on iOS devices with A13 and older chips affecting Area Targets experiences.

New in Vuforia SDK 10.16.5 (Jul 24, 2023)

  • Area Targets:
  • We have resolved tracking issue on iOS devices with A13 and older chips affecting Area Targets experiences.

New in Vuforia SDK 10.16.3 (Jul 12, 2023)

  • Bugfixes / Features:
  • All:
  • Area Targets:
  • Area Target Captures can now be aligned to an existing Area Target during the target generation phase
  • The documentation has been updated to include the support for Matterport Pro3 camera Please see our best-practices to capture spaces in Area Targets from Matterport™ Scans
  • Fixed an issue that could cause Area Target bounding box size to be hugely overestimated
  • Cloud Targets Web API:
  • We introduced new limits for the list targets operation of the Cloud Targets Web API: maximum 1 request per minute for databases with up to a maximum size of 1 million images
  • Drivers:
  • Added additional information in the Driver Samples’ READMEmd about prerequisites for building Vuforia Driver samples
  • API:
  • New APIs have been added in the Vuforia Unity Extension for enhanced camera control It is now possible to explicitly change the exposure mode of the camera and to set a region of interest for focus and exposure control Additional APIs have been added to query support for the enhanced camera controls at runtime as well as the existing focus mode control
  • Native Sample:
  • Fixed an issue in the Native Sample for UWP where rotating the device just after starting the AR page could result in an App crash This was caused by missing de-registration of display events

New in Vuforia SDK 10.15.3 (Apr 26, 2023)

  • Bugfixes / Features:
  • Image-based Targets:
  • Cylinder Targets, Image Targets and VuMarks can now be loaded from the DAT file of a database directly (loading from the XML is still supported).
  • Session Recorder:
  • Added an option to control Session Recorder video encoding quality. See StartRecording for Unity and the SessionRecorder class for native.
  • Barcode Scanner:
  • Added support for inverted 2D barcodes. For QRCode, Micro QRCore, DataMatrix and Aztec it is now possible to detect instances where the foreground code color is brighter than the background color.
  • API Changes:
  • Removed deprecated focus mode AR_CAMERA_FOCUS_MODE_NORMAL.
  • When using a custom Vuforia Driver that does not support the focus mode API (returns FocusMode::UNKNOWN), calls to vuCameraControllerGetFocusMode() will now fail instead of reporting AR_CAMERA_FOCUSMODE_NORMAL.
  • Other:
  • We have revised the organization of the public C API documentation to make it easier to navigate.
  • Added missing Vuforia Driver documentation to the Vuforia C API Reference.
  • UWP:
  • Removed retention of camera exposure mode across Vuforia Engine stop-start cycles. The exposure mode will revert to continuous auto each time Engine is started e.g. when an app is resumed.
  • Fixed a bug where Model Targets did not detect with externally connected or front-facing cameras.
  • We have now removed support for UWP 32-bit/x86. We continue to support x64 and ARM64.
  • Added support for specifying a focus region on UWP devices.
  • Lumin:
  • Fixed Magic Leap 2 focus mode settings. Note that the camera focus mode can be controlled by Vuforia Engine but is also impacted by using any other features that use the RGB camera. For example, if you use ML2 device stream or take screenshots the camera will be set of continuous auto-focus mode.
  • Unity:
  • VuforiaConfiguration.PlayMode.SequencePath was deprecated and will be removed in a future version of Vuforia Engine. Please use VuforiaConfiguration.PlayMode.RecordingPath to configure the path to a Vuforia Session Recording.
  • Fixed an issue in the SessionRecorder that prevented deleting existing recordings.
  • We resolved an issue where underground structures would not be show in Unity Editor while authoring against an Area Target.

New in Vuforia SDK 10.14.4 (Mar 22, 2023)

  • Area Targets:
  • Improvements to the efficiency of Area Target Observer creation, activation, and target detection have allowed us to increase the size of targets for which external positions are not required for initial detection. You can now detect targets that are up to four times larger than the previous limit.
  • We have improved loading times of Area Targets during run-time, causing a speedup of time-to-activation on all platforms supporting Area Targets.
  • Model Targets:
  • Model Targets and Area Targets can now be loaded directly from the database.dat file without the presence of the dataset.xml.
  • The vuEngineGetDatabaseTargetInfo() now supports target info extraction from the database.dat file without the presence of the dataset.xml.
  • Environments:
  • Fixed bug resulting in mesh chunks missing from the Area Target Capture meshes.
  • Session Recorder:
  • Warning - The behaviour of the vuRecordingGetPath API has changed for the case that the recording has not been started yet. Instead of the previous behaviour of setting the 'path' parameter to NULL and returning VU_SUCCESS the function will return VU_FAILED and leave the 'path' parameter unmodified.
  • Barcode
  • Improved performance of PDF417 and Aztec code detection and tracking.
  • Added support for Micro QR Codes.
  • Camera:
  • New APIs have been added in the Vuforia native CameraController for enhanced camera control. It is now possible to explicitly change the exposure mode of the camera and to set a region of interest for focus and exposure control.
  • Exposure control as well as setting region interest for focus and exposure are currently only supported on iOS.
  • Additional APIs have been added to query support for the enhanced camera controls at runtime as well as the existing focus mode control.
  • The APIs for setting and getting camera fields specific for Android, have been deprecated and will be removed in an upcoming Vuforia release.
  • The FocusMode NORMAL has been deprecated and will be removed in an upcoming release.
  • Other:
  • A new API allows developers to register a callback function to handle Engine lifecycle-related errors happening at runtime, such as license errors occurring after Engine instance creation or "camera device lost" errors on selected platforms.
  • See VuforiaEngineError and ErrorHandlerConfig for details.
  • Android:
  • Fixed problem with AreaTargets failing to resume tracking on Android after an ARCore tracking failure.
  • UWP
  • Fixed the TRIGGERAUTO focus mode on UWP so that it correctly moves to the FIXED focus mode after re-focussing.
  • Lumin
  • Vuforia Engine is now built against Magic Leap 2 SDK v1.1.0, please update app builds to use this minimum supported version.
  • Unity:
  • Fixed an issue where the VuMarkBehaviour.InstanceId.DataType and VuVuMarkObservationInstanceInfo.dataType returned a wrong value.
  • We have fixed a Unity issue where a VuMark target's origin was not reported correctly as defined in the VuMark Template created in Adobe Illustrator.
  • Added API to asynchronously load targets at runtime to unblock the main thread and UI when loading many and/or large targets.
  • Some shaders used in the Unity Extension have been renamed. In case your Unity project was loading these shaders through code, it is recommended to use the new names.
  • Fixed an issue where a black screen was rendered if the Virtual Scene scale was set to a custom value and Device Tracking was disabled.
  • Fixed an issue with the Video Background plane not updating its position when changing the Far Clipping Plane distance on the Camera.

New in Vuforia SDK 10.12.3 (Dec 14, 2022)

  • Bugfixes / Features:
  • Vuforia Engine now allows developers to easily add barcode and QR-Code detection capabilities to their AR-enabled apps. Please see Barcode Scanner in the Vuforia Developer Library and look at the Unity Core Samples for more information.
  • Area Targes:
  • Using the platform's fused GPS-signal as a location-prior in combination with Area Targets is a recommended practice when developing for large-spaces. To make your development easier, we have created an end-to-end guide how to do this at Geolocation as External Prior for Area Targets.
  • We reduced the tracking jitter when localizing with Area Targets far from the target origin.
  • VU_MESH_AREA_TARGET_CREATION_ERROR_MESH_FILE_LOAD_ERROR is deprecated, use VU_MESH_AREA_TARGET_CREATION_ERROR_MESH_LOAD_ERROR instead.
  • Model Targets:
  • Developers can now access the mesh contained in a Model Target dataset at runtime by using the RuntimeMeshBehavior (Unity) or MeshObserver (native) APIs.
  • In a future Vuforia release, we will disable calls to vuGuideViewGetImage and vuGuideViewGetIntrinsics for inactive Guide Views. Both functions will return VU_FAILED in that case.
  • When using the LOW_FEATURE_OBJECTS tracking mode optimization, Model Target tracking uses an AI powered tracking technology to tackle large objects with shiny and reflective surfaces. In previous releases this improvement was available only on higher end iOS, Android devices and the HoloLens-2. This AI powered tracking mode has now been significantly improved in accuracy and extended to all platforms which support a platform based device-tracker (like ARKit / ARCore)
  • Session Recorder:
  • We modified the SessionRecorder video bitrate selection to increase image quality of recordings with high resolutions (greater than 720p) or high frame-rates (greater than 30 FPS). The file-size of such recordings will increase accordingly.
  • iOS:
  • We removed support for iOS bitcode.
  • UWP:
  • Fixed an issue where Advanced Model Target databases trained with the Model Target Generator v10.7 or later would fail to recognize on UWP tablets in portrait orientation. If you experience this issue, please re-train your databases.
  • Lumin:
  • Updated Vuforia Engine to build with Magic Leap SDK version 1.0.0. Please ensure you use the same SDK or newer and Magic Leap OS version B3E.220818.12-R.046-R.420 or newer.
  • Improved logic for updating anchors if they are changed by the device mapping system so that we find and update anchors further away from the current position.
  • Fixed the Magic Leap 2 permission checks on Engine creation to ensure all needed permissions are checked.
  • We aligned the focus mode mappings for Magic Leap 2 to make them consistent with other platforms.
  • We fixed an issue where the camera focus mode was reported incorrectly on Magic Leap 2 devices.
  • Added logging of errors from Magic Leap API calls to aid developers in diagnosing issues.
  • Unity:
  • Unity users now have access to the Model Target and Area Target meshes at runtime via the new RuntimeMeshRenderingBehaviour.

New in Vuforia SDK 10.9.3 (Aug 10, 2022)

  • Model Target Tracking Optimization modes: The Tracking Mode and Motion Hint options for Model Targets have been consolidated and simplified. This will help reduce errors during creation and enable faster development. To learn about the new tracking mode settings, click here.
  • Model Target User Volumes: When creating Model Targets, User Volumes can now be set to signify the space where the user will be when viewing the Model Target. This greatly increases the robustness of target recognition, especially in cases where the user is only in specific locations during the experience (for example, underneath a car servicing it, or inside a truck looking at the dashboard) and cannot get the full target into view to initialize tracking
  • Target Manager Database Improvement: Databases within the Target Manager on the Vuforia Engine Developer Portal now load faster for improved viewing speeds.
  • Performance Improvements and Bug Fixes
  • Deprecation Notice: Magic Leap 1 support is deprecated and it will no longer be supported in a future release. You can continue to develop for Magic Leap 1 using older versions of Engine.

New in Vuforia SDK 10.8.4 (Jun 30, 2022)

  • Bugfixes / Features:
  • Version macros have been added to the VuforiaEngine.h header file to allow developers to make compile-time decisions based on the Vuforia Engine library version.
  • The function vuEngineGetLibraryVersion() was renamed to vuEngineGetLibraryVersionInfo(). The fields of the VuLibraryVersionInfo data structure have been renamed to major, minor, patch, build.
  • vuCameraControllerGetFlashMode and vuCameraControllerGetFocusMode now require that the Vuforia Engine is started.
  • In an upcoming version of Vuforia Engine we will change the Engine behavior so that it will only check for OS-required runtime permissions and operations will fail if they have not been requested and granted. This changes the current behavior where Engine triggers the OS-specific runtime permission request UI itself. Once this change is implemented it will be required that Apps using Vuforia Engine obtain the needed runtime permissions before using Engine. Apps should be modified to make runtime permission requests themselves before the above change is implemented in Vuforia Engine. Note that the Vuforia Engine Unity extension will make the needed runtime permission requests for Apps developed in Unity.
  • Environments:
  • The Area Target Capture API now generates Authoring Models with textured meshes.
  • The Mesh Observer in combination with Area Targets will provide a continuously updated mesh representing the occlusion model for the scene in view, and based on the occlusion mesh provided with the target.
  • Usage of VuMeshObservationBlock without VuMeshObservationBlock::transform and its associated VuPoseInfo::pose is deprecated. See Mesh Observer for details.
  • vuEngineCreateMeshObserverFromAreaTargetCaptureConfig and related structures were moved to AreaTargetCaptureController.h. This might be a breaking change for users that are relying on transitive inclusion of AreaTargetCaptureController.h through MeshObserver.h. For users using the Vuforia Engine umbrella header or correctly including both AreaTargetCaptureController.h and MeshObserver.h headers this change is not breaking.
  • Due to this forward-looking change of the format, Occlusion Mesh 3DT-s generated with SDK 10.8 can only be used with the SDK 10.8 and above. Older Area Targets with all their assets including occlusion continue to be functional.
  • The Area Target Capture can now scan spaces without an Internet connection. The capture is then saved as a 3DT for post-processing in the Area Target Generator. This change in behavior of the API with respect to the occlusion artifact means that starting with Vuforia Engine 10.8 and forward, the Area Target Capture API will generate the occlusion artifact together with the Area Target database.
  • The Vuforia Datasets to track Area Targets for newly generated targets are significantly smaller. This saves storage space of your application, but also improves other runtime KPIs.
  • Fixed an issue where Area Target Capture could get stuck in relocalizing state after pausing and resuming the capture.
  • vuAnchorObservationGetAnchorId() has been deprecated and will be removed in an upcoming Vuforia release. Please use vuAnchorObservationGetInfo() instead.
  • Improved Area Target localization and tracking performance for the cases when the provided location priors from external source have high uncertainty.
  • Model Targets:
  • We improved the training length for Advanced Model Targets. Training length will now be automatically adjusted based on parameters like number of advanced views and recognition ranges. Any Model Target Training done with the Model Target Generator 10.5 or later will benefit from this improvement. The same applies for trainings done through the Model Target Web API using target SDK version 10.5 or later.
  • We further improved the recognition performance of Advanced Model Targets, in particular, for targets with multiple close-up advanced views. Any target trained with the Model Target Generator 10.7 or the Model Target Web API using target SDK 10.7 or later will benefit from this improvement.
  • Fixed an issue where a Model Target would no longer detect after switching from STATIC/DEFAULT to STATIC/CAR.
  • Fixed Guide View image rendering to properly react to changes to the Guide View, camera intrinsics or device orientation.
  • vuGuideViewSetPose will no longer implicitly re-render the Guide View image and therefore no longer destroy the previous Guide View image.
  • vuModelTargetObserverSetActiveGuideViewName will destroy the image of the previous active Guide View.
  • Added a recommendation regarding long running operations to vuGuideViewGetImage.
  • Added a new endpoint vuGuideViewIsImageOutdated to notify when the Guide View pose, camera intrinsics or device orientation have changed. If the returned value is VU_TRUE, the next call to vuGuideViewGetImage will render a new image. The previous Guide View image will be destroyed (if not acquired explicitly).
  • If the Guide View is not active, or it is an advanced view, the empty image returned by vuGuideViewGetImage will not have the image format VU_IMAGE_PIXEL_FORMAT_UNKNOWN and the buffer will be nullptr.
  • Session Recorder:
  • Added an option to specify output directory for recordings.
  • Clarified API documentation to better describe that when using the Session Recorder, changing the device orientation while a recording is in progiress, will cause the recording to stop.

New in Vuforia SDK 10.7.2 (May 11, 2022)

  • Bugfixes / Features:
  • All:
  • General:
  • We removed the deprecated Object Target feature from Vuforia Engine. Please use scanned Model Targets instead.
  • Environments:
  • Fixed an issue where the bounding box of an Area Target generated with the Area Target Capture API may have been miscalculated and made too large.
  • Objects:
  • We significantly reduced the size of Advanced Model Target datasets with multiple models, in particular if multiple views per target are set up.
  • The new Model Target Web API enables streamlined Model Target generation in custom pipelines.
  • Fixed a crash that could be triggered by resetting the Model Target Observer.
  • Session Recorder:
  • The SessionRecorder API was redesigned to be more consistent and easier to use. Please see the API reference library and the API Overview for details.
  • The SessionRecorder API now allows more control over the data captured in a Session Recording.
  • Changed the default set of sources for the SessionRecorder for devices where a platform Device Pose Observer is not present. The sources will now include sensors by default.
  • Other:
  • Fixed incorrect header documentation in VuImageInfo to document the buffer size in pixels instead of bytes.
  • The Sample Target PDF documents were renewed and are now consistent in multiple formats.
  • The Vuforia Engine lifecycle has now more detailed header documentation.
  • Android:
  • Fixed an issue with AI powered (static car) tracking mode for Model Targets on Android devices, where a previously tracked target was not re-detected after moving far away from the target.
  • Model Targets AI powered tracking for low feature objects (static car mode) is now supported on Google Pixel 6 devices.
  • Fixed an issue with SessionRecoder failing on the Samsung Galaxy S21.
  • You must now provide a JavaVM pointer to vuEngineCreate() in the VuPlatformAndroidConfig. This will ensure that Vuforia Engine is using the same JavaVM instance as the rest of the App. This was previously obtained from the JNI_OnLoad() method located in libVuforiaEngine.so.
  • VuPlatformAndroidConfig contains a handle to the Java VM. Get the Java VM by implementing the JNI_OnLoad() function at the app level.
  • The native VuPlatoformAndroidConfigError has a new value: VU_ENGINE_CREATION_ERROR_PLATFORM_ANDROID_CONFIG_INVALID_JAVA_VM. In Unity, it is mapped to VuforiaInitError.PLATFORM_ANDROID_CONFIG_INVALID_JAVA_VM.
  • iOS:
  • The minimum version of Xcode that Vuforia Engine supports has been updated to Xcode 13.2.1.
  • UWP:
  • Model Target tracking for low-feature objects (static car mode introduced with Vuforia Engine 10) is now also supported in the Unity Play mode when playing back recorded sessions.
  • Unity:
  • We fixed an issue in the Unity rendering sample where the video background was not distorted when tapped.
  • We fixed an issue in the Unity HoloLens sample related to controlling hand gaze in Unity Play Mode.
  • VFX Library now have harmonized camera settings across all the Model Target sample scenes.

New in Vuforia SDK 10.5.5 (Feb 16, 2022)

  • General:
  • The Object Targets feature has been deprecated and will be removed in a future release. Please use scanned Model Targets instead.
  • Environments:
  • Mesh Observations for an Area Target Capture are now pushed every frame. The version and timestamp of the observation data can be inspected to determine whether the mesh has changed.
  • The Area Target Capture API has been revised to provide better status information during capture, better error reporting in general, and a more flexible mechanism to generate Area Targets.
  • Objects:
  • Improved recognition performance for Advanced Model Targets while significantly reducing dataset size at the same time. This in particular applies to Advanced Model Targets that are configured with multiple up-close entry points (advanced views).
  • Fixed an issue where VuMark instances where unnecessarily cloned instead of reused.
  • File Driver:
  • FileDriver now supports configuring the playback behavior (start timestamp, end timestamp, loop playback) at runtime for XML and MP4 recordings. Additionally, vuPlatformControllerGetDriverLibraryHandle() has been added to the Vuforia API to make the native handle to the currently loaded driver library accessible.
  • An issue has been fixed where the screen would stay black after stopping and restarting engine while playing back a sequence without device poses using FileDriver.
  • Other:
  • Fixed inconsistent library loading behavior for the Vuforia Driver. Driver libraries are now always loaded during Engine creation and retained until the Engine instance is destroyed.
  • Android:
  • Sensor data recording for the Session Recorder is now disabled by default when ARCore is in as it interferes with tracking on some devices.
  • Fixed an issue that was seen on some Android devices (e.g. Galaxy S20) where starting a session recording severely reduced device tracking quality when using ARCore.
  • iOS:
  • Fixed an issue on iOS where denying the camera permission by the user didn’t cause Engine creation to fail with a VU_ENGINE_CREATION_ERROR_PERMISSION_ERROR error code. Instead, Engine creation succeeded but then delivered only black camera frames. The documentation of vuEngineCreate has been updated to emphasize that it should be called from a background thread and not the main UI thread

New in Vuforia SDK 10.4.4 (Jan 27, 2022)

  • All:
  • General:
  • The Vuforia Engine SDK has an updated behavior with respect to when the Vuforia Engine watermark is displayed. Please read the updated licensing terms.
  • The Vuforia Engine watermark design has been updated.
  • Environments:
  • Area Targets now support environments under changing daylight or otherwise challenging conditions.
  • Area Target Capture API, Vuforia Area Target Creator app, and the Area Target Generator now produce the authoring artifact in 3DT format for all target sources.
  • Meshes delivered by the Mesh Observer now include vertex normals.
  • Improved generated authoring mesh quality on iOS devices.
  • Objects:
  • Static Car Mode for Model Targets has been further improved to provide more accurate poses at detection time. This fixes various issues where the initial pose was incorrect, in particular for challenging, feature-poor and reflective objects.
  • Advanced Model Targets can now be trained with "Upside-Down" recognition orientation. This is useful if an object should be recognized when upside down, e.g. for maintenance use cases. See the Guide View article for details.
  • Model Target datasets created with Model Target Generator versions earlier than 7.5 are no longer supported.
  • Session Recorder:
  • Recorded sessions can now be paused when playing them back in Unity Editor Play Mode.
  • Other:
  • The enums VuCameraVideoModePreset and VuCameraFocusMode have been moved from the Core.h header to the CameraController.h header in the Vuforia API.
  • Android:
  • Fixed an issue where session recording did not work correctly on the Google Pixel 3.
  • iOS:
  • An issue where Vuforia Engine memory usage was too high on iOS causing apps to crash has been resolved. The problem was typically seen during app start or resume from a paused state and common on older devices with fewer RAM.
  • Shader compatibility issues observed on iOS when using the VFX Library has been resolved.
  • UWP:
  • An issue where VuMarks were not working on UWP devices with the locale set to something different than English was resolved.
  • Lumin:
  • An issue with shader compatibility issues observed on Magic Leap when running the Vuforia VFX Library assets have been resolved.
  • Unity:
  • Native support for Apple Silicon has been for Unity Play Mode.
  • A new scene demonstrating the Area Targets feature has been added to the Unity Core samples. A prerecorded session is included to allow testing the sample from Unity Editor Play Mode.
  • Vuforia Engine is now properly excluded from Unity platforms it is not supported on. Building to these platforms (e.g. WebGL) will no longer cause build issues.
  • Fixed an issue in Unity where an error was encountered if the FIRST_TARGET World Center Mode was selected and the scene was reloaded.
  • Fixed an issue where the Field of View (FoV) was reported incorrectly in Unity in some cases.
  • Vuforia Engine fully supports development with the OpenXR Plugin in Unity 2020.3 and later.
  • The Unity HoloLens sample has been upgraded to MRTK 2.7.3 and is now using OpenXR. The sample is now compatible with newer versions of Unity. Support for HoloLens 1 is dropped from this sample.
  • A new API has been introduced when integrating with OpenXR on HoloLens. Please see the API documentation for the method vuPlatformControllerSetHolographicAppCSFromIUnknown in the UWP PlatformController.
  • Support for Single-Pass Instanced Rendering mode for RadialFade, X-Ray, UnlitColorTexture and VolumeTexture shaders in the VFX Library has been added.
  • An issue where ARCore was included a second time by Vuforia Engine, thus causing an error when integrating with ARFoundation in Unity has been resolved.
  • Unused fonts have been removed from the Unity Extension.

New in Vuforia SDK 10.1.4 (Aug 24, 2021)

  • All:
  • Detection and Tracking of VuMarks has been improved to work at significantly greater distances.
  • UWP:
  • Fixed a bug in the FileDriver sample for UWP, if the specified recording path didn’t exist on the device an exception was thrown by UWP but not caught by the Driver resulting in a crash.
  • Fixed a problem handling the video background with DirectX on UWP, for certain camera or recording resolutions, the video background appeared corrupted in previous releases.
  • An issue causing a crash in the Model Target core sample when switching models on UWP devices has been resolved.
  • Unity:
  • Fixed an issue where the DevicePoseObserver would fail to be created after manually deinitializing and initializing Vuforia.
  • Fixed an issue which prevented Session Recorder working in Unity on a Hololens device.
  • Fixed an issue where the VideoBackground image would freeze when disabling the DevicePoseBehaviour in a GroundPlane scene.
  • Fixed issue where a ModelTarget’s GuideView would only have the correct orientation in combination with ARFoundation when the screen orientation was Landscape Left.
  • An issue with the Webcam stuck upon initialization in Unity Playmode has been fixed.

New in Vuforia SDK 9.8.8 (May 6, 2021)

  • We have made a change to address an issue that causes high CPU usage when detecting trained Model Targets on Hololens 2 and other UWP devices after upgrading Windows 10 to 21H1.

New in Vuforia SDK 9.8.5 (Mar 15, 2021)

  • Bugfixes / Features:
  • A new hint STATIC_DEVICE_TRACKER has been added to allow extended tracking in cases where the device is statically mounted, e.g. on a tripod. When this hint is used, the Positional Device Tracker will report a static pose.
  • Model Targets:
  • The Model Target Test app and the Unity Core Samples will now show a warning when Vuforia Engine detects that a Model Target is used that does not match the physical size of the tracked object.
  • For Model Targets, a new STATUS_INFO value WRONG_SCALE will be reported in case Vuforia Engine determines that the Model Target does not match the physical size of the object that is being tracked. Up to a certain threshold, the tracking coordinate system will be adjusted to match the scale set for the Model Target. However, it is strongly recommended to set the correct metrical scale for best tracking and visualization results.
  • Model Target Guide View images are now created at runtime. This enables using 2D Guide View images when setting the Pose at runtime. Additionally, Guide View images now more accurately match the camera view of the specific mobile device used.
  • For selected customers with a Pro license, the offline version of the Model Target Generator is available for download. Please contact Vuforia Support for access, [email protected]
  • Area Targets:
  • The peak memory usage of activated large Area Targets has been reduced.
  • Environments:
  • Fixed an issue that could cause Vuforia sensor fusion (VISLAM) device tracking to get stuck in a permanently failed state in some situations, e.g. if an anchor is created and then tracking is lost before the device has moved around the scene enough to build a stable map.
  • Lumin:
  • Fixed an issue on Magic Leap which prevented the YUV pixel buffer size from being reported correctly.
  • Unity:
  • An issue with upgrading older Area Target projects to SDK 9.7 causing the occlusion shader to be missing has been resolved.
  • An issue where using the occlusion mesh with Area Targets on snapdragon devices caused black artifacts to be rendered when the Vulkan graphics API is used has been fixed in Unity 2020.1.
  • Fixed an issue in the Vuforia MagicLeap Sample on Unity 2020.2 where included version of the MagicLeap XR Plugin package prevented Vuforia to be granted the required privileges.
  • An issue with random black-screen issues on the OnePlus 6T has been resolved.
  • An issue observed in Simulator Play Mode with back-face culling of Area Targets that have point-cloud-based authoring models was resolved.
  • Known Issues:
  • Session Recorder:
  • Playback of recordings from the Session Recorder do not support Ground Plane experiences.
  • Area Targets:
  • Area Targets created prior to 9.7 or created with the Area Target Generator of earlier versions will not work out of the box with the Occlusion Mesh and Mesh Collider settings in Unity. See the Unity Migration Guide for details and workaround.
  • Model Targets:
  • The native Model Targets GuideView interface still uses the legacy y-down camera coordinate system convention in the getPose/setPose methods.
  • Device Tracker reset during Extended Tracking with Model Targets might in some cases lead to unexpected relocalization issues. Deactivating/activating the Model Target improves the situation - but user will have to start experience again with detecting the Model Target.
  • Model Targets with motion hint STATIC are more sensitive to wrongly specified physical size in the dataset.
  • Model Targets may switch to EXTENDED_TRACKED more often during very fast user motion when the motion hint is set to STATIC. We recommend using ADAPTIVE if robust tracking during very fast motions is required.
  • Environments:
  • PositionalDeviceTracker may show some tracking instability after pausing and resuming the application when VISLAM Fusion Provider is used. This can be mitigated by encouraging users to move the device around a bit to reinitialize tracking after resuming the AR session. In cases where applicable, it may be necessary to go back to a target and redetect it if extended tracking does not resume normally.
  • Using multiple trackables simultaneously while Extended Tracking them on Vuforia Sensor Fusion provider may lead in edge-cases to degraded tracking quality.
  • VISLAM may fail on environments with predominantly edgy structures with fine lines w/o other texture.
  • The Ground Plane sample app does not allow re-positioning of the annotations into a new area after pause and resume. Going back to the original area and recovering the original annotation is necessary before it can be moved. As an alternative you can reset the experience after resume to use the app again.
  • The manual rotation offset of the object in the Ground Plane sample does not reset after 'reset' is hit.
  • Other:
  • The improvement to detect Image Targets at a greater distance introduced in SDK 7.5.20 does not apply for Cloud Targets.
  • UWP:
  • When using the Session Recorder on UWP Tablets, only camera frames will be recorded without device tracking poses.
  • On Hololens, starting a Vuforia App when an existing Miracast session is active will terminate the Miracast session. It is possible to re-start the Miracast session and use it while Vuforia is tracking, however any camera start operation in Vuforia will again terminate the Miracast session.
  • Small or far away Image Targets may temporarily show increased jitter on HoloLens when only very limited head motion is performed.
  • On HoloLens, rapidly attempting to deactivate or activate a VuMark database within the Vuforia_onUpdate callback can lead to freezing
  • On devices with outdated Intel AVStream camera drivers, the camera feed sometimes freezes.
  • Extended tracked targets may be reported with incorrect poses for one or two frames after pausing and resuming when using Vuforia Sensor Fusion provider.
  • Augmentations placed on Ground Planes may jitter more on UWP tablet devices than on other platforms.
  • Vuforia UWP apps may exhibit symptoms such as a black screen or frozen camera image when another app is also using the camera.
  • Lumin:
  • The Session Recorder is currently not supported on Magic Leap.
  • Unity:
  • Area Targets:
  • Collision for Area Targets generated from E57 input data in Unity Playmode Simulator mode will not work unless occlusion is also activated.
  • Unity Area Target and Model Target datasets with filenames starting or ending with a space character will cause an infinite loop upon import.
  • Area Target rendering does not show the full fidelity of the point-cloud after hiding/unhiding the game object. Please re-select the target from the dataset-selector in the inspector to re-load the target resolving this glitch.
  • Model Targets:
  • Changing the original scene orientation in Unity when using AR Foundation alongside Vuforia Engine may cause Model Targets to no longer get detected.
  • Apps may experience long dataset loading times and/or run out of memory if Advanced Model Target databases with more than 10 trained models are used. The exact number of supported targets is dependent on model size and complexity as well as the device that is being used.
  • 2D Model Target Guide views are currently not supported on iOS when using the OpenGLES2 Graphics API. Please use 3D guide views in case you want to support the OpenGL ES 2.0 rendering backend.
  • Changing the guide view mode of multiple Model Target behaviours simultaneously by having them all selected in the Unity Editor is currently not supported. Please change the guide view mode for each behaviour separately.
  • VuMarks:
  • VuMarks may not work on UWP devices with the locale set to languages other than English.
  • Session Recorder:
  • The SessionRecorder only supports devices where the camera provides NV21, NV12 or LUM (luminance) images. On the small number of Android devices which provide images in a different format (e.g. YV12, YUV420P) recording is not possible at present.

New in Vuforia SDK 9.7.4 (Feb 3, 2021)

  • Area Targets:
  • The Area Target Generation tool-chain supports the conversion and processing of scans generated by the Leica BLK360 and RTC360 scanners. For further detail information see the documentation provided in Area Targets from Leica Scans.
  • The Area Target Generation tool-chain supports the conversion and processing of scans generated by the NavVis M6 and VLX scanners. For further detail information see the documentation provided in Area Targets from NavVis Scans.
  • Vuforia Area Targets now supports spaces up to 10.000 m² in a single Area Target. Refer to our documentation for best practices in creating datasets for such large spaces.
  • Large Area Targets now load a larger region of the target around the current location. This helps to ensure timely availability of relocation data at the cost of higher runtime memory usage.
  • Authoring of augmentation against Area Targets generated from E57 data is supported in Unity Editor by rendering and navigating the high-resolution point-cloud data directly.
  • Model Targets:
  • CAD Models that are too large and/or complex can now be simplified in the Model Target Generator tool
  • Session Recorder:
  • When adding the SessionRecorder GameObject to your Unity app, the UIFileSharingEnabled plist entry will now be automatically set in xCode. This enables easy access to saved recordings in the Documents/Recordings folder of your app.

New in Vuforia SDK 9.6.3 (Nov 26, 2020)

  • BUG FIXES/FEATURES:
  • Model Targets:
  • Detection of Standard (Non-Advanced) Model Targets has been significantly improved to allow detecting from a much wider range of positions around the defined Guide View.
  • Automatic Target Extent Calculation for Model Targets: When creating an Advanced Guide View of a close-up on a CAD model, the Model Target Generator automatically calculates a suitable target extent for detecting the parts visible in the image.
  • Fixed an issue where Model Target datasets failed to load when created from glTF 2.0 input models using UNSIGNED_BYTE indices.
  • Vuforia Area Target Creator app:
  • The timer to finalize a scan in Vuforia Area Target Creator appears only in the last 30 seconds of the available capture time.
  • Vuforia Area Target Creator now supports longer scanning sessions to scan slightly larger spaces. Scanning time limit is 5 minutes.
  • Area Targets:
  • Area Targets created with SDK 9.5 or later will now complete activation in the background to avoid blocking other processes. Note that if an Area Target covers an area larger than 1000 m^2, then it may take a few seconds before trackable results are available after activation.
  • Other:
  • The previously deprecated User Defined Targets feature and the corresponding ImageTargetBuilder API have been removed. To place virtual content on real-world surfaces at known scale we recommend using the Ground Plane feature . Alternatively, the RuntimeImageSource.SetImage() methods can be used to create an image target at runtime from any source, including a camera frame.
  • Android:
  • The Gradle setting for the native sample App have been changed to use version 4.1.0 of the Android build plugin. To use this plugin you need Gradle version 6.5+.
  • UWP:
  • The HoloLens and Magic Leap Samples are now each available for two different Unity versions in the Asset Store: 2019.4 LTS and 2020.x. This works around incompatibilities with Unity's XR Plugin system between those versions.
  • Fixed a potential hang when loading an ObjectTarget using the Vuforia HINT_DELAYED_LOADING_OBJECT_DATASETS hint.
  • Fixed an issue where recordings made with the SessionRecorder showing a Model Target on devices that provide certain resolutions (e.g. 1440x1080) failed to detect in Unity Play Mode on Windows with certain GPUs.
  • Lumin:
  • Fixed an issue where building the MagicLeap sample with Unity 2020.1 resulted in the bumper button on the MagicLeap controller to not work correctly.
  • Unity:
  • Fixed an issue where using Unity’s XR Plugin Management package in a Vuforia project causes visible offset on tracked objects on HoloLens when using Unity 2020.1 or later.
  • Fixed an issue where the RGB texture requested from the Vuforia Engine camera object was filled with uninitialized data on specific Unity versions.
  • Fixed an issue where VuforiaRenderer.VideoBackgroundTexture was not available when using the Vulkan graphics API in Unity.

New in Vuforia SDK 9.5.3 (Oct 23, 2020)

  • Bugfixes / Features:
  • Vuforia Engine targets can now be added to existing ARFoundation scenes in Unity. See the documentation for more details: Vuforia Engine and AR Foundation
  • The new Session Recorder feature can be used to record AR sessions that can be played back in Unity Play Mode or using the File Driver Sample in order to facilitate rapid iteration of AR experiences even if the target is not available. See the Recording and Playback page for more information.
  • Model Targets:
  • Removed the deprecated HINT_MODEL_TARGET_MODE. Please use ModelTarget::setTrackingMode() instead or define the tracking mode when generating the dataset in the Model Target Generator.
  • Area Targets:
  • Added a limit on the total size of concurrently activated Area Targets. If activation of a target fails due to this limit, then it is necessary to deactivate at least one of the currently active targets. This only applies when multiple targets are active at the same time. It is always possible to activate one Area Target on its own without any restriction on its size.
  • Added requiresExternalPositions() API to AreaTarget class that enables developers to determine if their Area Target is so large that it requires an external position to be provided for initial detection.
  • The SurfacePro7 was returning invalid camera intrinsics, Vuforia Engine has been changed so that it will no longer use camera intrinsics provided by the platform on UWP tablets.
  • Unity:
  • Fixed an issue where using Unity’s XR Plugin Management package in a Vuforia project causes visible offset on tracked objects on HoloLens.
  • Setters for the following two methods have been exposed:
  • VuforiaConfiguration.Instance.WebCam.DeviceNameSetInEditor
  • VuforiaConfiguration.Instance.WebCam.TurnOffWebCam
  • An issue where using the occlusion mesh with Area Targets on snapdragon devices caused black artifacts to be rendered when the Vulkan graphics API is used has been fixed in Unity 2020.1.
  • The HoloLens Unity Sample app has been updated to use MRTK version 2.4.0.
  • Known Issues:
  • Recordings from the Session Recorder currently do not support for Ground Plane experiences.
  • The SessionRecorder only supports making recordings when the device is in Landscape orientation. Support for recording in Portrait orientation will be added in a future release.
  • Environments:
  • PositionalDeviceTracker may show some tracking instability after pausing and resuming the application when VISLAM Fusion Provider is used. This can be mitigated by encouraging users to move the device around a bit to reinitialize tracking after resuming the AR session. In cases where applicable, it may be necessary to go back to a target and redetect it if extended tracking does not resume normally.
  • Using multiple trackables simultaneously while Extended Tracking them on Vuforia Sensor Fusion provider may lead in edge-cases to degraded tracking quality.
  • VISLAM may fail in environments with predominantly edgy structures with fine lines w/o other texture.
  • The Ground Plane sample app does not allow re-positioning of the annotations into a new area after pause and resume. Going back to the original area and recovering the original annotation is necessary before it can be moved. As an alternative you can reset the experience after resume to use the app again.
  • Using the deprecated User Defined Targets (UDT) in combination with Device Tracker and Fusion providers other than VUFORIA_VISION_ONLY is not supported and may lead to unstable tracking results.
  • Under certain conditions when doing fast motions during Extended Tracking using Fusion-provider VISLAM an apparent shift in augmentation might be observed. Approaching the original target and/or resetting Device Tracker will resolve the issue.
  • Model Targets:
  • The native Model Targets GuideView interface still uses the legacy y-down camera coordinate system convention in the getPose/setPose methods.
  • Device Tracker reset during Extended Tracking with Model Target might in some cases lead to unexpected relocalization issues. Deactivating/activating the Model Target improves the situation - but user will have to start experience again with detecting the Model Target.
  • Targets with motion hint STATIC are more sensitive to wrongly specified physical size in the dataset.
  • Model targets may switch to EXTENDED_TRACKED more often during very fast user motion when the motion hint is set to STATIC. We recommend using ADAPTIVE if robust tracking during very fast motions is required.
  • Other:
  • The improvement to detect Image Targets at a greater distance introduced in SDK 7.5.20 does not apply for Cloud Targets.
  • Android:
  • Session Recorder will only record device tracking poses if ARCore is used.
  • The Session Recorder writes to the OS defined primary storage location. On devices with emulated storage, Android typically provides the emulated storage as the primary location. This means that Vuforia will not always record onto a removable SD card.
  • If your Android application sets the target SDK to 30 and you want Vuforia Engine to use ARCore you must ensure that you use the Android build plugin version 4.0.0 or higher and ARCore 1.19.0 or higher.
  • For the Android native sample, if you upgrade the Android Gradle build plugin to version 4.0.0, as suggested by Android Studio, you will get the following build error: "More than one file was found with OS independent path 'lib/arm64-v8a/libVuforia.so'.". If you need to upgrade the plugin version you can simply modify the app/build.gradle to remove the line "jniLibs.srcDirs "$VUFORIA_ENGINE/build/lib""
  • After Device Tracker loses tracking with ARCore it may be necessary to direct the user to return to the target to recover extended tracking when using Advanced Model Targets.
  • On Vuzix M300, setting camera autofocus mode to CONTINUOUS may impact performance of video background
  • iOS:
  • A crash is observed on the iPad Pro 4th generation on application start in cases where the device is connected to debugging. This behaviour is not observed in iPadOS 13.6 and later.
  • Running (Advanced) Model Targets with Device Tracker on dual-core iOS devices (e.g. iPhone 6/6s) may result in noticeable video background lag.
  • UWP:
  • The Session Recorder only record camera frames, and not the device tracking poses from UWP devices.
  • Recordings made with the Session Recorder showing a Model Target on devices in some resolutions (e.g. 1440x1080) may fail to detect in Unity Play Mode on Windows with certain GPUs.
  • On Hololens, starting a Vuforia App when an existing Miracast session is active will terminate the Miracast session. It is possible to re-start the Miracast session and use it while Vuforia is tracking, however, any camera start operation in Vuforia will again terminate the Miracast session.
  • On devices with outdated Intel AVStream camera drivers, the camera feed sometimes freezes.
  • Extended tracked targets may be reported with incorrect poses for one or two frames after pausing and resuming when using Vuforia Sensor Fusion provider.
  • Augmentations placed on Ground Planes may jitter more on UWP tablet devices than on other platforms.
  • Small or far away Image Targets may temporarily show increased jitter on HoloLens when only very limited head motion is performed.
  • On HoloLens, rapidly attempting to deactivate or activate a VuMark database within the Vuforia_onUpdate callback can lead to freezing
  • Vuforia UWP apps may exhibit symptoms such as a black screen or frozen camera image when another app is also using the camera.
  • Lumin:
  • The Session Recorder is currently not supported on Magic Leap.
  • Unity:
  • The SessionRecorder only supports devices where the camera provides NV21, NV12 or LUM (luminance) images. On the small number of Android devices which provide images in a different format (e.g. YV12, YUV420P) recording is not possible at present.
  • In Unity 2020.1 and later, adding a scoped NPM registry alone will not allow you to add the Vuforia Engine package from the Package Manager window. An explicit package dependency needs to be added in the project's manifest.json. Please see Vuforia Engine Package Hosting for Unity library article for more details.
  • When integrating Vuforia Engine with AR Foundation in Unity, tracking of a Vuforia target is not as stable as when using Vuforia Engine in Unity alone. On iOS, this issue is not seen.
  • When integrating Vufora Engine with AR Foundation in Unity, changing the Camera Mode does currently not have any effect.
  • Model Targets:
  • Apps may experience long dataset loading times and/or run out of memory if Advanced Model Target databases with more than 10 trained models are used. The exact number of supported targets is dependent on model size and complexity as well as the device that is being used.
  • 2D Model Target Guide views are currently not supported on iOS when using the OpenGLES2 Graphics API. Please use 3D guide views in case you want to support the OpenGL ES 2.0 rendering backend.
  • Changing the Guide View mode of multiple Model Target behaviours simultaneously by having them all selected in the Unity Editor is currently not supported. Please change the guide view mode for each behaviour separately.
  • Environments:
  • Ground Plane experience currently do not support changing Virtual Scene Scale in Unity at runtime.
  • The manual rotation offset of the object in the Ground Plane sample does not reset after 'reset' is hit.
  • iOS:
  • When recording a session on iOS, the files are saved into the Documents/Recordings folder of your app. This folder can easily be accessed through iTunes when the UIFileSharingEnabled plist entry has been set in Xcode. To add this setting to your Unity application, see the SharingEnabledPostProcessBuildPlayer.cs build script in the Unity Core Samples app.
  • Vuforia Engine requires "Render Over Native UI" to be set for iOS to resolve a performance issue seen on some ARKit-enabled devices. However, the same setting causes non-Vuforia specific issues on Android 8.0. Therefore, this setting is set/unset automatically when switching the platform between Android and iOS in Unity.
  • Calling SceneManager.LoadScene successively and in quick manner may result in a black video background on iOS devices.
  • Android:
  • The DepthContour shader will render with some black artifacts on some Snapdragon-based Android devices when the Vulkan graphics backend is used.
  • On some Android devices (e.g. PixelXL), objects occluded by Vuforia Engine's "Custom/DepthMask" shader (used e.g. for Area Target occusion) are rendered black. To work around this issue, set the occluded objects' materials to Rendering Mode "Transparent".
  • When using the scriptable render pipeline, enabling the experimental SRP Batcher option will break Video Background Rendering on Android OpenGL ES 3.0
  • On the Vuzix M300, GameObjects need to parented to a Target or Anchor in order to render in the correct orientation.
  • In some occasions, the sample UVC driver implementation may fail to start after the USB camera permission has been accepted on Android.
  • Lumin:
  • When building the MagicLeap sample with Unity 2020.1, the bumper button on the MagicLeap controller will not bring up the selection menu for switching Model Target modes.
  • The Virtual Scene Scale Factor in Unity is not supported on Magic Leap.
  • UWP:
  • On a project built with Unity 2019.4.0f1, the error ‘BV4 midphase only supported on Intel platform’ is shown in the console on HoloLens2 at start time.
  • Using Unity’s XR Plugin Management package in a Vuforia project causes visible offset on tracked objects on HoloLens. To avoid this issue in HoloLens projects, it is recommended to use Vuforia with any version of Unity between 2018.4 and 2019.4 and to not use the XR Plugin Management package.
  • In the HoloLens sample app for Unity, voice commands stop working after suspending and resuming the app.
  • In the Unity HoloLens sample, some renderings errors are seen in scene view in the Unity Editor.
  • With the HoloLens sample, using MRTK 2.3.0 can cause the Editor to hang when importing .ttf files.
  • ·The Virtual Scene Scale Factor in Unity is not supported on HoloLens.
  • On UWP, using the "Run in background" option in the Unity player settings may cause the video background to freeze on resume after the application was minimized (suspended). It is recommend to disable "Run in background" so that Vuforia can be properly paused if the app is not in the foreground.
  • Initialization fails to return INIT_NO_CAMERA_ACCESS error code when camera permissions are denied on UWP.
  • Other:
  • VuforiaRenderer.VideoBackgroundTexture is not available when using the Vulkan graphics API. Please use GLES3 if you require the RGB video background texture at runtime.
  • Unity Cloud Build is currently not supported in Unity 2018.4 if Vuforia Engine is upgraded through an update installer. This issue is resolved with Unity 2019.2, where Vuforia Engine is integrated with Unity's package manager.
  • Accessing Unity the camera background materials interfere with video texture updates. Please refer here for more information.
  • Database file names with trailing spaces currently cannot be loaded.
  • Incorrect build errors may appear when building an application for the first time on a specific platform. The current workaround is to build a second time and errors will be resolved.
  • Successively calling GetCameraImage from multiple scenes returns incorrect images.

New in Vuforia SDK 9.3.3 (Jul 27, 2020)

  • Bugfixes / Features:
  • Model Targets:
  • Improved recognition of Advanced Model Targets in closeup scenarios where the target fully covers the view. While it is still beneficial to keep a part of the object's silhouette and some background in view, this is no longer strictly required for recognition. In order to benefit from this improvment, re-train your databases with the Vuforia 9.3 Model Target Generator.
  • Android:
  • The Java language bindings for Android that were deprecated in a previous release have now been removed.
  • iOS:
  • Fixed an issue that prevented Vuforia from using ARKit on iOS 14 beta.
  • UWP:
  • Fixed an issue that caused reduced detection performance with certain Model Targets on UWP devices.

New in Vuforia SDK 8.6.10 (Feb 14, 2020)

  • All:
  • Model Targets:
  • Fixed an issue with "Realistic Appearance" mode for Advanced Model Targets. If you have previously trained a dataset with this mode, make sure to upgrade your version of Vuforia Engine to 8.6.10 or later.

New in Vuforia SDK 8.6.7 (Dec 11, 2019)

  • Digital Eyewear:
  • Added Beta support for the Magic Leap 1 Creator Edition (Unity only). Please see Developing Vuforia Engine Apps for Magic Leap for more information.
  • Added a Unity sample showing how to build a Vuforia Engine app for the Magic Leap 1. See Working with the Vuforia Magic Leap Sample for more information.
  • Added Support for the Vuzix m400 eyewear device.
  • Improved performance on HoloLens devices: Performance of deep-learning based features (Advanced Model Targets, Advanced Model Targets 360) has been improved on all UWP devices. In addition, on HoloLens camera mode MODE_OPTIMIZE_SPEED now reduces the camera frame rate to save power, this is best used for experiences where the tracked targets are not moving.
  • Model Targets:
  • Added a new Model Target tracking mode optimized for cars. In Unity, select CARS from the Model Target Tracking Mode dropdown in the Vuforia configuration. You can also configure this mode with the setHint() API. Please refer Optimizing Model Target Tracking for more information.
  • Environments:
  • TrackableResults for targets and anchors now have a new tracking status: LIMITED. This is used when the inferred pose of the target or anchor is known to have substantially larger inaccuracies than a normal EXTENDED_TRACKED pose. This can occur after the Device Tracker recovers from limited tracking state, e.g. if the camera of the device was covered while moving. Once the inferred pose of the target or anchor is estimated more accurately, it will again start to report EXTENDED_TRACKED poses. If your application requires exact target alignment, it is recommended to discard LIMITED poses of targets since they may have a large offset from the original target location. If accurate alignment is less of a concern, then using LIMITED poses may provide a more continuous tracking experience.
  • Other:
  • Added commercial support for Unity as a Library. For more information, please see the developer manual at Using Vuforia Engine With Unity as a Library.
  • Added a new feature to create Instant Image Targets at runtime from images, without requiring a Device Database. Targets can now be created from image files or directly from pixel buffers using a new RuntimeImageSource class or directly from the Editor in Unity. Please refer to How to Create and Modify Targets in Native and How to Create and Load Targets in Unity for more information.
  • Android:
  • Improved support for Model Targets on devices with a rotated camera.
  • Vuforia Engine on Android now reports INIT_NO_CAMERA_ACCESS instead of INIT_ERROR if the user denies camera permission during Vuforia initialization.
  • Intrinsics default to global intrinsics, if per-frame intrinsics are not provided when using FileDriver.
  • iOS:
  • Intrinsics default to global intrinsics, if per-frame intrinsics are not provided when using FileDriver.
  • UWP:
  • The UWP-specific function Vuforia::setCurrentOrientation() has been changed to take as its parameter the locally defined enum instead of Windows::Graphics::Display::DisplayOrientations. This is to enable the function to be called from apps written using C++/WinRT.
  • Fixed an issue with recognition of larger objects on HoloLens when using Advanced Model Targets (non-360) databases. We recommend to re-train Advanced Model Target databases that are intended to be used on HoloLens in case recognition issues are observed.
  • Unity:
  • The DefaultTrackableEventHandler can now be configured for each target to render content when the target is "Tracked", "Extended Tracked" or also when only a "Limited" pose is available. This allows for per-trackable configuration of extended tracked poses. If a trackable is reported with status "Limited", only an inaccurate pose is available. It should only be taken into consideration if close alignment of virtual content and real world object is not required. See also comment in Environments section above.
  • Refactored the way how Unity application code can register for Vuforia Engine events. Instead of implementing event handling interfaces, application scripts can now register for individual callbacks. See the VuforiaSamples for more details.
  • Fixed a linker issue seen in XCode when building Vuforia Engine iOS apps with Unity 2019.3 beta 8 and later.
  • On Android, the minimum SDK version is now specified for the native Vuforia plugin. This prevents Unity from adding additional permissions to the Android Manifest that are not actually required by Vuforia Engine. The minimum supported version is 19 (Android 4.4 KitKat).

New in Vuforia SDK 8.1.10 (Apr 25, 2019)

  • Improved stability of target tracking on HoloLens devices.
  • Fixed an issue with slower detection when using trained Model Target datasets on UWP devices.

New in Vuforia SDK 8.1.70 (Mar 20, 2019)

  • Bugfixes / Features :
  • All:
  • Model Targets:
  • The Model Targets feature contains some improvements to resolve issues seen while tracking cars from a distance.
  • Fixed an issue for Model Targets where 3D model with non square textures will not track properly.
  • Fixed a bug that caused a higher amount of jitter when using Model Targets or Object Targets with a Device Tracker.
  • Fixed a bug that caused unlimited memory consumption when using Model Targets for longer amounts of time.
  • Fixed a crash when a model in a Model Target Dataset could not be loaded.
  • Fixed several crashes when loading Model Targets Datasets containing unsupported model formats.
  • Environments:
  • Improved Device Tracker robustness for Ground Plane when using Vuforia SensorFusion provider. Initialization is now possible in a wider range of environments, and tracking is maintained for longer, but with a slightly increased possibility of accumulating drift over time.
  • Improved Device Tracker robustness on low-end devices where inconsistency in sensor data arrival time caused the tracker to fail.
  • Improved Device Tracker robustness to fast motions around objects on devices using Vuforia SensorFusion provider.
  • New API allows native developers (C++ on Android and Objective-C on iOS) to access the session and frame pointers for ARCore and ARKit respectively. This API is currently experimental to validate and test combination of advanced ARCore and ARKit features not exposed via Vuforia Fusion API.
  • Other:
  • Fixed an issue where the bounding box of a created Object Target did not match the one of the capture target.
  • The Vuforia::PIXEL_FORMAT::YUV format was removed and replaced with more explicit YUV formats:
  • Vuforia::PIXEL_FORMAT::NV21
  • Vuforia::PIXEL_FORMAT::NV12
  • Vuforia::PIXEL_FORMAT::YV12
  • Vuforia::PIXEL_FORMAT::YUV420P
  • Vuforia::PIXEL_FORMAT::YUYV
  • If you previously used YUV format, please see information on https://library.vuforia.com/content/vuforia-library/en/articles/Solution/How-To-Migrate-a-Unity-Project.html.
  • Removed API:
  • Front camera support has been removed. You can now only access the back camera (CameraDevice::init() now does not take any parameters).
  • The reflection flag in the VideoBackgroundConfig has been removed. When mirrored rendering is required a flip transformation can be directly applied to the video background projection matrix and augmentation projection matrix.
  • CameraDevice::getCameraCalibration() has been removed. Please access the camera calibration from the state.
  • Tool:getProjectionGL() has been removed. Please use rendering primitives for generating projection matrices for rendering.
  • FUSION_OPTIMIZE_IMAGE_TARGETS_AND_VUMARKS and FUSION_OPTIMIZE_MODEL_TARGETS_AND_SMART_TERRAIN have been removed. Specific backend override settings can be still selected using existing enum value combinations.
  • The old container API has been removed. Please use the new container API (List) for accessing elements in arrays.
  • Android:
  • Support for Android arm64 has been added to the Vuforia Unity Extension.
  • Support for the Epson Moverio BT-200 is deprecated and will be removed in a later version of Vuforia Engine.
  • Support for the ODG R-7 is deprecated and will be removed in a later version of Vuforia Engine.
  • An issue was fixed on ARCore devices, where an occasional jitter can be observed using a hit test result that is performed in the rendering loop.
  • The Vuforia::State object that is passed in the SmartTerrain hitTest API must now be valid, in previous releases this was not verified.
  • Fixed issue when using Vuforia Driver with an external camera which prevented Trained Model Target detection from working when using YUYV pixel format.
  • Fixed deadlock when using the UVC Driver on a device with permission checking enabled. The app code must request USB permission before Vuforia is initialised. Developers have to import com.vuforia.samples.uvcDriver.USBController; then add the following line: USBController.requestUSBPermission(activity); before Vuforia.init() is called. Notice that USBController.requestUSBPermission() takes the activity as parameter.
  • Vuforia Engine has been updated to use ARCore 1.6, developers should update their applications to at least ARCore 1.6. Vuforia Engine will continue to work with later versions of ARCore, starting from ARCore 1.7.
  • iOS:
  • Vuforia Engine for iOS now includes Bitcode.
  • For iOS, the deprecated static library libVuforia.a has been removed. Use the dynamically linked Vuforia.framework instead.
  • The minimum recommended version of Xcode supported by Vuforia has been updated to 10.1.
  • Support for iOS 9, iOS 10 and 32-bit iOS devices has been removed. Developers should update their builds to target a minimum release of iOS 11 and remove references to 32-bit architectures (armv7, armv7s).
  • UWP:
  • Improved stability of Extended Tracking on HoloLens.
  • Unity
  • Fixed an issue where switching between Guide Views for non-trained Model Targets did not work correctly.
  • Fixed an issue with video background rendering when the scriptable render pipeline was used in Unity.
  • The built-in template mode for Model Recognition has been removed. It can be re-implemented on application level by following these steps:
  • Keep the template node and make sure that no dataset has been assigned to it (editor shows ---EMPTY--- dataset).
  • Implement a custom Model Reco Event Handler based on the DefaultModelRecoEventHandler.
  • Instantiate the template in the method OnNewSearchResult if no existing ModelTargetBehaviour can be found.
  • Experimental Vulkan support for mono video background rendering was added on Android starting with Unity 2019.1. Stereo rendering with Vulkan is not yet available.
  • The database for Trained Model Targets used in the VuforiaHoloLens sample is now available to Unity developers that do not yet have a Vuforia license.
  • Implemented a fallback for Device Tracking poses to resume from the latest camera pose if world center mode "TARGET" is used, but target tracking is disabled or the world center mode changed to "DEVICE".

New in Vuforia SDK 7.5.20 (Sep 27, 2018)

  • Increased small target detection (now detectable at 2-3x the distance) for Image Targets, VuMarks, Cylinder Targets, Multi-targets, and Object Targets
  • Developers can now access External Cameras through the Driver Framework supporting UWP and Android
  • Improved the tracking performance of Model Targets on objects low on features such as models with no textures
  • A new List type has been introduced to simplify access to collections of objects through the API. New List-based access methods replace deprecated index-based access methods.
  • Model Target databases generated with Model Target Generator 7.5 will not work with versions of Vuforia Engine older than 7.5
  • Fixed an issue that caused occasional crashes when performing a Ground Plane hit test
  • Fixed an issue where tracking would degrade when redetecting an object after tracking loss
  • Improved DeviceTracker performance when using FUSION_PROVIDER_VUFORIA_SENSOR_FUSION
  • Fixed an issue where ARCore/ARKit sessions were not properly closing when all trackers and the camera was deinitialized
  • Fixed an issue which would cause Vuforia::onUpdate() to freeze when a new VuMark appears in view
  • Android:
  • Vuforia Engine 7.5 now supports and requires ARCore 1.4 when using ARCore on supported devices. ARCore 1.4 includes autofocus support
  • Added support for Android devices running older versions of SSE
  • Improved ARCore performance on Samsung S8/S9 devices equipped with a Snapdragon processor
  • Fixed an issue where poses of targets appear at the wrong location after the ARCore device tracker relocalizes
  • UWP:
  • Fixed an issue on HoloLens where overlapping calls to dataset creation/destruction methods in the ObjectTracker could lead to a crash
  • Improved Model Target augmentation performance on HoloLens devices
  • Unity
  • Fixed an issue where Vuforia Engine fails to initialize in Play Mode on the second time if the first scene was not Vuforia Engine enabled
  • Re-introduced a mechanism in Unity that automatically sets the focus point on HoloLens. This feature can be toggled using DigitalEyewearController.Instance.EnableAutomaticFocusPointSelection()
  • Removed an obsolete API to control World Anchor usage of Vuforia Engine on HoloLens. Vuforia Engine internal Anchor usage can no longer be toggled by the application developer
  • Added support for Linear color space :)

New in Vuforia SDK 7.2.23 (Jul 24, 2018)

  • Bugfixes / Features:
  • All:
  • Fixed an issue in Model Targets where tracking quality would degrade or tracking would stop
  • Android:
  • Added Vuforia Fusion support for ARCore on Samsung S8 and S9 devices
  • iOS:
  • Fixed an issue that was preventing Apple App Store submission when using the Vuforia Engine iOS Framework

New in Vuforia SDK 7.2.20 (Jul 3, 2018)

  • All:
  • The Coordinate System of the Camera has changed to an OpenGL convention (x right, y up, - z forward). All the trackable poses (ImageTarget, CylinderTarget, MultiTarget, VuMark, ObjectTarget, ModelTarget, Anchor, DeviceTrackable) are now all reported in World Coordinate System. Unity developers are not impacted by this change. Please see the migration guide for more information
  • Introducing multiple plane support for Ground Plane. Vuforia Engine now supports a maximum of 15 different horizontal surfaces in the environment
  • Vuforia Fusion now estimates accurate metric scale for augmentations on non-ARKit or non-ARCore devices
  • Ground Plane feature has several stability improvements included in this Vuforia release.
  • Added a new API (setAllowedFusionProviders) to override default Fusion Provider priority
  • Added a new API (getActiveFusionProvider) which returns the Fusion Provider Vuforia Engine is currently using
  • Resetting the Positional Device Tracker is now available on all Vuforia Fusion supported platforms
  • The functions RenderingPrimitives.getProjectionMatrix(), getViewportToCenterEyeAxis(), getVideoBackgroundProjectionMatrix() have had the COORDINATE_SYSTEM_TYPE parameter removed
  • Vuforia now has an updated mechanism to provide the latest calibration data to the device on the first run of an application. This can lead to increased times when initializing Vuforia. Developers can opt-out from this behavior to guarantee fastest app start-times if calibration data is not critical to the use-case
  • Fixed an issue that would cause a crash when loading ModelTargets which contain grey-scale textures
  • The Vuforia::Tool::getProjectionGL API has been deprecated and will be removed in a future version
  • Scale in the Vuforia Engine is no longer arbitrary - to better support Platform Enablers (ARKit and ARCore), Vuforia Engine now uses meters for units and all Targets should be updated to meters or set the scale appropriately via API
  • Front camera support has been deprecated and will be removed in a future version of Vuforia Engine
  • Android:
  • Vuforia Fusion now supports Google's ARCore on select Android devices. Please check the Vuforia Fusion Supported Device page for up-to-date list
  • iOS:
  • The Vuforia Engine now provides as a dynamically linked framework for iOS. Applications must link against the framework and also embed it so that the dynamic library is available at run-time. See the migration guide for more information. The static library and header files are provided in this release for backwards compatibility, but are deprecated and may be removed in a future release.
  • Fixed an issue where memory was not being freed when closing Vuforia on ARKit devices
  • UWP:
  • Added GroundPlane feature to supported UWP Devices
  • Improved Model Target performance on UWP devices
  • Unity:
  • Fixed an issue which could cause prefab errors and broken preview models after Model Target import
  • Fixed an issue where Augmentations are offset on HoloLens when the camera is not placed at world origin
  • The Extended Tracking API has been deprecated. Use the Device Tracker to continue tracking when targets go out of camera view
  • Device Tracking can now be used for all world center modes and is no longer a separate mode. The CAMERA and DEVICE_TRACKING modes have been replaced by a new DEVICE mode that is now the default mode for new scenes
  • Fixed an issue where Xcode projects exported from Windows could not be opened and built on Mac

New in Vuforia SDK 7.1.35 (Jun 1, 2018)

  • Fixed an issue where memory was not being freed when closing Vuforia on ARKit devices
  • Fixed an issue on ARKit 1.5, iOS 11.3 and above where anchors could be flipped following a re-localization by ARKit

New in Vuforia SDK 7.1.34 (Apr 20, 2018)

  • iOS:
  • Added support for iOS 11.3 and Auto-focus support from ARKit 1.5 is now available
  • 1080p at 60Hz is now the default resolution
  • armv7s architecture is no longer supported. Older Xcode projects referencing arm7s need to be updated to reference arm7 instead
  • Unity:
  • Unity Play Mode on Mac requires x64 Architecture
  • Fixed an issue where some Vuforia apps built on Unity fail App Store submission
  • Vuforia initialization now runs on a thread independent of Unity's main thread

New in Vuforia SDK 7.1.31 (Mar 28, 2018)

  • Bugfixes / features:
  • All:
  • Introduced new APIs to access Device 6-DoF pose. See Vuforia::State::getDeviceTrackableResult()
  • Introduced new APIs to access current tracking state. See Vuforia::TrackableResult::getStatusInfo()
  • Text Recognition APIs, Game Objects, and Samples have been removed
  • Integration with Google VR SDK for Cardboard has been removed in favor of the Vuforia Viewer
  • Deprecated Renderer::setARProjection and Tool:getProjectionGL APIs
  • Android:
  • Google Tango support has been removed
  • iOS:
  • N/A
  • UWP:
  • Added support for IL2CPP Compilation in Unity
  • Vuforia now leverages the new Camera API available in the Anniversary Update (1607)
  • Known Issues:
  • All:
  • Model Targets detection and tracking is computationally expensive which may impact device performance over time
  • Model Targets detection may produce false positives on similarly shaped objects or cluttered backgrounds
  • When switching to front camera, Model Targets extended tracking is disabled and will not re-enable when returning to back camera
  • Model Targets extended tracking may drift in the direction of motion, causing errors in the registration of augmentations
  • Starting Extended Tracking on any other target type along with Model Targets may result in degraded tracking performance
  • Android:
  • Multithreaded rendering on ODG R-7 glasses is currently not supported
  • On Vuziz M300, setting camera autofocus mode to continuous may impact performance of video background
  • iOS:
  • XCode 9.3 Beta is currently not supported and may result in camera previews rendering a black screen
  • On ARKit devices, using MODE_VR positional tracking only works in landscape-left mode
  • On ARKit devices, the following error is incorrectly displayed:
  • "ObjectTracker: This device doesn't support model targets extended tracking, extended tracking will be turned off."
  • On ARKit devices, hit-test and anchor creation may require the device to be moved to initialize tracking
  • UWP:
  • On devices with outdated Intel AVStream camera drivers, the camera feed sometimes freezes

New in Vuforia SDK 7.0.50 (Mar 2, 2018)

  • Bugfixes / Features:
  • Improved Ground Plane to better relocalize after loss of tracking on non-ARKit devices
  • Fixed an issue where the Ground Plane anchor orientation was incorrect on non-ARKit devices
  • HitTestResult can only be used once to create an anchor via PositionalDeviceTracker::createAnchor
  • Fixed an issue on some wide-screen devices to improve pixel-perfect augmentation on primitives

New in Vuforia SDK 7.0.47 (Jan 24, 2018)

  • All:
  • Improved performance of Model Targets on models that re-use mesh instances
  • Fixed an issue that prevented Model Targets and Ground Plane from working simultaneously on certain platforms
  • Added TGA texture support for Model Targets
  • Android:
  • Optimized detection performance on Vuzix M300 devices
  • Fixed an issue that caused PositionalDeviceTracker to initialize on unsupported devices
  • iOS:
  • Fixed an issue that prevented Model Targets from functioning properly on older iOS devices
  • UWP:
  • Unity (Upcoming Patch):
  • Fixed an issue where Cloud Reco would not work in Unity Editor Play Mode
  • Added instructions on how to obtain, print and assemble the default 3D model for the Model Targets

New in Vuforia SDK 7.0.43 (Dec 20, 2017)

  • All:
  • Vuforia continues to expand the number of devices that support Ground Plane by adding support for select Android devices and iOS devices that do not support ARKit. Please refer to the list of supported devices for more information
  • Fixed an issue where PositonalDeviceTracker would not work in all device orientations
  • Fixed an issue where isActive would return an incorrect result
  • Fixed an issue where Model Target datasets would not be destroyed properly when Vuforia is paused
  • Android:
  • Fixed an issue where detection distance was reduced on x86 devices
  • iOS:
  • Added light estimation features for ARKit supported devices
  • Fixed an issue where, on ARKit devices, stopping and starting the camera without also stopping and starting the PositionalDeviceTracker prevents the PositionalDeviceTracker from providing position updates
  • Improved stability and performance on ARKit devices
  • UWP:
  • Fixed an issue where detection distance was reduced
  • Unity:
  • Fixed an issue where PositonalDeviceTracker would not work in all device orientations
  • Fixed an issue where, on ARKit devices, stopping and starting the camera without also stopping and starting the PositionalDeviceTracker prevents the PositionalDeviceTracker from providing position updates
  • Fixed an issue that prevented the Model Targets guide view to be set at run time

New in Vuforia SDK 6.5.25 (Nov 3, 2017)

  • Fixed an issue where old trackable information was retained in State even after stopping a tracker
  • Fixed a crash in Vuforia::onResume on HoloLens

New in Vuforia SDK 6.5.23 (Oct 11, 2017)

  • Android:
  • Fixed an issue causing a black screen when the device is resumed from a long pause
  • Fixed an issue causing performance degredation on Galaxy S5 Mini
  • iOS:
  • Fixed small memory leaks
  • Fixed issue on iPhone 8/8Plus preventing AR/VR sample from launching on first run

New in Vuforia SDK 6.5.19 (Sep 8, 2017)

  • BUGFIXES/FEATURES:
  • All:
  • Text Recognition has been deprecated and will be removed in a future major SDK release
  • Smart Terrain API has been deprecated and will undergo significant changes in Vuforia 7
  • VuMark: Fixed an issue where VuMarks did not respect the persistent extended tracking mode (extended tracking map was reset internally even though persistent mode was enabled)
  • Fixed small memory leaks around Vuforia::init, Vuforia::onResume and DataSet::load
  • Unity:
  • Vuforia is now natively integrated with Unity 2017.2
  • Vuforia can be now installed from the Unity Download Assistant or from the dedicated Vuforia Augmented Reality Target support installer.
  • Vuforia libraries and scripts no longer need to be imported into the Unity project. Instead, enable Vuforia in the XR panel in the Unity player settings after installing it with the Unity Editor (“Vuforia Augmented Reality supported”).
  • Vuforia prefabs have been replaced with Game Objects that can be created from the /Game Object/Vuforia menu.
  • Please consult the migration guide for steps to upgrade legacy Vuforia projects to the integrated version.
  • Optimized stereo rendering for digital eyewear and viewer type devices by leveraging Unity’s stereo rendering optimizations
  • Integration with 3rd party SDKs such as Cardboard or HoloLens has been simplified, not longer requiring binding of their camera rigs.
  • New Positional Device Tracker API. This feature can be activated and configured in the editor via the device tracker section of the Vuforia configuration. The mixed reality controller has also been extended to support positional device tracker: added two new generic mode supporting both Rotational and Positional tracking: HANDHELD_AR_DEVICETRACKER and VIEWER_AR_DEVICETRACKER. This feature is currently only supported on Google Tango devices (Android).
  • Vuforia will leverage Tango capabilities to improve extended tracking on Tango enabled devices
  • Recommended rendering API: Metal (iOS), OpenGL ES 3.0 (Android), DX11 (UWP).
  • Vulkan Graphics API is not supported (Android).
  • The minimum supported Android version is 4.1
  • The minimum supported iOS version is 9.
  • The minimum supported Windows version is 10 (UWP only).
  • GearVR support has been deprecated and will be removed in a future major Vuforia release.
  • Epson BT-200 is not supported any longer in Unity 2017.2 (please use our native SDK or a previous version of Unity + Vuforia Unity Extension).
  • The ROTATIONAL_HANDHELD_AR and ROTATIONAL_VIEWER_AR modes in the MixedRealityController have been deprecated. They will be removed in a future Vuforia release.
  • Editor: fixed incorrect import of image preview for Object Recognition.
  • iOS: fixed upside down camera issue with the front camera.
  • Front camera image may freeze on Pixel C when toggling from front to back cams and then return to front cam
  • Android:
  • Device Tracker: New PositionalDevice Tracker API exposes 6-DOF device pose in world coordinate system. Currently supported only on Google Tango devices.
  • Support for Google Tango. Vuforia will leverage Tango capabilities to improve extended tracking and device tracking on Tango enabled devices.
  • This release includes a 64 bit ARM build of Vuforia.
  • Vuforia now uses Android Camera2 API for camera access by default on Android M and above. If you use the low-level advanced camera API you will need to update your code as the field names have changed.
  • Vuforia::init will now request the camera permissions via a system dialog on applications targeting Android M and above.
  • Changes in Vuforia::init, Vuforia::onResume and CameraDevice::init to support the camera permissions dialog and Google Tango mean that these API can no longer be run from the UI thread, but must be called asynchronously.
  • Fixed small memory leaks around Vuforia::init, Vuforia::onResume and DataSet::load
  • The advanced camera API CameraDevice.getFieldString did not work in Java due to an issue in the Java bindings for that API.
  • GearVR support has been deprecated and will be removed in a future major SDK release
  • Removed the deprecated API Renderer::drawVideobackground
  • Black screen my occur on-resume when app is left in pause for long periods, observed on Galaxy S8 and Pixel.
  • iOS:
  • Fixed small memory leaks around Vuforia::init, Vuforia::onResume and DataSet::load
  • Removed the deprecated API Renderer::drawVideobackground
  • UWP:
  • Removed the deprecated API Renderer::drawVideobackground
  • Error message not shown when native camera apps conflict with Vuforia camera access. Camera apps must be closed, to unbind the camera, before running a Vuforia UWP app.

New in Vuforia SDK 6.2.10 (Feb 16, 2017)

  • Android 6.2.10:
  • Fixed an issue causing a dark camera preview image on some Nexus and LG devices
  • Fixed a memory leak on Android when passing the first Activity during initialization
  • iOS 6.2.9:
  • Fixed an issue causing the SDK to hand on start-up if the camera is disabled in Settings > General > Restrictions.

New in Vuforia SDK 6.2 (Jan 17, 2017)

  • BUG FIXES:
  • Vuforia now supports the OpenGL ES 3.x graphics API
  • The key types for devices ( Mobile vs Digital Eyewear ) have been unified so that a license key can support both mobile and digital eyewear apps. Existing Vuforia Digital Eyewear keys will continue to work for new digital eyewear apps created with Vuforia 6.2. Use of a newly generated unified license key to build a digital eyewear app will require an upgrade to Vuforia 6.2
  • Fixed a rare issue where detection performance was poor for some ObjectTargets
  • Fixed a rare issue where tracking performance was poor when multiple ObjectTargets were tracked simultaneously
  • Fixed an issue where Extended Tracking or Smart Terrain sometimes failed to initialize on low feature targets
  • Fixed an issue where DataSet::exist() API would take very long to complete when an app had a large amount of files in the Assets folder
  • Fixed an issue where TargetFinder.getInitState() wrongly returns INIT_SUCCESS after it has been deinitialized
  • Fixed an issue where the DeviceTracker would produce jittery poses after resuming the application following a long pause/resume cycle
  • UNITY:
  • A new configuration window replaces many ARCamera-inspectors. The configuration window can be opened with Vuforia/Configuration in the Unity Editor Menu and affects all scenes in the project. Please see the migration guide for more information
  • Vuforia is initialized and deinitialized only once per application instead of every scene
  • Fixed a rare issue where stereo rendering was incorrect when switching from VR to AR
  • Fixed an issue in playmode where the CurrentFrameIndex was wrong after switching scenes
  • Fixed an issue with dynamic shadows on ODG R7
  • Fixed an issue where changing the video mode at runtime was not working
  • ANDROID:
  • Added C++ Vuforia::init() method on Android to match Java version of the same

New in Vuforia SDK 6.0.117 (Sep 16, 2016)

  • Unity / UWP / Android:
  • updated to libPNG 1.6.25 containing fix to resolve known vulnerability issue.
  • updated to libPNG 1.6.25 containing fix to resolve known vulnerability issue.
  • updated to libPNG 1.6.25 containing fix to resolve known vulnerability issue.

New in Vuforia SDK 6.0.114 (Aug 25, 2016)

  • This release introduces a new Find The Penguin sample app
  • Unnecessary warnings removed from C# scripts

New in Vuforia SDK 6.0.112 (Aug 14, 2016)

  • VuMark:
  • VuMark is a customizable visual code that can be affixed to any product or machine – either manually using a decal, or automatically printed during the manufacturing process. It is intended to visually indicate to a user that an AR experience is available, such as step-by-step instructions for assembly, use, cleaning, repair, inspection, etc.
  • Unlike other types of codes, it was designed with designers in mind. The VuMark Designer allows Adobe Illustrator users to create VuMarks from existing graphics and brand assets such as logos. This allows them to create VuMarks that are visually appealing, while capable of encoding any kind of data, such as a serial number or URL.
  • Universal Windows Platform & HoloLens:
  • Universal Windows Platform (UWP) extends the reach of your Vuforia applications to the enterprise. With this addition, your Vuforia Unity app can run seamlessly across iOS, Android, and UWP, and it is the first time Vuforia supports x86 and Intel-based devices. This it opens up access to a larger market and a new generation of Windows 10 devices, including Microsoft Surface Pro 4, Surface Book, and upcoming Windows 10 tablets.
  • Vuforia introduces an important capability to HoloLens – the ability to attach experiences to specific things in the environment. When combined with HoloLens native capabilities, AR experiences can be expanded and transported to actual size in any environment to provide a virtual showroom. When combined with VuMarks, this capability can be used for guided step-by-step instructions for products or machinery. These experiences have the potential to reduce or even eliminate dependence on cumbersome manuals used by technicians
  • With Microsoft’s latest Development Edition, Vuforia will open HoloLens support through the Early Access Program to all interested developers, no application required. Native HoloLens support will be integrated in the public SDK soon. Check out the available sample application to get started
  • Cloud Recognition Web API:
  • The Vuforia Cloud Recognition Service is a scalable solution that hosts and manages image targets. It is a way for developers to unlock experiences connected to a large target database in the cloud. The new Cloud Recognition Web API enables you to add image recognition to any connected application or web page. It’s a simple REST API that allows you to submit an image and returns back a list of matching results, from anything like a book cover to a wine label. This enables a scalable and fast recognition, anywhere in the world, on any connected device
  • Additional New Features:
  • Android Camera Access - Vuforia Android SDK:
  • The Advanced Camera API enables developers with to extend their existing computer vision algorithms with those offer by the Vuforia SDK. This feature provides developers with access to the camera while Vuforia is running on an Android device to support even more robust tracking. The API allows developers to adjust camera parameters, such as white balance, in order to better use Vuforia in non-standard environmental conditions
  • High Resolution Camera View - Vuforia iOS SDK:
  • Your iOS apps can now benefit from a smoother, more detailed AR experience on iOS devices. Vuforia SDK now supports 1080p high resolution at smooth, 60 FPS framerate camera stream on iPhone 6s, iPad Pro or later
  • Windows 64-bit Unity Editor - Vuforia Unity Extension:
  • You can now develop with Vuforia on your Windows machine using the 64-bit version of the Unity Editor

New in Vuforia SDK 5.5 (Aug 14, 2016)

  • Metal:
  • Support for Metal is here! Now your iOS apps can take advantage of the improved performance provided by Metal, Apple's low-level graphics and compute API.
  • Mixed Reality:
  • The new device tracker makes it simple to add a full screen VR experience to your existing AR app. Whether you are using a viewer or doing handheld VR, use it to create apps that track your rotation without the need for a target.
  • In Unity, you can now use the Mixed Reality Controller to easily move between AR and VR experiences on devices and viewers.
  • Improved Calibration:
  • Get better calibration results with the improved Vuforia Calibration Assistant on see-through digital eyewear devices such as the ODG R7 and Epson BT-200.
  • New Unity Sample Apps:
  • The Unity sample apps have been updated to use the latest UI programming standards and best practices. That means less code and that it’s easier than ever to get started with Vuforia.

New in Vuforia SDK 3.0.10 (Jan 23, 2016)

  • Fixed an issue in which a graphics layer error could cause video background rendering to stop
  • Improved the accuracy of eye calibration accuracy for digital eyewear apps
  • Fixed an issue on the ODG R-7 in which the stereo rendering could revert to mono when running an app a second time

New in Vuforia SDK 3.0.9 (Jul 23, 2014)

  • Fixed a bug where visual artifacts were distorting the video background on some devices
  • Fixed a bug with Extended Tracking not reseting correctly causing it to fail when the environment changes significantly

New in Vuforia SDK 3.0.5 (Jun 17, 2014)

  • Introduced the SmartTerrain feature: ImageTargets, MultiTargets and CylinderTargets can now be used to reconstruct the surface and objects that are placed around them. Please see the Vuforia sample applications and developer guide for details. Note that Smart Terrain is available only through the Vuforia Unity Extension
  • Added support for high resolution video background rendering of up to 720p on supported high end devices.
  • Consolidated multiple definitions of STORAGE_TYPE in both DataSet and WordList classes into a single definition QCAR::STORAGE_TYPE. QCAR::DataSet::STORAGE_TYPE and QCAR::WordList::STORAGE_TYPE are now deprecated.
  • Fixed a crash when calling QCAR::ImageTracker::resetExtendedTracking(). The API has changed in behavior as the ImageTracker now needs to be stopped first before calling resetExtendedTracking()
  • Fixed a crash caused by repeatedly initializing and deinitializing the CameraDevice
  • Fixed an issue where TextReco stops working after calling selectVideoMode()

New in Vuforia SDK 2.8.8 (Apr 23, 2014)

  • Fixed a crash in a small number of 2014 devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One.
  • Added support for Extended Tracking: ImageTargets, MultiTargets and CylinderTargets can now continue to be tracked even when the target is not visible. Please see the Vuforia sample applications and developer guide for details.
  • Added a new Java language binding to enable Vuforia application development without the NDK. See the Vuforia sample applications for details. Support for C++ APIs continues.
  • The enum based type system has been replaced with the concept of the QCAR::Type class. Please refer to the 2.8 migration guide how to upgrade your application.
  • The release artifact names have changed: libQCAR.so/libQCAR.jar have been renamed respectively to libVuforia.so/libVuforia.jar.
  • Fixed crash on Samsung Galaxy Nexus when an ImageTarget is detected.
  • Fixed an issue in TextReco where QCAR::WordList::addWordU and removeWordU failed to add/remove open compound words.
  • Fixed an issue in TextReco where invalid characters could be added to the word list.
  • Fixed an issue where MultiTarget::getPartOffset incorrectly returned false although the index was valid.

New in Vuforia SDK 2.8.7 (Dec 17, 2013)

  • Fixed an issue where Vuforia was clamping the rendering frame rate to 30fps even after deinitialization when the VideoBackgroundConfig is set to synchronous.
  • Added support for Extended Tracking: ImageTargets, MultiTargets and CylinderTargets can now continue to be tracked even when the target is not visible. Please see the Vuforia sample applications and developer guide for details.
  • Added a new Java language binding to enable Vuforia application development without the NDK. See the Vuforia sample applications for details. Support for C++ APIs continues.
  • The enum based type system has been replaced with the concept of the QCAR::Type class. Please refer to the 2.8 migration guide how to upgrade your application.
  • The release artifact names have changed: libQCAR.so/libQCAR.jar have been renamed respectively to libVuforia.so/libVuforia.jar.
  • Fixed crash on Samsung Galaxy Nexus when an ImageTarget is detected.
  • Fixed an issue in TextReco where QCAR::WordList::addWordU and removeWordU failed to add/remove open compound words.
  • Fixed an issue in TextReco where invalid characters could be added to the word list.
  • Fixed an issue where MultiTarget::getPartOffset incorrectly returned false although the index was valid.

New in Vuforia SDK 2.6.10 (Aug 1, 2013)

  • Added support for Cylinder targets
  • Text recognition - Up to 10,000 additional words may be added to the default word list
  • Text recognition speed has been improved significantly especially for mid and low tier devices
  • Vuforia no longer collects the hashed MAC address or other permanent device-based identifiers for purposes of identifying an end user’s device. A hashed app runtime timestamp is now used as an app identifier

New in Vuforia SDK 2.5.7 (Jun 19, 2013)

  • New TextRecognition feature introduced with support for English
  • Tracking improvements especially for low-feature targets such as logos or line art

New in Vuforia SDK 2.0.31 (Mar 5, 2013)

  • Fixed a bug where target detection performance was reduced in large datasets.
  • Fixed an issue where the tracked target pose was drifting on some devices.New features include

New in Vuforia SDK 2.0.29 (Dec 19, 2012)

  • New features include User-defined Targets and Cloud Recognition.
  • Introduced support for using the front camera.
  • Introduced support for multiple active datasets.
  • Improved tracking robustness.
  • Removed sample applications from Vuforia SDK Installation package. Sample applications are now a separate download.

New in Vuforia SDK 1.5.9 (Dec 19, 2012)

  • Vuforia branding introduced to SDK
  • Fixed memory leaks
  • Fixed issue where frame and augmentation of previous run is visible for a few frames
  • Added OcclusionManagement sample app showing how to create an occlusion effect using the video texture feature
  • The android:minSdkVersion has been updated to 8 – this means QCAR can only be installed on devices running Android 2.2 Froyo or above. Android 2.1 Éclair is no longer supported
  • Detection and tracking speed has been improved
  • Added new CONTINUOUS_AUTOFOCUS mode to QCAR and exposed it in samples via GUI
  • Note:Continuous auto focus is only available on select Android devices, e.g. Galaxy Nexus S, Pantech Vega Racer
  • Fixed an issue where the reordering of trackables in the dataset XML file causes tracking to fail
  • Fixed an issue where the registering for YUV pixel format images fails
  • Added support for ICS and Honeycomb devices