ThingLink Augmented Reality (AR) mode

You can now use ThingLink to annotate real-life objects and view the annotations using our new Augmented Reality app on your phone or tablet (iOS/Android)!

Use the links below to jump between different sections of the article:

• Availability
• Video tutorial
• Creating content and using AR mode
  1. Choose an object & take a photo
  2. Upload the picture to ThingLink and tag it
  3. Create an AR collection
  4. Download and use the AR Viewer app

Availability

The AR features are currently available on all paid organizational licenses:

• Business accounts: Team license, Enterprise license
• Educational accounts: Unlimited Bundle, School District, Campus and Multi-Campus licenses.
  AR features are not available to Individual Teacher accounts. If you are a teacher and would like to experiment with ThingLink AR for a project, please contact our team here.

As of February 22, 2024, the app is available on both iOS (iPhone/iPad) and Android (smartphones and tablets).

Video Tutorial

Creating content and using AR mode

The basic flow for using the ThingLink AR mode is:

1. Take a picture of an object (e.g. a painting or a poster)
2. Upload the picture to ThingLink & add hotspots using ThingLink’s main media editor
3. Go to the AR section in your ThingLink profile, add the scene to an AR collection, and then generate a share code or QR code for your collection
4. Open the ThingLink AR app and enter the share code or read the QR code
5. Point your phone’s camera at the object and you should see the tags you’ve added to your ThingLink scene. Tap the hotspots to interact with them!

Detailed instructions

Step 1: Choose an object & take a photo

Choose what object you want to use with the AR app. At the moment, the app works best with 2-dimensional objects - paintings, posters, book covers, maps, laptops, and the like, but you can try it with any other object as well. 

Remove any background objects from the photo and crop it so that it depicts only the object you want the app to recognize. For example, if you take a photo of a laptop on a table, crop the table out of the picture.

Once you take a picture, measure the physical width of the object. You can use the built-in Measure app if you don’t have a ruler or a measuring tape.

Step 2: Upload the picture to ThingLink and tag it

Go to the Media tab, click 'Create' button and upload the picture to ThingLink and tag it!

The hotspots you add will look almost the same when viewed via the AR app, but there are some limitations you need to consider - please see the limitations section at the end of this article.

Step 3: Create an AR collection

1. Back in your ThingLink profile, select the AR tab in the left-hand navigation menu.
2. Click the ‘Create’ button on the AR collections page and enter the title of your new AR collections. 
3. Open the collection you created, then click the blue ‘Add scene’ button. Select the scene with the image of the object you created in Step 2 above.
4. You will be prompted to set the object's physical width in centimeters. If you do not know it, leave it at the default value (1) and click Save. If you measured the object’s width when taking the photo, enter it here. This will help the AR app recognize the object. 
5. Click on the 'Share' button and open the QR code or copy the AR sharing code. You can also send it to your iPhone or iPad.

Note: each collection can contain up to 20 images. If need to include more images, please create an additional collection.

For example, if you wish to use the AR app for an exhibition that contains more than 20 items, try creating a separate collection for each room or each set of items.

What is an AR collection and why do I need to create a collection? The basic idea behind AR collections is to allow you - and your end users - to load and interact with multiple objects/images at once. 

For example, if you are hosting an exhibition, you can take a picture of all objects in the exhibition, tag them, and add them to an AR collection. Your visitors can then simply enter the share code for the collection in ThingLink’s AR app and interact with all objects you’ve added to the collection - the app will automatically recognize an object from the collection when the viewer points the camera at it, and the tags will appear automatically without any additional prompts.

Step 4: Download and use the AR Viewer app

1. Download the ThingLink AR Viewer app from the Apple App Store or Google Play.  
2. Open the AR Viewer app.
3. Enter the Share code you generated in Step 3 above or read the QR code, then click Start.
4. Point your phone camera at the object you tagged. 
5. Interact with the hotspots you see on your screen!

For sharing your AR experiences with others - for example, visitors at your exhibition or students in the classroom - instruct the viewers to install the app and use the share code.

Limitations

1. Icon size isn't customizable. 
2. Text & media tags cannot display 3D models. 
3. Text formatting/markdown is not supported.
4. Background audio and audio tracks from text & media tags (both uploaded and recorded) will not play when viewed via the AR app.
5. Some embedded content (added via the ‘Add content from website’ tags) may look different than on mobile or desktop. This will be addressed in future updates.
6. Question and Poll tags are not supported at the moment.
7. Transit tags are not supported as you can’t ‘transition’ from one image (or object) to another in a physical space.

Unsupported content simply will not appear in the app.