Monday 24 January 2022

Calling Earth Stars FAQs





I made Calling Earth Stars in augmented reality that works on phones and tablets via a normal internet browser. So you don't need to download an app. Below are a few anticipated FAQs.


FAQs

Do I have to type in the whole address?

Not now. Here's a link: Calling Earth Stars


I'm being asked to 'Allow Camera'. Is it safe to do that?

Yes.


Which phone & tablet browsers will Calling Earth Stars work on?

  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
  • Edge
  • Internet Explorer 11


I have an iPhone...

Make sure you are running iOS 11.0 on your iPhone or have the ARCore app installed from the Google Play Store. Newer device models will have AR software already integrated into your phone.


I have an Android phone...

You need Android 7.0 or later (some devices will need at least Android 8.0 in order for ARCore to work)


I have a supported browser and the right address but doesn't seem to work on my phone?

You probably need to enable your internet browser to access your camera.

You can do this in your phone settings. It should be within the browser app settings and might be called something like 'Settings for websites.' Set camera access to 'Ask' or 'Allow.' You can always change it back later.


I'm interested in making something like this..

You are in luck! The programming language AR.js is opensource, and so is Blender, the 3d design package I used. I learnt AR.js pretty much from scratch in four days, Blender about the same. To save you most of the internet searches, these websites were the most useful.

Aframe   

A very useful blogpost about using 'Markers'.

Glitch for programming

Imgur for storing images

Blender for all that fancy 3d design.