Apple and its Lidar scanner:

What does the Apple Lidar scanner really do? :

Apple has not finished surprising us. Constantly evolving technologically, the brand is back with a vengeance with new features for the ipad pro and iphone 12. The latest devices now have an ultra-wide-angle camera, studio quality microphones and a revolutionary LiDAR scanner. An old technology, the LiDAR for (Light Detection And Ranging) is a small scanner with a matte black appearance present next to the camera.

But what is it used for? The article of Sciencesetavenir enlightens us a little more on the subject. "Used for many years in the fields of archaeological researchresearch, speleology etc.... the LiDAR, also written simply lidar, allows to measure the distance between a sensor and a target."The scanner uses a laser beam composed of multiple invisible points of light. Once the light beam reaches its target, it returns to the scanner? This allows the device to accurately measure distances.

So one might ask: is this similar to Face ID? The Cnetfrance article addresses the topic. "Indeed, but with a longer range. The idea is the same: Apple's TrueDepth camera, which allows face identification, projects a series of infrared lasers, but can only work at short range. The lidar on the iPad Pro and iPhone 12 Pro, on the other hand, "works up to 5 meters, works up to 5 meters". Several videos have been made to demonstrate the capabilities of this depth scanner and capture a room in 3D.

What are its features?

Cnetfrance explains that "Apple promises a up to six times faster development in low-light conditions low light for the camera. Lidar is also used to enhance the effects of the night portrait mode." Its long range (up to five meters), opens up new opportunities for developers who can create a digital reproduction of a room very quickly. In addition, the fact of analyzing the environment in 3D allows the photo algorithms of Apple to detach the background from the foreground. This is essential for applying the blur of portrait mode - even in the most difficult conditions.

Information that third-party developers could use to imagine new applications. The Journal du Geek also informs us that "At Apple and its Lidar scanner, the range ofuse of such a sensor will be primarily dedicated to the augmented reality." Initially, this sensor should come to improve the performance of ARKit, the augmented reality engine of the brand. The first field of application mentioned by Apple is to allow its application "Measures" to calculate "faster the size of someone (...) and measure objects with more accuracy and speed. If the use cases on a smartphone are not obvious, this technology is essential for augmented reality glasses. We will have the opportunity to zoom in again on Apple's secret AR glasses project.

How does lidar enhance augmented reality? :

Lidar, the Augmented Reality gas pedal for Apple?

A quick reminder about augmented reality: AR combines all interactions between the real world and virtual elements such as 3D, 2D images and geolocation. As we said, the primary use of LiDAR technology is in augmented reality. The sensor provides faster and more realistic AR experiences. A crucial point for augmented reality to work optimally isto create sufficient depth and a perfectly reconstructed 3D environment. This is exactly what this scanner is good for! Thus, applications proposing for example to choose a piece of furniture from a distance by simulating its representation in the middle of one's living room, should be more accurate than before.

Entertainment applications will also benefit, like Snapchat, which, during the Apple conference, unveiled a new filter, more advanced than others, and reserved for the iPhone 12 Pro. 20minutes still emphasizes that "Apple is obviously not the first smartphone manufacturer to integrate such a sensor on its phones. Huawei and Samsungto name but a few, have opted for "time of flight" sensors which behave similarly to the LiDAR sensor to measure the distance of objects from the camera." But with more than 10,000 augmented reality apps in the App Store, we're still in the early stages of what Apple can offer concluded The iphonesoft blog. If 2021 will be the year of virtual reality, it's a safe bet that 2022 will be the year of augmented and mixed reality.

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