How to develop Augmented Reality application for Android

Question

I would like to develop an augmented reality application on a HTC Nexus One mobile phone for android using Flash Professional CS5 and Adobe AIR 2.5.

I found a couple of online sources showing how to develop AR application using webcam and Flash and i have found it very useful to follow and understand the basics of AR.

For example:

1. Augmented Reality using webcam and Flash
   http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/augmented_reality.html

2. Introduction to Augmented Reality http://www.gotoandlearn.com/play.php?id=105

I have also watched other videos regarding AIR for Android Applications from gotoandlearn website and i did all of the successfully such as:

1. Air for Android – Part 1
2. Air for Android – Part 2
3. Publishing AIR for Android Applications
4. AIR for Android GPU Acceleration
5. Introduction to Augmented Reality

However, i didn't manage to get it work on my android phone (doing nothing and run very slow).

I would like to ask a few questions on the following:

1) To develop an Augmented Reality application on android, is this done using the same method as the one's above?

2) Do I need to use any other software other than those that is showing on the video and adobe air 2.5?

3) Do you know of any other sources/reading material that are relevant and may be of help?

Thank you

Answer 1

Augmented Reality (AR) is a generic term for an interactive 3D environment that blends with our physical reality, usually through a webcam, or in this case, a phone camera.

1. You can develop AR apps for Android with nothing more than the Android SDK, since it provides API for interacting with the camera, and it supports OpenGL for 3D graphics. Since AR usually involves complex algorithms of image recognition, it's not a trivial task, so leveraging existing tools is definitely a good option.
2. Since using Adobe AIR and Flash, is actually running the Flash virtual machine over the Dalvik virtual machine, you might experience performance issues for such a CPU intensive task such as AR.
3. If using other tools is also an option for you, you can check out Qualcomm's Augmented Reality SDK