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Tracky

Record an ARKit session for reconstruction in Blender

Longer Tutorial Video

Background

We developed this tool because we wanted to experiment with new AR ideas faster. By capturing an ARKit session (including its depth data, its segmentation masks, all of its positional and orientation streams, stereo microphone audio, and any detected planes) we can reconstruct it in Blender. Once in Blender, we can quickly iterate on concepts and see the results as they would look in an ARKit session.

Prerequisites

Basic Use

  1. Launch Tracky on your iOS device:
<p align="center"> <img src="https://github.com/Shopify/tracky/blob/main/readme_images/launchtracky.gif" width="200"/> </p>
  1. Tap the record button (after waiting for the app to find tracking planes):
<p align="center"> <img src="https://github.com/Shopify/tracky/blob/main/readme_images/taprecord.gif" width="200"/> </p>
  1. Use the Files app to navigate to the Tracky directory, and transfer your latest recording to a computer with Blender installed:
<p align="center"> <img src="https://github.com/Shopify/tracky/blob/main/readme_images/transfertodesktop.gif" width="200"/> </p>
  1. Import the .bren file in Blender:
<p align="center"> <img src="https://github.com/Shopify/tracky/blob/main/readme_images/importinblender.gif" width="600"/> </p>

Build

  1. Open the Tracky.xcodeproj XCode Project:
<p align="center"> <img src="https://github.com/Shopify/tracky/blob/main/readme_images/xcodeproj.png" width="600"/> </p>
  1. Plug in a device and select it as the target:
<p align="center"> <img src="https://github.com/Shopify/tracky/blob/main/readme_images/iphoneselection.png" width="600"/> </p>
  1. Hit play to build it:
<p align="center"> <img src="https://github.com/Shopify/tracky/blob/main/readme_images/build.png" width="600"/> </p>

Install (Blender)

Tracky outputs .bren files with all of the recorded data from the ARKit capture. This file can be imported into Blender via the use of the included Blender plugin.

  1. Open Blender Preferences:
<p align="center"> <img src="https://github.com/Shopify/tracky/blob/main/readme_images/blenderprefs.png" width="600"/> </p>
  1. Navigate to the Add-ons section:
<p align="center"> <img src="https://github.com/Shopify/tracky/blob/main/readme_images/addons.png" width="600"/> </p>
  1. Click the "Install..." button:
<p align="center"> <img src="https://github.com/Shopify/tracky/blob/main/readme_images/installbutton.png" width="600"/> </p>
  1. Navigate to the BrenImporter/bren_importer.py file from this checkout:
<p align="center"> <img src="https://github.com/Shopify/tracky/blob/main/readme_images/brenimporter.png" width="600"/> </p>
  1. Click the "Install Add-on" button:
<p align="center"> <img src="https://github.com/Shopify/tracky/blob/main/readme_images/installaddon.png" width="600"/> </p>
  1. Important: check the box to enable the add-on:
<p align="center"> <img src="https://github.com/Shopify/tracky/blob/main/readme_images/checkbox.png" width="600"/> </p>

You're all set! Now you can import your .bren files output by the Tracky app.

Sample Tracky Output

Fun One-Minute Tutorial

https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1228/223236400-98469d59-504d-4276-8221-45e035c031fb.mp4