Is it possible to use custom markers?

Question

Is it possible to use bespoke markers that do not resemble the "Hiro" marker like below. Could I potentially use a random shape (a solid red oval for example) as a marker?

If this is not currently supported, could someone point me into the right direction to where I might start building this functionality?

**Ensure that your marker PNG file does not contains any transparency**. The .patt generated file won't be OK & your printed marker won't be detected. — Maxime Pacary, Oct 22 '18 at 11:01

Piotr Adam Milewski · Answer 1 · 2018-10-22T17:42:31.523

9

AR.js supports custom markers. Make any silly image with the marker generator.

Let ar.js know that you want to use your marker:

<a-marker type="pattern" url="patterns/mypattern.patt">
      <a-entity myobject></a-entity>
</a-marker>

and voila. You can check it out in this glitch using this image.

edited Oct 22 '18 at 17:42

answered Aug 22 '17 at 17:19

Piotr Adam Milewski

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Is this still up to date? because it doesn't seem to work for me. – Blinxen Feb 13 '18 at 13:04
@Blinxen last time i checked, there was a bug in ar.js, and found a solution here https://github.com/jeromeetienne/AR.js/issues/216#issuecomment-346906569. I'll add it to the anwser – Piotr Adam Milewski Feb 13 '18 at 13:07
I cloned the ar.js master branch and made the changes to the file, but when I open the html, I get a refference error for both file on some random lines. It just showes a blank page. – Blinxen Feb 13 '18 at 15:22
@Blinxen i'll try it out in ~3h – Piotr Adam Milewski Feb 13 '18 at 15:22
Ok, but please clone the master branch, so we have the same git repo and try it. Thank you. – Blinxen Feb 13 '18 at 15:23
@Blinxen i've been trying to make it work, check out my update – Piotr Adam Milewski Feb 13 '18 at 22:01
@Blinxen: see my answer below. – Belfield Jun 02 '18 at 19:47

Belfield · Answer 2 · 2018-06-03T10:47:46.180

1. preset="pattern"

Firstly, if you look at the raw js script: https://jeromeetienne.github.io/AR.js/aframe/build/aframe-ar.js, you'll notice there is no preset="custom" in the else if. For example, search else if( _this.data.preset === 'kanji' ){.

There is however a preset="pattern". So ignore the documentation and set preset="pattern" For example:

<a-marker preset="pattern" type="pattern" url="img/pattern-marker.patt"> <a-box position='0 0.5 0' material='color: black;' soundhandler></a-box> </a-marker>

2. Upload .patt to your GitHub so it can resolve the file

Secondly, my .patt wasn't being picked up locally, so url="img/pattern-marker.patt" may not work. Push this .patt file up to GitHub and then reference it using the raw.githubusercontent.

Example

You can test this using my pattern. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lbelfield/augmented-reality/master/src/components/trainTicket/train-ticket.patt.

The image of the marker is below: https://github.com/lbelfield/augmented-reality/blob/master/src/components/trainTicket/train-ticket.png

React-Web-AR: This won't be applicable for you, but if anyone is using React-Web-AR like myself, use this:

<Marker parameters={{ preset: 'pattern', type: 'pattern', patternUrl: 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lbelfield/augmented-reality/master/src/components/trainTicket/train-ticket.patt', url: 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lbelfield/augmented-reality/master/src/components/trainTicket/train-ticket.patt' }}>

+1 way more thorough :). Something must have change in the recent build, since it works just like i described it in the very beginning ( You don't need the `preset="pattern" `) — Piotr Adam Milewski, Jun 03 '18 at 20:26

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 26 '21 at 19:48

Step 1: First, make a custom marker by visiting this page

Step 2: Place the downloaded pattern ( from the above link ) to your root directory or upload it to your server

Step 3: Copy-paste the below code

 <a-scene embedded arjs='sourceType: webcam;'>
    <a-box position='0 0.5 0' material='opacity: 0.5;'></a-box>
    <a-marker-camera preset='custom' type='pattern' url='PATH_TO_DOWNLOADED_PATTERN'></a-marker-camera>
    <a-entity myobject></a-entity>
    </a-marker>
</a-scene>

Is it possible to use custom markers?

3 Answers3

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