Adding AR Overlays
There are two ways to add advanced AR overlays to a Data Capture View:
- Take advantage of the BarcodeTrackingAdvancedOverlay class, which provides a ready-to-use implementation for view-based AR overlays.
- Provide your own custom implementation, using the function IBarcodeTrackingListener.OnSessionUpdated() to retrieve the barcode’s current screen position for each frame.
- The first way is the easiest, as it takes care of adding, removing and animating the overlay’s views whenever needed. It’s also flexible enough to cover the majority of use cases.
- You can always handle touch events on the views you create like you normally would.
Using BarcodeTrackingAdvancedOverlay
As mentioned above, the advanced overlay combined with its listener offers an easy way of adding augmentations to your DataCaptureView. In this guide we will add a view above each barcode showing its content.
First of all, create a new instance of BarcodeTrackingAdvancedOverlay and add it to the DataCaptureView.
BarcodeTrackingAdvancedOverlay overlay = BarcodeTrackingAdvancedOverlay.Create(barcodeTracking, dataCaptureView);
At this point, you have two options.
- Add a IBarcodeTrackingAdvancedOverlayListener to the overlay.
- Use the setters in the overlay to specify the view, anchor and offset for each barcode.
The second way will take priority over the first one, which means that if a view for a barcode has been set using BarcodeTrackingAdvancedOverlay.SetViewForTrackedBarcode(), the function IBarcodeTrackingAdvancedOverlayListener.ViewForTrackedBarcode() won’t be invoked for that specific barcode.
Using IBarcodeTrackingAdvancedOverlayListener
- You need to implement IBarcodeTrackingAdvancedOverlayListener. This interface’s methods are invoked every time a barcode is newly tracked.
- IBarcodeTrackingAdvancedOverlayListener.ViewForTrackedBarcode() asks for a view to animate on top of the barcode. Returning null will show no view.
- IBarcodeTrackingAdvancedOverlayListener.AnchorForTrackedBarcode() asks how to anchor the view to the barcode through Anchor. Be aware that it anchors the view’s center to the anchor point. To achieve anchoring the top of the view or the bottom etc. you will have to set an offset as explained in the next point.
- IBarcodeTrackingAdvancedOverlayListener.OffsetForTrackedBarcode() asks for an offset that is applied on the already anchored view. This offset is expressed through a PointWithUnit.
public View ViewForTrackedBarcode(BarcodeTrackingAdvancedOverlay overlay, TrackedBarcode trackedBarcode)
{
// Create and return the view you want to show for this tracked barcode. You can also return null, to have no view for this barcode.
TextView textView = new TextView(this);
textView.SetBackgroundColor(Color.White);
textView.LayoutParameters = new ViewGroup.LayoutParams(
ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WrapContent,
ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WrapContent);
textView.Text = trackedBarcode.Barcode.Data;
return textView;
}
public Anchor AnchorForTrackedBarcode(
BarcodeTrackingAdvancedOverlay overlay,
TrackedBarcode trackedBarcode)
{
// As we want the view to be above the barcode, we anchor the view's center to the top-center of the barcode quadrilateral.
// Use the function 'OffsetForTrackedBarcode' below to adjust the position of the view by providing an offset.
return Anchor.TopCenter;
}
public PointWithUnit OffsetForTrackedBarcode(
BarcodeTrackingAdvancedOverlay overlay,
TrackedBarcode trackedBarcode,
View view)
{
// This is the offset that will be applied to the view.
// You can use MeasureUnit.Fraction to give a measure relative to the view itself, the sdk will take care of transforming this into pixel size.
// We now center horizontally and move up the view to make sure it's centered and above the barcode quadrilateral by half of the view's height.
return new PointWithUnit(
new FloatWithUnit(0f, MeasureUnit.Fraction),
new FloatWithUnit(-1f, MeasureUnit.Fraction));
}
Using the setters in the overlay
The function IBarcodeTrackingListener.OnSessionUpdated() gives you access to a session, which contains all added, updated and removed tracked barcodes. From here you can create the view you want to display, and then call BarcodeTrackingAdvancedOverlay.SetViewForTrackedBarcode(), BarcodeTrackingAdvancedOverlay.SetAnchorForTrackedBarcode() and BarcodeTrackingAdvancedOverlay.SetOffsetForTrackedBarcode()
public void OnSessionUpdated(BarcodeTracking mode, BarcodeTrackingSession session, IFrameData data)
{
// Be careful, this function is not invoked on the main thread!
RunOnUiThread(() => {
foreach (TrackedBarcode trackedBarcode in session.AddedTrackedBarcodes) {
TextView textView = new TextView(this);
textView.SetBackgroundColor(Color.White);
textView.LayoutParameters =
new ViewGroup.LayoutParams(
ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WrapContent,
ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WrapContent);
textView.Text = trackedBarcode.Barcode.Data;
overlay.SetViewForTrackedBarcode(trackedBarcode, textView);
overlay.SetAnchorForTrackedBarcode(trackedBarcode, Anchor.TopCenter);
overlay.SetOffsetForTrackedBarcode(
trackedBarcode,
new PointWithUnit(
new FloatWithUnit(0f, MeasureUnit.Fraction),
new FloatWithUnit(-1f, MeasureUnit.Fraction)
)
);
}
});
}
Provide your own custom implementation
If you do not want to use the overlay, it is also possible to add augmented reality features based on the tracking identifier and the quadrilateral coordinates that every tracked barcode has. Below are some pointers.
- Set a IBarcodeTrackingListener on the barcode tracking
- In the IBarcodeTrackingListener.OnSessionUpdated() function fetch the added and removed tracked barcodes.
- Create and show the views for the added barcodes.
- Remove the views for the lost barcodes.
- Add a method that is called 60fps when BarcodeTracking is enabled. In this method, for each TrackedBarcode on-screen, update the position based on TrackedBarcode.Location. Please note that there is no need to animate the change of location, the change of position will happen frequently enough that the view will look as it is animated.
The frame coordinates from TrackedBarcode.Location need to be mapped to view coordinates, using DataCaptureView.MapFrameQuadrilateralToView().
public void OnSessionUpdated(BarcodeTracking mode, BarcodeTrackingSession session, IFrameData data)
{
// Be careful, this function is not invoked on the main thread!
RunOnUiThread(() => {
foreach (int lostTrackIdentifier in session.RemovedTrackedBarcodes) {
// You now know the identifier of the tracked barcode that has been lost. Usually here you would remove the views
associated.
}
foreach (TrackedBarcode trackedBarcode in session.AddedTrackedBarcodes)
{
// Fixed identifier for the tracked barcode.
int trackingIdentifier = trackedBarcode.Identifier;
// Current location of the tracked barcode.
Quadrilateral location = trackedBarcode.Location;
Quadrilateral quadrilateral = dataCaptureView.MapFrameQuadrilateralToView(location);
// You now know this new tracking's identifier and location. Usually here you would create and show the views.
}
});
}