Industry Insights: Implementing augmented reality and its pain points

What is the most often overlooked piece of an AR/VR implementation?

“I believe augmented reality should not be an objective by itself, it should be one of the available resources to better display data and information or to enhance storytelling. AR provides spectacular possibilities, but as any narrative resource it should have a reason to be used, no matter if they are aesthetic or narrative,” Churruca cautioned.

“Because the industry is still at the front end of widespread virtual reality adoption, the toolsets needed to deliver content live or on demand present several challenges,” said Thompson. “Whether it’s VR or AR, creating content requires the right hardware and software tools to create/shoot, record, edit, manage, process, and deliver to the consumer device at a bitrate that delivers on the experience. Everything from camera selection and placement to the tools used to acquire, process, and deliver the content impact the experience.”

“Two important, but often overlooked, aspects are workflow and design. An easy-to-operate and reliable system that supports end-to-end workflows, together with well-designed visual elements, is key to adoption by stakeholders. In particular, workflows need to harness the power of AR/VR to enhance producers’ storytelling ability. Advanced rendering capabilities are wasted if they’re not coupled with a workflow that can be used by every member of the editorial team in the newsroom,” explained Cohen.