Paul Forest

The frameworks mentioned in the first portion all compile down to a platform native app. This will generally get you the best performance, at the expense of development complexity. Another way to go is a web based application. As all platforms have access to the web, this allows you to simplify your development process. Performance may not be as high as a native app, but should be more than acceptable on most hardware.

While this guide presents one way to go about learning, you might also consider having a project in mind at the start. Once you know what you want to achieve, the choice of platform becomes more clear. I have found that having an objective you care about is more effective than any course work. You’ll work harder, learn more and dig deeper, while gaining practical experience.

The major drawbacks to personal AR systems are power consumption and weight. The more capable the system, the heavier and more power hungry it is, requiring either a tether to a power source, or frequent battery changes. Tethers are less than ideal on a manufacturing floor and heavy hardware is not good for doing long, intensive work.

In aerospace, potential applications for AR are numerous, from designing the manufacturing process to augmenting the process itself. AR is an excellent medium for exploring "Digital Twin" technology, allowing users to see how a new process might work with advanced simulations. It also excels at presenting information in context - providing instructions and or analysis during an assembly process or while troubleshooting a problem in physical space.

Augmented Reality or AR allows for virtual displays to be overlaid onto the real world. Examples in everyday use include Heads Up Displays (HUDs), Video Games (Pikmin Bloom, Pokemon Go), Projection Mapping and more. General Purpose AR and the recently branded "spatial computing" use Head Mounted Displays to make the experience Portable, and range from eyeglasses to large goggles in terms of size & weight.

Your build and deploy pipelines will depend heavily on your target audience and scope. A desktop utility for your team mates may be written in an interpreted language and distributed via an internal web page or shared folder. A simple video game that runs only on a single platform but has multiple developers will need a source control solution, likely a compiler specific to the platform, unit tests, etc. A large, multi-user networked program, running on multiple platforms will require sophisticated build and branch management, in addition to all the things a team project requires.