Can I track more than 4 images at a time with ARKit?

Question

Out of the box it\'s pretty clear ARKit doesn\'t allow for the tracking of more than 4 images at once. (You can \"track\" more markers than that but only 4 will function at

Answer 1

At the moment there's no workaround in ARKit 3.0 to simultaneously track more than FOUR images using ARImageAnchor subclass inside session's ARImageTrackingConfiguration(). I should say that this limitation works despite the fact that the total number of tracked images in a scene can be up to 100 in ARKit 3.0.

You can read comments in ARConfiguration class if you choose Jump to Definition option.

I believe this feature was limited by Cupertino software engineers not occasionally. ARImageAnchor subclass inherits from ARAnchor parent class and conforms to ARTrackable protocol, so it tracks not only static images but moving images as well (like a logo on a car's body). Hence, if you track more than 4 images – it's highly CPU/GPU intensive (the most notorious thing for draining phone's battery), cause your device must detect and track several different objects.

I suppose it will be possible to simultaneously track more than 4 images with a newer ARKit 4.0 version that can be run on considerably powerful 5nm devices, like iPhone 12, that we'll see this fall.

Thus, Apple software engineers sacrificed apps functionality for the sake of a robust AR experience.

P.S.

It is incorrect to compare ARCore with ARKit, 'cause these frameworks work differently inside, even though they have similar fundamental principles – like World Tracking, Scene Understanding and Rendering stages. And in addition to the above, I should say that ARCore has more modest functionality than ARKit, which makes ARCore more "lightweight" for CPU calculations (although I understand that the last phrase sounds very subjective).