Blocker App Brings Augmented Reality Shot-Planning to Your iPhone

By Benjamin Craig | 27-Sep-2017

With iOS 11 hot of the production line, mixed reality agency AfterNow has wasted no time leveraging Apple's ARKit to deliver a free augmented reality tool to help directors compose their scenes. Here's the blurb...

AfterNow is releasing, Blocker, an app for filmmakers leveraging augmented reality, ARKit on iPhone.

Taking advantage of the new augmented reality features of Apple ARKit, AfterNow has created an app for filmmakers.

Blocker is a creative tool for filmmakers. It combines a director's viewfinder with the ability to place virtual characters in order to quickly compose shots. It can be used for blocking or storyboarding.

The current version includes:
- A director's viewfinder
- The ability to compose a scene with 3D content
- A physical model of the sun that accurately simulates shadows and colour
- Shareable photos with important shot information baked in

“Our goal is to pull storyboarding and shot blocking into the real world, so that it’s intuitive and expressive,” said Jesse Vander Does, the Director of Technology at AfterNow.

By mixing virtual characters and objects in the real world, filmmakers can accurately prepare scenes to communicate positioning of cameras and characters.

“ARKit from Apple is enabling developers to create more valuable and practical augmented reality applications on mobile phones,” according to Philippe Lewicki, Captain of AfterNow.

Blocker is now available for download on the Apple app store for iPhone 6s and newer, running iOS11.
Apple App store: http://apple.co/2w8VjZw