FLARTOOLKIT DOCS OPEN COMMUNITY

from the ARToolkit official web page

What is it?

ARToolKit was originally developed by Dr. Hirokazu Kato, and its ongoing development is being supported by the Human Interface Technology Laboratory (HIT Lab) at the University of Washington, HIT Lab NZ at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and ARToolworks, Inc, Seattle.

ARToolKit is a software library for building Augmented Reality (AR) applications. These are applications that involve the overlay of virtual imagery on the real world. 

One of the key difficulties in developing Augmented Reality applications is the problem of tracking the users viewpoint. In order to know from what viewpoint to draw the virtual imagery, the application needs to know where the user is looking in the real world.

ARToolKit uses computer vision algorithms to solve this problem. The ARToolKit video tracking libraries calculate the real camera position and orientation relative to physical markers in real time. This enables the easy development of a wide range of Augmented Reality applications. 

Where can I get it?

You can download ARtoolkit from here: http://www.hitl.washington.edu/artoolkit/download/

If you want to use the PRO version (commercial license) visit this site: http://www.artoolworks.com/Home.html

License

ARToolKit is made available freely for non-commercial use under the GNU General Public License. Commercial licenses to a professional implementation of ARToolKit are available for users for whom the GPL is not suitable, or who require a higher level of support, or who require customization or other specialist modifictions. Commercial licenses are administered by ARToolworks, Inc., Seattle, WA, USA. Click here for more information on ARToolKit licenses and your usage options.