HTC has released an SDK allowing developers to take advantage of the Duo Camera. The SDK is already available by way of the HTC Dev site and means developers will be able to “tap into the power of the Duo Camera” on the One (M8). This is the HTC Dual Lens SDK Preview, which includes two APIs.
Those APIs are DualLens and DimensionPlus which break down as follows;
- DualLens – support for obtaining and managing a “bokeh” strength map mask for requested strength values.
- DimensionPlus – support for the DimensionPlus file format. Includes a DimensionPlusView class for rendering DimensionPlus photos and a DimensionPlusUtility class for exporting images in the DimensionPlus format.
While this is certainly good news to see coming from HTC — we do have to remember this is first and foremost intended for the developer side. Basically, end-users now have to wait (and hope) developers will take the SDK and begin playing. Not to mention, release apps that take advantage of the included APIs.
Having said that, this all goes to the depth sensors, which we have seen demonstrated with features such as UFocus, Foregrounder and Dimension Plus. UFocus, a feature we recently took a look at, allows users to add that “artistic blur effect” also known as bokeh.
Foregrounder is another One (M8) feature we recently looked at. This one allows the user to put emphasis on the main subject of the image by adjusting the focal point. This can be done in a variety of ways and includes using color separation, motion blur and more. Dimension Plus, as the name suggests, allows you to see images at different angles.
Bottom line here, HTC has released an SDK and we now look forward to seeing what developers will come up with.
SOURCE: HTC Dev
