/ˌeɪ ˈɑːr ˈtreɪ.sɪŋ/

AR tracing

noun · drawing technology

What it is

In AR tracing, the device sits between the artist's eye and the drawing surface — usually clamped on a stand above the paper. The camera feed of the real paper is shown on screen, and a chosen reference image is laid over it at adjustable size, position, and opacity. The artist looks at the screen, sees the photo "sitting" on top of their paper, and draws the lines they see. The pencil marks on the real paper then line up with the overlaid image.

Unlike the grid method, AR tracing involves no cell-by-cell decomposition: the copy is direct. Unlike the projector method, no light is cast onto the paper, so it works in a normally lit room and needs no darkened studio. The defining technical feature is registration — the overlay is pinned to the camera view, so it tracks as the device or paper shifts slightly, rather than floating independently.

Etymology

"AR" abbreviates augmented reality, a term coined by Boeing researcher Thomas Caudell in 1990 to describe heads-up displays that overlay digital information on a worker's view of the real world.¹ "Tracing" is far older, naming the copying of an image by following its lines. The compound "AR tracing" entered common use only after consumer phones gained markerless tracking — Apple's ARKit and Google's ARCore both shipped in 2017 — which made a stable, registered overlay possible without printed markers.

Examples in use

A muralist photographs a small colour study, opens it in an AR tracing app, and scales the overlay to fill a two-metre wall before chalking in the main shapes. A tattoo artist positions a stencil design over a photo of the client's arm to check placement before transferring. A portrait student traces a reference once to learn its proportions, then redraws it freehand to test what was retained. Consumer AR tracing apps date to roughly 2017 onward; the Grid Maker Pro AR app pairs the technique with the same 82 overlays available in the free web tool.