User-Designed Machine-Readable Target Codes

In a template design application, a user creates a template for a machine-readable image target that supports encoded data and augmented reality homography. The design application enforces design constraints that ensure reliable detection of the target by a detection application while supporting creative freedom in designing the template. The design constraints can include specification of a detection contour outlining a transition between a perimeter of a border shape and an adjacent area of a contrasting color. Data to be encoded is applied to the template to create printable image instances of the target. The template is also loaded into a detection application, which scans and recognizes printed instances of the target and decodes the encoded data. The detection application uses the decoded data to create a synthesized image target matching the scanned target and which is used to execute further tracking of the target within a moving field of view.