Prototyping Applications with Tangible User Interfaces in DART,The Designer’s Augmented Reality Toolkit

Abstract
In this position statement, we describe our approach to prototyping applications with tangible user interface (TUI) using the Designer’s Augmented Reality Toolkit (DART), a system we have created to allow non-technologists to easily create augmented reality (AR) experiences. Over the past year our research has focused on the creation of this toolkit that can be used by technologists, designers, and students alike to rapidly prototype AR applications. This development effort extends to support the configuration of new human interfaces, including tangible user interfaces. Current approaches to AR and TUI development involve extensive programming and content creation as well as knowledge of technical topics involving cameras, trackers, and 3D geometry. It is very difficult, even for technologists, to create AR and TUI experiences. Our goal was to eliminate these obstacles that prevent such users from being able to experiment with AR. The DART system is based on the Macromedia Director multimedia-programming environment, the defacto standard for multimedia content creation. DART uses the familiar Director paradigms of a score, sprites and behaviors to allow a user to visually create complex AR applications. DART also provides low-level support for the management of trackers, sensors, and cameras via a Director plug-in Xtra.

Full Reference:
Maribeth Gandy, Steven Dow and Blair MacIntyre. “Prototyping Applications with Tangible User Interfaces in DART,The Designer’s Augmented Reality Toolkit.” Positional paper at Toolkit Support for Interaction in the Physical World Workshop at IEEE Pervasive Computing 2004, April 20, 2004.