T(ether)

http://kiwi.media.mit.edu/tether/

T(ether) is a novel spatially aware display that supports intuitive interaction with volumetric data. The display acts as a window affording users a perspective view of three- dimensional data through tracking of head position and orientation.

3D Digital Art: Drawn Together: Stubbins Studio Gallery

Until around the end of this month there is a 3D Digital Art gallery exhibition in the Stubbins Studio Gallery in the Architectural Building.

Drawn Together is an interactive 3D digital artwork by the OpenEndedGroup. It is an artwork in which participants interact with a digital intelligence to create unforseen and original drawings and music in 3D – a drawing performance whose form is in equal parts physical and virtual (taken from pamphlet)

Holoflector – an interactive augmented-reality mirror

Holoflector uses a translucent mirror with a LCD panel behind it. The kinect camera is used to get the depth data, while the phone is used to as a form of positioning device.

This is not in any sense a traditional ‘augmented reality’ application, but  its worth while watching to see where AR technology might be heading.

More AR for social change

The intent here is great, but two thoughts occur to me. 1) This ad is kind of ridiculous. It could have been done in such a more tasteful and effective way. I can actually see some young guys looking this up with their friends just to laugh, reinforcing sociopathic behavior instead of curbing it… that said, 2) until the interaction is more spontaneous — less steps/hurdles to make it work — very few people will ever experience it. Very likely NOT the folks who most need to. The most effective AR “social change’ experiences will be ones that are spontaneous and unexpected, like the Dutch billboard mentioned in my last post.

How AR can fit into social change

Interesting article (with video examples) of how some are using AR as a tool for social change… just in case anyone gets inspired. 🙂

Political Activism, Social Change, and Augmented Reality

Invizamals

Invizimals presents an interesting take on AR. It is a game for the play station portable where players capture, train, and battle virtual creatures, similar to pokemon, but invismals adds an intriguing AR twist. With the aid of a hardware attatchment to the PSP, players “see” the creatures as existing in the “real” world, as though the PSP where a window with which these normally invisible creatures are revealed.

What I think is most interesting about this example, is that it takes AR and makes it straightforward, understandable, and appealing enough to be a successful children’s game (with multiple sequels!). The project designers utilize AR in several ways to make for a very engaging experience. To discover new monsters, players must “find” them in their real environment, encouraging exploration of real space. In order to orient the invisimals in space, players must use fiduciary marker, but this is integrated into the game as a sort of “trapping” device. Players can use other extensions of the real world to interact with their invisimals, such as shaking their PSP to trigger an earthquake attack, or blowing into the microphone to trigger a whirlwind.

Some inspirations that I would like to draw from this project for my own are the ways Invisimals makes their AR integration so gratifying it is a fully fledged game.

Junaio – Scan the World

Junaio is an augmented reality browser which has a wide range of AR capabilities from GPS tracking to marker recognition. This software allows embedded information to be interacted with thus unloading a new level of information and interaction. For example, scanning a painting in a museum gives access to the painter’s information, a barcode or a QR code scan can trigger access to a website, a shopping micro-site or other related information, depending on the data sources available from various partner platforms. There are some really cool features including: unique markers from environment specific designs e.g plans and sections, 3D model with interactivity points which unveil information on specific areas.

One unique feature about that Junaio is that it can work inside buildings which clearly set itself apart from its competitor Layar . If you want to see this works in real life, you should visit a very specific event or exisbition and test the technology. If you’re at the event, all you have to do is start junaio app on your iPhone or Android-powered device and select event channel. Then, you’ll be able to get additional information on everything around by simply pointing your phone around the venue and then clicking on dots to get additional information. The trick is in their patent-pending LLA marker (latitude, longitude, altitude) technology that works alongside GPS and compass-based geo-information, enabling users to experience augmented reality even inside buildings. In other words, the company is hoping to bring AR technology to other closed spaces such as exhibitions, trade fairs, shopping malls, airports and rail stations.

In my opinion, there are some limitations about doing that.  They need to own certain amount of users to encourage a group developers to create and maintain their own channels, which is very challenging for a mid-scale company and a huge investment for short-term event. With this in mind, I would like to find a way to provide information in a more organised sense for collaborative purposes. I hope with more research I can find a solution for this.

Youtube Video