AR.m-ato.me » Concepts

Hack My Eyes

Aya — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 18:25:25 +0000

Concept video by someone who obviously really enjoyed Ghost in the Shell. (So did I, registernoize, so did I…)

V2_ Institute for Unstable Media’s EcoSystem Event: Augmented Reality “cross-sector gathering”

Aya — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:25:06 +0000

Good on you, V2_ Institute. You’ve really brought together a truly diverse group of participants from all walks of life and work. Apart from the hum-drum of the regular “AR” (*ahem*… AR-GPS or Augmented Navigation really…) players from Layar and Wikitude, it looks like they had a fair collection of creative, abstract, narrative and magic augmented reality demonstrations and concepts. Presentations looked a bit bland… I really have a problem with these phrases and terms like “re-create the past” when the example shown is no more than a static 3D model plastered over a physical POI (I could have just taken a brochure from somewhere and held it up for a similar enough effect). Ah well. Inviting the ‘big boys’ over to play is a necessary evil for events like this.

Event Program Outline and Information (Dec 4th, 2009)

Here’s a “teaser” video of the event. Perhaps more video content is on the way? (Please?)

Layar and Wikitude are special guests at first ever Ecosystem event for people in Augmented Reality. Hosted by V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media and PortalToYourDreams. Artists mingled with developers, city planners and industry in this interactive cross-sector gathering. Special talks on fashion business, aura recognition, AR storytelling and the magic couch :-)

For more intellectual and creative stimulation, visit the V2_ website.

Did You Miss It? vFrame concept video, virtual pit and another AR lecture

Aya — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:33:19 +0000

This week’s DYMI videos are totally unrelated to eachother again, but are worth watching.

A virtual pit by Georgia Tech’s Augmented Environments Lab

“This video shows an augmented reality application we have developed to use as an experimental testbed for evaluating what components of an AR experience contribute to a user feeling “present” or immersed. In this experiment the participants are presented with a virtual hole that drops three stories and are asked to perform tasks around this “pit.” Their heart rate, galvanic skin response, and skin temperature are measured while the participant is shown different versions of the pit. The goal is to develop quantitative and qualitative methods for measuring how immersed a user is in an AR experience and to develop guidelines for people building AR applications.”

This is really cool. I’m always interested to see experiments related to the psychological effect of AR and mixed reality in general. Their website contains a little library of publications related to their research in AR as well.

.
.
.

vFrame, a stop-motion concept video for outdoor AR social gaming.

vFrame is ‘yet another’ concept video for an AR social gaming platform, but their decision to use stop motion for their concept video made it unique enough to set it apart from the rest.

.
.
.

“Augmented Reality as a Tool for Improving the Utility of Information” by Prof. Bruce Thomas (University of South Australia)

A reasonable introduction and ‘matome’ of augmented reality technology.

Did You Miss It? AR Distortions, OpenChan, PozAR and Volume Slicing Display

Aya — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:46:50 +0000

While AR has really taken off in the news and media over the past year, there are hundreds of examples that have been missed, looked over, or forgotten either in the rush of the recent AR ‘browser wars’ and novelty ads … or simply were released before augmented reality caught everyone’s attention. Every week I’ll attempt to post a few videos and links to examples of augmented reality, demos, and toolkits to fill the gaps for those newly interested in augmented reality technology or with less time to peruse the internet for AR goodies.

PozARToolkit and rtPozAR source and documentation available at http://foilskin.seesaa.net/ [JP]

Documentation at: http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/perception/VolumeSlicingDisplay/index-e.html

Fujitsu’s [New Generation Experience]

Aya — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:12:40 +0000

I’m not sure when exactly this page was put up (last-modified date is in October), but this is the first time I’ve come across this page from Fujitsu Japan’s website. In the about section of their site, Fujitsu overviews several design concepts and areas of research they intend to cover for the year. 2009 was the AR-heavy “New Generation Experience” proposal which consists of 3 topics of research, 5 key concepts, and 20 sample scenarios. I’m sad to say I didn’t catch this before, because they put a lot of effort into slick diagrams I would have loved to see about 6 months ago. The research topics are pretty broad, bland, and what you would expect of any consumer electronics company, but the key concepts and scenarios are pretty fun. Let’s dive straight in, shall we? (I don’t see any English version of this page so I will do my best and translate and summarize.)

5 Key Concepts

01 Intersection of the real and virtual worlds: Seamless transitions between the virtual and the real through a collective of technologies called augmented reality.

02 Becoming 2D, 3D: Product design has previously been focused on 3D objects, but now is concentrating on being thin and simple like the iPhone, flat and functional like the Suica.

03 Data Becoming Objects: While industries work towards paperless offices and digital documents, there is a need for a materialization of data in some form: widgets, or digital photo frames.

04 Aesthetic balance of Digital and Analog: Although we are a society in pursuit of convenience, our instinct for human experience is inescapable. Retailers will need to provide new services and forms of human experience to fulfill the needs of digital society; balance of digital convenience, and analog warmth.

05 Value Created by Green [Eco] Movement: “Eco-activities” used to only be a part of efforts towards Corporate Social Responsibility. Now, there are efforts to be a source of direct solutions, products and services to solve these eco-related problems, such as 3D hologram technology to replace business related travel.

Following this are the 20 sample scenarios. In my next post, expect more in depth discussion of these scenarios, plus translations of some of their diagrams. Scenario titles link to their respective pages on the Fujitsu website (in Japanese).