Augmented Planet » Technology

AR Street Fighter

lester — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:27:01 +0000

Trawling though my inbox I came across this fun video sent to me by Young Lee. It’s a pretty sweet viral video showing some hi-tech gangsters training courtesy of augmented realty.

If the Karate Kid had access to augmented reality he would have been the ultimate bad-ass and unstoppable.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=w77MiguDqYc

DroidAR Tools for Android

lester — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:17:22 +0000

I know I blog a lot about iOS and often neglect our Android readers, so it’s always good to hear from Android developers who ask ‘how about me’. Good stuff.

This morning I posted about the Absolute Engine for the iPhone which prompted a response from Simon who has been working on the DroidAR project. DroidAR is an OpenGL framework for Android developers who want to add location based or marker based augmented reality functionality to their mobile applications.

You can find out more about the project here: http://code.google.com/p/droidar/

The website contains a number of examples including a rather handy installing and getting started guide to help you get up to speed.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFbEvkWJOV0

Developing AR Applications is Obvious

lester — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:49:04 +0000

After writing a book last year on developing content for augmented reality browsers using Layar, junaio and Wikitude, I’m pleased to say that I will shortly be starting a more ambitious book project focused on natural feature tracking and face recognition.

Currently there are no shortages of augmented reality tools for developers, so my new book will cover all the latest platforms and how they can be used. Think of it as a ‘choosing the right augmented reality tool’ guide and how to developer augmented reality applications for the iPhone (Android version also in planning). Obviously there is a long way to go but the contract has been delivered so now it’s just a case of getting my head down and doing some research.

One of the latest tools to come to my attention is the Obvious Engine which was the engine used in the recent Chatterbucks iPhone application . The application if you missed it (more here) brings money to life. As you can see from the video below it looks pretty impressive.

Obvious Engine

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNiyT7qwHGA

The home page for the Obvious Engine is: obviousengine.comThere are not a lot of details on the engine but it looks good nether the less and could be a worthy chapter to include in the book project.

For other AR developer tools, please take a look at our AR tools section.

Augmented Reality Tools Now Free From metaio

lester — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:07:39 +0000

No doubt about it, everyone wants to capture the augmented reality developer and have them building applications using their tools. Even a casual search around Google will dig up a plethora of SDKs all demanding your attention.

Undoubtedly one of the industry leaders in the area of augmented reality tools is metaio who have been leading the way for over 10 years. metaio are responsible for many of the showcase applications that we talk about here at Augmented Planet and are the brains behind the junaio augmented reality browser.

Significant news today for developers interested in building powerful natural feature tracking applications is metaio have announced that they are making their latest augmented reality tools available for free. These tools are professional developer kits for iOS and Android that will enable you to build cutting edge mobile applications, including applications that use metaio’s award winning gravity-awareness technology.

You can get your hands on the tools from the metaio website: www.metaio.com/software/mobile-sdk

Watch the tools in action

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDR3TcthdZw

The full press release from metaio is below which contains some insights into their collaborations with ARM, ST-Ericsson and Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI).

Press Release

metaio Releases Most Advanced Mobile Augmented Reality Software For Free

The world leader in advanced augmented reality solution releases its advanced mobile software to the entire mobile developer ecosystem

MUNICH AND SAN FRANCISCO, DECEMBER 8, 2011- The worldwide leader in advanced Augmented Reality solutions, metaio, will today release a free version of its advanced mobile development tools for iOS and Android to the entire application development ecosystem. This will be the newest version of the SDK that already powers the world’s most advanced AR browser and over 70 applications, driving more than 10 million downloads. The metaio Mobile SDK is the first mobile developer kit to enable gravity-aware AR experiences and the only AR developer kit that includes a 3D rendering engine, making it the first truly free AR SDK available.

Industry Proven With More Than 10 Years in Development

The metaio Mobile SDK is developed by a software company with over 10 years of experience producing professional augmented reality, ensuring both the current caliber of the technology and the promise of continual advancements in research and developments. The metaio Mobile SDK has been implemented by brands, agencies and developers with an established professional track record of almost 70 mobile applications running on iOS and Android devices. The world’s most advanced AR browser, junaio, was built on the metaio Mobile SDK, and now empowers almost 10 million mobile-AR-enabled magazines delivered every month.

Most Advanced Augmented Reality Technology Available

The metaio Mobile SDK is as powerful as it is professional. Designed for natural AR experiences, the metaio Mobile SDK brings with it patented gravity-awareness and award-winning (tracking competition winner at ISMAR 2011) visual tracking technology for 2D and 3D objects, now three times more robust than the previous version. These features combined with metaio’s ongoing devotion to research and development will ensure AR experiences that are more natural, more intuitive, and more realistic. In addition, metaio has presented a clear roadmap towards both an Augmented World and AR on every smartphone by the year 2014, including working with chipset manufacturers to optimize metaio’s software for mobile devices.

Optimized AR-Pipeline for Major Mobile Chipsets

Though just weeks ago metaio proudly announced formal collaborations with ARM, ST-Ericsson and Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI), the broad developer community benefits today. While the available hardware is becoming more and more AR friendly, metaio has long been cultivating a network of contacts and technical exchanges with companies of the mobile processor industry, such as ARM, ST-Ericsson and TI. With these key industry partnerships metaio is ensuring that next generation mobile devices are fully AR capable.

“The powerful and flexible hardware of our partners enables us to deliver the software that will create the most innovative and compelling apps in AR,” said metaio CEO Dr. Thomas Alt. “We are happy to announce that we reached our first concrete short-term measure by porting our mobile SDK to the platforms of ARM, ST-Ericsson and Texas Instruments.”

From ARM: “ARM’s roadmap for ARM® Mali™ graphics and compute IP not only addresses the challenges in Augmented Reality today but also sets a benchmark for the next generation of mobile AR”, says Kevin Smith, VP Strategic Marketing, ARM Media Processing Division. “The combination of ARM processors and ARM Mali graphics processing units along with the strength of the Mali Ecosystem puts ARM in a unique position to provide enabling technologies to AR industry pioneers like metaio and we are working together to meet the future demands of mobile devices”.

From ST-Ericsson: “With our collaboration on a series of joint research projects, we are working to bring the latest AR capabilities to a broad developer community,” said Björn Ekelund, Head of Ecosystems and Research, CTO and Strategic Planning Office of ST-Ericsson. “Applications like AR are where the Nova™ and NovaThor™ product families excel since they deliver a combination of mobile processing performance, advanced graphics cores and powerful multimedia all at extreme power efficiency. We believe AR will become a basic demand in mobile devices in the future.”

From Texas Instruments: “Mobile augmented reality requires high processing performance with superior graphics and imaging capabilities that run on ultra-low power-features delivered by TI’s family of OMAP mobile processors. We work closely with metaio to ensure its AR SDK effectively leverages the OMAP platform’s end-to-end advancements. In turn, our mutual customers can focus on delivering compelling mobile devices that capture the promise and excitement of augmented reality-driven experiences,” said Fred Cohen, director, OMAP user experience team, TI.

Free of Worry and Cost

Compared to other augmented reality software kits, the metaio solution is the most complete and worry free available. The metaio Mobile SDK includes its own 3D rendering engine – now with advanced shader support – meaning there are no hidden development costs. At the same time it provides developers with a plugin to make use of Unity3D, one of the most established and powerful gaming engines currently on the market. Unlike other current augmented reality SDKs the metaio solution does not require the developer to upload and or encrypt any files before publishing a project, making the development process incredibly straightforward. For those who want to go further in customizing and development, metaio will also release a Pro version of the mobile SDK within the next months. The pro Version will include additional advanced features, greater customization potential and direct support by the metaio development team. Additionally, developers that prove their skills through the development of professional AR applications using the metaio Mobile SDK can register to become Certified Developers, giving them direct access to business offers and opportunities through the metaio network.

Watch the metaio Mobile SDK release video on YouTube
Download the free metaio Mobile SDK
Visit the new metaio.com

about metaio

As the world-wide leader in Augmented Reality technology, metaio develops software products for visual interactive solutions between the real and the virtual world. Based on the advanced software suite, 3-D animations can be integrated seamlessly into live-video streams respectively into pictures of the user’s real environment. Founded in February 2003, metaio currently employs 75+ people at two different locations. The company is headquartered in Munich with the subsidiary metaio Inc. located in San Francisco USA. metaio has accumulated over 500 projects has been working with more than 450 renowned customers from different industries and geographical locations, such as: Macy’s, Toyota, Universal Pictures, Volkswagen, Adidas, BMW, LEGO, Audi, Bauer Media, USA Today, Bosch, Domino’s Pizza, The National Guard and Absolut Vodka. metaio is also the producer of the world’s most advanced mobile augmented reality browser, junaio, available for free download on Android and iOS. for more information, please visit metaio.com and junaio.com

Cool AR Concept for Xbox Kinect

lester — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 15:42:40 +0000

Immersive gameplay where you become the character in a game is an interesting concept and one that I think the Xbox Kinect will do pretty well at. Below is an interesting video from a developer experimenting with augmented reality and the Kinect. There are some nice touches in there such as body mapping to paint the characters costume, object detection for the particle beams. Also watch out for the example of diminishing reality thrown in at the end.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTV9kDtzi1U

Change The Way You Shop With Webcam Social Shopper

lester — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:42:23 +0000

Some years back I went to the first ARE event in San Mateo I had the pleasure of meeting with the guys from Zugara and seeing a live demo of their Webcam Social Shopper application. At the time I remember being impressed with the technology and the ramifications on how it will change the way we shop in the future.

Zugara has been busy it seems, In the UK the Webcam Social Shopper technology is now live and being used by online retail outfit, Banana Flame. Visitors to the Banana Flame website are able to try on a wide range of outfits simply by using their webcam and exploring the product range. Using gesture recognition the user is able to adjust the size of the garment and take pictures.

There are a lot of companies try to crack this ‘tryvertizing’ space where consumers are able to interact with products before they buy. Until now many of these installations have largely been gimmicky or prototypes but the Social Shopper functionality used by Banana Flame seems to have got the mix just right.

Thanks to Social Shopper this coat wont be on my Christmas list.

Its incredibly intuitive to use and being Flash based it doesn’t require any special downloads.

You can try the solution for yourself at www.bananaflame.co.uk, just browse the catalogue and you’ll come across the option to “see how it looks”. This is not a phrase I thought I’d be saying when I woke up this morning, but in the interest of testing the software I was able to try several dresses from the comfort of my living room and the wife didn’t even bat an eyelid.

Zugara are leading the pack when it comes to the gesture lead tryvertizing shopping experience and the website is definitely worth viewing to experience the future of shopping, but if you’re not a modern man in touch with your feminine side, you can see the solution in action below.

Social Shopper

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocVEvK9Sl34

Zugara have published some interesting usability data to support the fact that this technology adds real value to the shopping experience.(source: http://weareorganizedchaos.com/index.php/2011/05/23/augmented-reality-for-ecommerce-data-from-our-usability-testing)

USER PROFILE:

Females that shop online, age 17 – 24.

KEY FINDING:

Nearly 2/3rds of participants said that WSS would help them in making a purchase decision.

SOME ADDITIONAL FINDINGS:

Users were asked the question: “if an online store had this product, how interested would you be in using it?” Over 83% of users answered between “Interested” and “Very Interested”.
Users were asked the question: “How interested do you think your friends would be in using it?” 88% of users answered between “Interested” and “Very Interested”.
When the users first viewed WSS “the typical initial reaction was a surprised exclamation.”
It took first time users about two minutes to understand, and become comfortable with the motion capture interface.

UI LEARNINGS:

We also were able to learn where our product needed improvement. Much of our learnings have already been integrated into our brand new online demo: www.webcamsocialshopper.com – we’d love to know your thoughts on it!

If you’d like more details on the usability testing, or if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Zugara.

Ice Cream Sandwich Face Recognition

lester — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:04:15 +0000

Sometime last year I said 2011 would be the year of face recognition. I thought come December we’d be knee deep in people waiving their phones in our faces that it would almost be second nature. It seems I jumped the gun a little. Not much mind, but a little.

iOS 5 added some new face tracking APIs but overall it was a little disappointing that we didn’t see any of the technology from the recently acquired Polar Rose implemented in a bigger way. If you happened to have been following the launch of the new Galaxy Nexus from Samsung, running the about to be released Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android, you may have spotted that face recognition is also part of the OS.

In the teaser video below its difficult to see how deep face recognition goes and how else it can be used, but we do know you’ll be able to unlock your phone by looking at the camera.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F_ke3rxopc

AR Drone + Vuzix Wrap 920 = Serious Fun

lester — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 19:37:37 +0000

The Parrot AR Drone is a seriously fun piece of kit. I also most had my hands on a review unit a few weeks ago. Unfortunately the reviewer before me broke it so I am still waiting for the replacement to arrive. AR glasses are also fun with Vuzix being among the leader in the field of AR vision.

So with two serious fun piece of hardware we have to ask the ultimate question; just how much fun is connecting a pair of AR glasses to an AR Drone? The answer if the video is anything to go by, tons.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm7R7i3yKfI

Both the AR Drone and the Vuzix Wrap 920 should be on your AR shopping list this Christmas.

Ball Invasion – AR Gaming Using SLAM Technology

lester — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 10:37:27 +0000

The trouble with mobile augmented reality games that use the camera feed for the background is the camera usage is entirely superficial. If you’re fighting aliens, watching them appear from the TV or in front of the cat doesn’t really add any value to the game. Until now that is. 13^th Lab from Stockholm, Sweden are the first company to release an augmented reality game that uses the NASA created SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) technology used by robotic explorers.

What is SLAM technology and what does it add to the gaming experience? SLAM lets you very accurately position a mobile device (in this case the iPad 2) in a 3D space and overlay computer data without the need for any printed visual markers. In other words, if you are playing an augmented reality game the application is aware of its surroundings enabling advanced game play such as enemy’s taking cover behind objects (your sofa) or bullets bouncing off walls.

To demo the concept, 13^th Lab have released an iPad 2 game titled Ball Invasion. The game is an additive shooter with the simple concept of shooting the balls but it demonstrates the awareness of your surroundings as bullets will bounce off objects in the real world.

The game is iPad 2 only as its requires the additional CPU power. Currently the game is on 50% discount ($1.99) so grab it from here if you are looking for an app to show off your iPad.

Ball Invasion

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHGtvdxTVZk

If you want to develop your own apps and try out SLAM/AR for yourself you can register for the SDK at: http://13thlab.com/developer/ It will certainly be interesting to see what developers build using this technology in the future.

AR Games You Need To Try

lester — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 12:46:42 +0000

It seems like only yesterday that augmented reality gaming consisted of games that simply enable the phones camera to provide an interesting backdrop. Thanks to tools from companies like String and Qualcomm (and of course the OS’s providing access to the camera feed) developers are now able to build vision based games that use natural feature tracking to create interesting 3D experiences.
Qualcomm released their Android SDK some months back with a developer challenge, as a result they have a number of games that look pretty interesting. Before we get to the games its worth noting that the Qualcomm AR SDK has recently become available for iOS developers. The SDK plugs into Unity, one of most popular tools for games developers. If you are interesting in building your own AR content take a look at the tools here: http://developer.qualcomm.com/dev/augmented-reality

The games listed below are for Android unless stated

BiljetAR
BijetAR is an interesting concept developed by Beyond Reality based in The Netherlands. The game uses a bank note to create the game board so there is no need to print markers. Simply use one of the 6 supported currencies, 1 US Dollar, 5 Canadian Dollars, 5 Euros, 5 UK Pounds, 1000 Yen or 50 Rubles and point your phone at the note. Once the bill has been recognised you’ll take control of the guns on an AC130 armoured ground attack aircraft where you get to blow things up in the various missions. The game action takes place high in the sky from the gunners seat, if you have ever watched the CNN footage showing the pilots eye view during an attack the game play is similar. If you fancy yourself as a gunner or just want to blow things up the game is available in beta for Android devices and can be installed free here.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdJXghZTiXw

iPhone owners who like the look of the game take a look at Zombie Gunship which is a very similar concept with out the AR aspect.

Paparazzi
Paparazzi developed by Pixel-Punch was the winner of the Qualcomm Augmented Reality Challenge. In the game you are a paparazzi assigned with the task of capturing pictures of a celebrity who appears on either a marker that can be downloaded from the developers website or a US Dollar bill. The celebrity appears to be a harmless unassuming English country gent gets annoyed if you move the camera in too close for a picture and will jump onto your phone in an attempt to break the camera. If that happens you’ll need to shake the phone to try and shake him loose. For 66p it’s a lot of fun but it could do with a couple more characters. The game can be downloaded here. Interestingly the game is the first game I am aware of that reacts to the phone being placed in close proximity to the AR character. Most AR examples just make the character larger but Paparazzi provides character interaction.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlQVdWIBdHA

Continued on page 2

Mobile Face Recognition Coming Soon?

lester — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 16:01:34 +0000

I stuck my neck on the line at the beginning of the year and said that 2011 would be the year of face recognition. It’s nearly August and so far face recognition technology for mobile devices has yet to make a significant appearance.

I was somewhat disappointed that Apple didn’t announce face recognition with iOS 5 back in June, particularly as they acquired Swedish company Polar Rose (famous for the demo below) at the end of last year.

According to 9To5Mac however a couple of APIs have been discovered in the latest beta of iOS 5 that give credence to face recognition making an appearance later this year. The newly discovered APIs are:

hasLeftEyePosition
hasRightEyePosition
hasMouthPosition
leftEyePosition
rightEyePosition
mouthPosition

Polar Rose

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QBLKBYrgvk

Polar Rose are were not the only company experimenting with mobile face tracking. At Mobile World Congress in February I met with US based company Viewdle who were showcasing some amazing demos.
They recently released a beta of their Android face recognition app which can be found here. I haven’t looked into it yet so feel free to share you comments.

Perhaps the last half of 2011 will be the year of face recognition.

Viewdle

www.youtube.com/watch?v=A10tgE9YQDo

String OJ Demo

lester — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 10:38:03 +0000

I went to a String AR drinks evening in London a month or so ago. Since then I have been eagerly awaiting the launch of the SDK as I’m sure once it is released it’s going to give rise to some really interesting AR games and demos. One of the demos that I saw that really caught my eye was the Orange carton demo. Obvious the demo is heavy on the eye candy but when you see this live its hard not to get excited.

There is currently no update on the release date of the tools, when I enjoyed my beers with the guys I thought the release was imminent. The website gives the impression of imminence so keep your eye on www.poweredbystring.com which will not doubt be updated soon.

String OJ Demo

www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-wU45knkmc

The Future Of GPS Navigation With Wikitude Drive

lester — Thu, 26 May 2011 20:30:29 +0000

There was a time when getting from A to B relied on maps or directions from complete strangers. Then came the dedicated GPS navigation device which revolutionized the way we travelled and provided our cars with that added bit of style. Now Mobilizy, the leaders in augmented reality geo-location applications for mobile have taken the next major leap by combining augmented reality with GPS navigation software.

Wikitude Drive is the award winning GPS navigation application for Android devices, it has already been awarded numerous prizes including the “Galileo Master 2010” of the European Satellite Navigation Competition, “Global Champion” of the NAVTEQ LBS Challenge and Winner of the “World Summit Award 2010”. Previously available for Austria, Germany and Switzerland the application is now available for Spain, UK, France and Italy.

What’s different about Wikitude Drive from other navigation applications is it overlays the live route over the camera feed rather than using a traditional map view. This new augmented reality view enables you to see exactly where you are going and the route without having to take your eyes off the road ahead. Having said sometime back that someday AR will change navigation, it’s been enjoyable playing around with the beta and testing the UK maps. As everything is stored on the server all the maps are up to date and I was even able to navigate to my house which hasn’t even made Google Street View yet. Turn by turn instructions are given clearly using a speech engine so you’ll always have the expected voice instructions. In terms of testing there really wasn’t a lot fault about the application, it does exactly what it’s designed to do and does it really well. Take a look at the video below to see Wikitude Drive in action.

Wikitude Drive

www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-0cuqeUvCQ

Given the expense of dedicated GPS navigation units, if you have an Android phone Wikitude Drive is very reasonably priced at £9.99/€9.99. You’ll find it in the Android Market. Take look at the official site to see if your device is supported. www.wikitude.com/drive

Awesome Augmented Reality Visualisation Projects

lester — Mon, 16 May 2011 13:00:58 +0000

Here are a couple of cool demo that show how augmented reality is being used for visualization. The first demo created by PROJEKTIL, a company based in Switzerland that specialize in visual art experiences, is an interactive augmented reality installation that uses an architectural model and a variety of tricks which include, beamers, lamps and projectors to bring the installation to life.

The only way to describe it is ‘totally awesome’.

PROJEKTIL

As we are talking about awesome, the second demo is from ikikoi, a UK based company who created this evolution of the smartphone for Vodafone. (You can meet Lee one of the designers of this project at Augmented Planet 2011. Remember join our Facebook fan page for an exclusive event registration discount code).

Evolution of mobile

www.youtube.com/watch?v=883UlMNOuX4

If you are interested in the newest augmented reality visualisation projects, take a look at online masters degree programs in computer science, design, or engineering.

Augmented Reality Powered By String

lester — Mon, 16 May 2011 09:30:08 +0000

Many developers ask me about natural feature tracking SDKs for mobile devices. One of the cool SDKs I like is the String SDK.

If you are already familiar with AR you’ll notice that String lives somewhere in middle of fiduciary markers and natural feature tracking. Tracking images combines the high contrast black border of a marker and a complex natural image in the centre. This mix actually works well. With a marker users can identify it as having special significance when presented to a camera (much the same way users identify QR Codes as having significance). With NTF images the challenge is telling the user that the image as has significance without providing a large amount of instructions. Combining the two therefore goes someway to solve the identification problem.

The String SDK which is currently available for iOS with an Android version in the works is powerful enough to build some pretty amazing solutions. I normally say that any AR demo is only as good as its 3D objects, that’s still true as eye candy sells, but String does an amazing job of recognising the markers even in poor lighting.

String AR Drawing Demo

Possibly my favourite String demo is the Orange carton demo which is amazing when you see it live.

String Orange Carton

For developers looking to build standalone mobile NFT apps the String SDK should be high on your list of tool to try. You can find out more or download the SDK from: www.poweredbystring.com

IN2AR Flash SDK And Demos

lester — Sun, 15 May 2011 11:39:08 +0000

Natural Feature Tracking (NFT) solutions are become ever easier to create thanks to some great tools and SDKs that are beginning to appear. The latest to come my way is the IN2AR Flash Library.

Using NFT for augmented reality has the added benefit in that you don’t require an unsightly black and white fiducial marker to be added to your product; instead you can trigger an augmented reality experience based on just about any type of image, for example a Guinness magazine advert.

IN2AR Guinness Demo

www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7OigTuf8ms

The example above was created using the IN2AR SDK, if you want to try it yourself take a look here. You’ll just need a webcam and the Guinness image that you’ll find there. Correction – the Guinness demo was created using the Metaio Viewer SDK

With the IN2AR SDK and a little Flash development experience you can create some rather interesting applications, including games. Visit www.in2ar.com for more demos and the SDK download.

Face Tracking is Beyond Reality

lester — Sun, 15 May 2011 11:02:09 +0000

Earlier in the year I wrote a post to say that 2011 will be the year of face tracking and face recognition. On cue is the latest face tracking SDK from the German based company, Tastenkunst.

Face tracking, unlike face recognition, recognises human faces rather than specific individuals. When a face is detected the software calculates the position and various facial features , eyes, nose, mouth, etc. Once those features have been calculated 3D objects can be overlaid on the face. The 3D objects can be anything you want, glasses, beards, hats etc. As the user moves their head the 3D objects are position accordingly. You may have tried the We Are Autobots demo created to promote the Transformers movie a year or two back.

You can try a live demo of the SDK from Tastenkunst here: www.beyond-reality-face.com, all you need to do is enable your webcam and try on a variety of accessories.

Many developers of course want to create our try out face tracking for themselves. If that’s the case then on the Beyond Reality link above you’ll find a link to the SDK that can download and incorporated into your own Adobe Flash applications.

James Alliban, one of the leading UK AR developers dropped me a line to let me know he is currently investigating the SDK and is working on a demo, complete with source code to give away at Augmented Planet 2011. If you haven’t yet booked your place, follow us on Facebook and use the promocode found on our Facebook page to obtain an exclusive event discount.

AR Book And PodCast

lester — Wed, 04 May 2011 21:14:33 +0000

Most of you probably know that late last year I decided it would be a good idea to write a book about augmented reality. I found a publisher and pitched the idea of a guide to mobile augmented reality and a feature on some of the amazing applications that are available. After some negotiation the idea for the book became a book focused on building content for Layar, junaio and Wikitude.

I haven’t written code for a long time but surprisingly all three platforms were very simple to get to grips with. In a naive part of my brain I thought writing would be like blogging. Monday to Wednesday I’d do some writing, Thursday go out for a couple of beers and do the edits over the weekend, job done 2 weeks, 1 month max. The reality was a long way from that. 8 months later I’m pleased to say the book finally goes to press tomorrow and will be available from late May. Having finished I feel like part of my life is missing and I have a huge void to fill. 8 months of coming home from work and writing until bedtime as well as spending the entire weekend trying to get sample code to work is a huge hole to fill. My evenings now feel like they last days.

Without doubt writing around 80,000 words about a technology that changes quicker than superman in a phone box has been the most difficult thing I have ever done. I’m considering writing a follow up, there are so many new technologies that are about to become big, StringAR, Viewdle to name a couple but we’ll see. If you are interested in AR development and want to learn how easy it is to create AR Browser content for Layar, junaio and Wikitude as well as natural feature tracking channels with junaio you can find the book here. Of course you should come along to the Augmented Planet event in London on the 1st and 2nd June to hear first hand. (link on the right).

In addition to writing, I recently took part in a PodCast on the Future And You run by Stephen Cobb. If you’re interested in my random thoughts on technology and AR you can listen to the PodCast here. The Future And You series is an interesting look at emerging technologies and how they will impact our lives, Stephen has interviewed some really interesting people so the PodCasts are well worth checking out.

DroidAR Engine For Android Developers

lester — Wed, 04 May 2011 20:26:09 +0000

Android developers looking to get their hands on new augmented reality tools take a look at the new engine developed by Simon Heinen, a computer science student from RWTH Aachen in Germany.

I know how much Android developers like to tinker with code so I’m sure this will be of interest. Simon has made available several demos along with the AR Framework which you can find here. http://code.google.com/p/droidar/ You’ll also find a tutorial on how you get started on the page. Check it out.

DroidAR in action

www.youtube.com/watch?v=brlNkKmw8IY

IN2AR Natural Feature Tracking With Adobe Flash

lester — Wed, 04 May 2011 20:07:24 +0000

Any augmented reality demo in my opinion is only as good as the 3D model that it displays. Users don’t care about the underlying AR engine or how long it took the developer to write. Think about it. How much do you care about the compiler used to create your favourite game? It’s the eye candy that gets all the glory.

That said, developers do care about the tools and want rich powerful solutions that will take care of the hard work in creating AR applications. Recently there has been a trend with developers looking to move beyond using markers and use Flash based engines that provide natural feature tracking. There are a couple of tools available that offer NFT but the most recent that has crossed my path is the IN2AR augmented reality engine for Adobe Flash.

Acket Packaging Augmented Reality Demo

www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3DdFNrUeJo

IN2AR is an SDK and engine for Flash developers with both a free commercial model (free as long as the IN2AR logo is displayed) or a very reasonable price if you want to go down the full commercial route and remove the logo.

Guinness Augmented Reality

www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7OigTuf8ms

Flash developers looking to try out natural feature tracking should take a look at the IN2AR site here: www.in2ar.com.

Professional Augmented Reality Browsers for Smartphones

lester — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 14:47:57 +0000

The last few months have been a blogging wilderness from me and for that I apologise. The reason being is; I am pleased to announce, I have been working on an augmented reality book titled: “Professional Augmented Reality Browsers for Smartphones: Programming for junaio, Layar and Wikitude”.

The book is aimed at developers and focused on teaching mobile developers how to build AR content for these platforms. It will be published by the nice guys over at Wrox Press hopefully in May. As of today I am just one and a half chapters away from completing the book with an angry editor on my back. Hopefully by Sunday night I will be complete. Then begins the nightmare task of dealing with the edits from the editor and reviewer.
For more information about the book take a look here:

Maybe, just maybe. Those of you that manage to attend AP2011 in London on the 1st/2nd of June will find a copy in your delegate bag.

2012 The Year of Face Recognition

lester — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 11:13:06 +0000

While 2011 is being billed by industry experts as the year of the Tablet, I am going to make the early claim that 2012 will be the year of face recognition.

Ever since seeing early demos of Augmented ID by Swedish company TAT which used the face recognition SDK by Polar Rose, it’s just been a matter of time before we have face recognition power in our smartphones. Polar Rose were acquired by Apple back in September 2010 which has led many to believe that the iPhone 5 will have face recognition capabilities, and I tend to agree that the next version of the iPhone will have some face recognition aspects. However while some bloggers feel that iPhone will use this technology as a security feature, i.e. unlocking the phone automatically when the use picks up the device, I think the technology will be used in a more subtle way.

My guess is that Apple will use the Polar Rose technology as a way to tag individuals in photos and possibly videos. As you take a picture using the iPhone camera each individual will be identified and tagged enabling you to search for all the pictures that containing the same individual or automatically upload the tagged photos to Facebook, (or wherever). I would be very surprised if the functionality is more sophisticated and incorporates live social media profiles of individuals in the camera view. I.e. while pointing the camera at an individual you see their recent tweets or Facebook updates. While there are companies building these solutions I think it’s a step to far to assume it will be such an integrated experience with the next iPhone. iPhone 6 however will give Apple developers enough time to experiment with the functionality and make face recognition a core part of the camera technology.

Since Polar Rose was acquired the face recognition SDK has been withdrawn for download, but fear not, particularly if you’re an Android developer. At Mobile World Congress this year I met up with a company called Viewdle who have taken up the mantel of face recognition on mobile devices. The demo I saw was a prototype that instantly recognised an individual when an Android device was pointed in their direction. Once the individual was recogniesd their social media profile include Facebook and recent tweets was displayed. It’s the first step to a future where you’ll be able to use your smartphone to point at individuals and see who they are and how to connect with them. There is privacy storm brewing there but that’s a story for another time. In the meantime however, if the finished Viewdle product is half as good as their marketing video we are in for a real treat.

Viewdle

Viewdle – Photo and Video Face Tagging from Viewdle on Vimeo.

If you can’t wait for the mobile solution, Viewdle have desktop version that will automatically tag photos on your PC and upload them to Facebook. You can download the app here: http://viewdle.com/products/desktop/index.html

Microsoft Face Recognition
Microsoft Research in Israel have also being working on face recognition and have recently released a short video showing some of their work. You can imagine this technology finding its way into their gaming platforms.

Augmented ID
For those that missed the original ground breaking demo from TAT, here is the original demo based on Polar Roses SDK. This technology was acquired by Apple in September 2010.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb0pMeg1UN0

Face recognition for mobile devices will no doubt be huge. The ability to automatically tag individuals in your photos and search for other pictures where they are featured will be just the start. In 2012 perhaps we’ll all be using our smartphones to see who is around us and what they are thinking.

junaio Redefining Interactive TV

lester — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 10:00:49 +0000

I have to admit that that it’s not very often someone throws me a complete and utter curve ball and I see something that I never even considered before. After a while you start to think you have seen it all, but the junaio browser wins the January prize for the most innovative use of augmented reality.

The new junaio channel works in conjunction with a popular German TV show called ‘Galileo’. Viewers watching the show are able to interact with the program by using the junaio client and by pointing their smartphone at the TV screen.

During the Galileo program questions are displayed on the screen. Unlike most interactive programs that require you to SMS an expensive number and wait several hours for the result, when the junaio enabled program asks the viewer a question the viewer simply points their smartphone at the screen. The junaio channel which uses natural feature tracking recognises the question; it is then transferred to the viewer’s smartphone. Once on the smartphone the viewer can select the answer without having to send an expensive text. In addition real-time feedback can be provided so it’s great for interactive TV quiz shows. For example, play along to who wants to be a millionaire at home and get instant feedback, even compete with other players watching the same show.

As Peter Meier, CTO of metaio points out, it’s not just about quizzes. The same technology could be used to enable viewers to receive recipes as the chief is making a dish. It’s definitely an interesting idea to enable views to interact with the TV. Take a look at the video of the solution in action. (Video Link)

What TV program would you like to see made interactive this way?

Explore the Taj Mahal with augmented reality

lester — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 20:11:56 +0000

If you are new to augmented reality and looking to explore the possibilities on what the technology allows you to do, then take a look at this demo from Source Bits.

For newbies, just print the special pattern and hold it up to your webcam. You’ll then be able to view one of the most famous monuments in the world in 3D.

To get started just visit http://www.sourcebits.com/artoy/

Germany’s First Augmented Reality Music Video

lester — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 22:30:02 +0000

Followers of the blog will have seen a few media agencies blend augmented reality with promoting bands. AUGMEDIA in Germany are the latest agency to dabble and have produced Germany’s first augmented reality music video for the band, Saint Aside.

Being the latest in the AR music genre, AUGMEDIA have done a good job with creating an engaging music experience. But like all music its best experienced, so, kick back, turn up your speakers and watch the video.

Saint Aside The AR Video

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hb9szYBzOc

Try it out

If you want to try the demo, just follow these simple steps.

Go to http://ar.saintaside.com
Print out the marker, activate your webcam and hold the marker in front of your webcam
Experience Augmented Reality!
Leave a comment and click on the ilike-button
Share it with all of your friends

Cheers to Daniel for the heads up.