Tidus Andronicus
07-23-2009, 08:51 AM
Augmented Reality is the combining of digital data (and objects) with/into the real world. This is done by overlaying the digital data or objects on the real world, usually via a live video feed. Usually that entails some level of image recognition software combined with location information, and certainly requires a computer of some form to process it all, in real time, as well as a display screen of some sort, obviously. The technology can even be networked, to allow people to share the same AR information/experiences.
A super basic example of AR already in use would be those Football line markers they paint on the screen for live TV football games. Although this is limited to stuff you see on the TV, and can't really be considered AR for non-live TV, at all. Thanks to Golden Dysprosium for reminding me about this.
This is a topic I've been thinking about for a while now, ever since I saw a tech demo of it with some pretty interesting, mostly basic game-based examples. Not to be confused with Virtual Reality, which is an entirely different concept all together; AR is FAR more useful, and far more immersive, since it exists in the same space as the real world.
Augmented reality - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augmented_reality)
This is an upcoming technology that's quickly gaining momentum, with the new super phones that are coming onto the market, finally mobile computers have the processing power to do it. In the very near future we are going to see some unbelievable stuff happen, and some pretty amazing things are already coming to life already.
The possibilities for this stuff are limitless, anything that might have been possible with holograms (which are virtually impossible to create on their own), become a real possibility with AR, especially once the software is made to handle it, and glasses displays become relatively cheaper and popular. AR can recognize real world things, via image recognition, like say a table, and place digital objects onto that table, as if the objects were really sitting there. If you move around the table, you see the objects from different perspectives/angles, as if you were really moving around the object.
Anything that can be created with a computer, can be put into the real world, and appear as if it were a real object. Any object in the real world can simply be pointed at, and any information you could ever want, could be right there, next to that object, instantly.
Imagine overlaying the internet, and all that it allows, into the real world. Communication, information, multimedia, etc...
Theoretically, you're view of reality could be themed any way you want, changing the real-every-day-world into a magical fantasy world. Cars could look like giant ant following eachother in a line, the sky could be multicolored, sky scrapers could look like spires of stone, and other people could appear to you as any avatar they want to look like! You could send a message to a sick friend, on a pop-up hologram screen in front of you, and ask them to virtually meet up with you, so that they can join you and virtually follow you, as if they were actually there that day.
We have the graphics, we have the network, we have the image recognition, we are even starting to get the mobile processing power... All that's left is the software to support it, and a practical display screen of some sort.
Right now, cell phones are starting to support AR in the form of directions and location information. You can find things like restaurants by holding up your phone, and using your phone's camera, see a video of your world around you, but with markers showing where stuff is, in your field of view. Layar, Wikitude, and the New York Nearest Subway app for the iphone, are all current cell phone applications of AR.
If I'm not mistaken, there are also a few basic marker-based AR games for the new cell phones, as well.
From what I've been reading on AR, and where it's going, I think well within a decade we'll start seeing glasses-displays become a common accessory for powerful cellphones/mobile computers. Partly because AR needs a processor device to work, and as well, a constant internet connection, and cell phones are the perfect market for that sort of thing. Plus some form of HMD is required to make Augmented Reality actually seem like a reality, instead of just something on a screen. But we're getting there, and HMDs are starting to look more and more like normal sunglasses.
Here are some good websites to check out, for more information on AR and it's uses:
Description of Networked Augmented Reality, and a few application ideas:
Augmented Reality (AR) (http://www.servicentric.com/matt/ar.html)
My personal favorite, cause I like the system this person lays out. Half way down the page is a section on the Applications of such technology. Gives some very interesting examples.
A blog that focuses on Augmented Reality articles, lots of videos of new cellphone apps for AR:
Games Alfresco (http://gamesalfresco.com/)
A long interview with the head of a start-up Augmented Reality company:
Is it “OMG Finally” for Augmented Reality?: Interview with Robert Rice (http://tinyurl.com/76nbqv)
If you're into Anime, check out Dennou Coil:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennō_Coil
This anime has some very interesting visions for the future, and it's awesome to see augmented reality glasses used as a common every-day thing.
If books are your thing, check out Rainbows End:
Rainbows End - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbows_End)
Which you can also read online here:
Rainbows End (http://rb.68frogs.com/#_home)
or here:
http://www.drbeat.li/album/Bücher/Vernor Vinge/rainbowsend.html
This book is like the extreme end of the future of AR technology, with contact lens displays, countless "visions" - augmented realities other people have created with various "themes" overlayed into the real world, virtual meetings between people as if they were in the room with you, and vast outdoor AR based games. Augmented Reality and similar technology play an important role in the plot of the story. If you're into science fiction, this is a good read purely to see what AR in the future may be like.
A couple other nice things to check out, these are advertisements, but if you have a webcam (and a printer), you can try out Augmented Reality for yourself:
Star Trek Enterprise (http://www.experience-the-enterprise.com/ww/)
GE | Plug Into the Smart Grid (http://ge.ecomagination.com/smartgrid/#/augmented_reality)
Coraline's 3-D Garden (http://www.coraline3dgarden.com)
No printer required, this just changes your head on the webcam into a transformer:
WE ARE AUTOBOTS - TRANSFORMERS II: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN (http://www.weareautobots.com/ww/index.php)
And you can search for a thing called ARToolKit, if you're interested in making your own AR stuff (source code). Course it's just simple marker based AR... The more advanced markerless AR, or real world AR, is still in the works, but coming...
Anyway, I wanted to start a discussion on this topic, cause not many people have even heard of this stuff yet... Plus, I bet there are a lot of cool ideas other people can come up with and talk about.
Also, if you have any interesting links to share on this, go ahead! =3 I'd love to see.
A super basic example of AR already in use would be those Football line markers they paint on the screen for live TV football games. Although this is limited to stuff you see on the TV, and can't really be considered AR for non-live TV, at all. Thanks to Golden Dysprosium for reminding me about this.
This is a topic I've been thinking about for a while now, ever since I saw a tech demo of it with some pretty interesting, mostly basic game-based examples. Not to be confused with Virtual Reality, which is an entirely different concept all together; AR is FAR more useful, and far more immersive, since it exists in the same space as the real world.
Augmented reality - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augmented_reality)
This is an upcoming technology that's quickly gaining momentum, with the new super phones that are coming onto the market, finally mobile computers have the processing power to do it. In the very near future we are going to see some unbelievable stuff happen, and some pretty amazing things are already coming to life already.
The possibilities for this stuff are limitless, anything that might have been possible with holograms (which are virtually impossible to create on their own), become a real possibility with AR, especially once the software is made to handle it, and glasses displays become relatively cheaper and popular. AR can recognize real world things, via image recognition, like say a table, and place digital objects onto that table, as if the objects were really sitting there. If you move around the table, you see the objects from different perspectives/angles, as if you were really moving around the object.
Anything that can be created with a computer, can be put into the real world, and appear as if it were a real object. Any object in the real world can simply be pointed at, and any information you could ever want, could be right there, next to that object, instantly.
Imagine overlaying the internet, and all that it allows, into the real world. Communication, information, multimedia, etc...
Theoretically, you're view of reality could be themed any way you want, changing the real-every-day-world into a magical fantasy world. Cars could look like giant ant following eachother in a line, the sky could be multicolored, sky scrapers could look like spires of stone, and other people could appear to you as any avatar they want to look like! You could send a message to a sick friend, on a pop-up hologram screen in front of you, and ask them to virtually meet up with you, so that they can join you and virtually follow you, as if they were actually there that day.
We have the graphics, we have the network, we have the image recognition, we are even starting to get the mobile processing power... All that's left is the software to support it, and a practical display screen of some sort.
Right now, cell phones are starting to support AR in the form of directions and location information. You can find things like restaurants by holding up your phone, and using your phone's camera, see a video of your world around you, but with markers showing where stuff is, in your field of view. Layar, Wikitude, and the New York Nearest Subway app for the iphone, are all current cell phone applications of AR.
If I'm not mistaken, there are also a few basic marker-based AR games for the new cell phones, as well.
From what I've been reading on AR, and where it's going, I think well within a decade we'll start seeing glasses-displays become a common accessory for powerful cellphones/mobile computers. Partly because AR needs a processor device to work, and as well, a constant internet connection, and cell phones are the perfect market for that sort of thing. Plus some form of HMD is required to make Augmented Reality actually seem like a reality, instead of just something on a screen. But we're getting there, and HMDs are starting to look more and more like normal sunglasses.
Here are some good websites to check out, for more information on AR and it's uses:
Description of Networked Augmented Reality, and a few application ideas:
Augmented Reality (AR) (http://www.servicentric.com/matt/ar.html)
My personal favorite, cause I like the system this person lays out. Half way down the page is a section on the Applications of such technology. Gives some very interesting examples.
A blog that focuses on Augmented Reality articles, lots of videos of new cellphone apps for AR:
Games Alfresco (http://gamesalfresco.com/)
A long interview with the head of a start-up Augmented Reality company:
Is it “OMG Finally” for Augmented Reality?: Interview with Robert Rice (http://tinyurl.com/76nbqv)
If you're into Anime, check out Dennou Coil:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennō_Coil
This anime has some very interesting visions for the future, and it's awesome to see augmented reality glasses used as a common every-day thing.
If books are your thing, check out Rainbows End:
Rainbows End - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbows_End)
Which you can also read online here:
Rainbows End (http://rb.68frogs.com/#_home)
or here:
http://www.drbeat.li/album/Bücher/Vernor Vinge/rainbowsend.html
This book is like the extreme end of the future of AR technology, with contact lens displays, countless "visions" - augmented realities other people have created with various "themes" overlayed into the real world, virtual meetings between people as if they were in the room with you, and vast outdoor AR based games. Augmented Reality and similar technology play an important role in the plot of the story. If you're into science fiction, this is a good read purely to see what AR in the future may be like.
A couple other nice things to check out, these are advertisements, but if you have a webcam (and a printer), you can try out Augmented Reality for yourself:
Star Trek Enterprise (http://www.experience-the-enterprise.com/ww/)
GE | Plug Into the Smart Grid (http://ge.ecomagination.com/smartgrid/#/augmented_reality)
Coraline's 3-D Garden (http://www.coraline3dgarden.com)
No printer required, this just changes your head on the webcam into a transformer:
WE ARE AUTOBOTS - TRANSFORMERS II: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN (http://www.weareautobots.com/ww/index.php)
And you can search for a thing called ARToolKit, if you're interested in making your own AR stuff (source code). Course it's just simple marker based AR... The more advanced markerless AR, or real world AR, is still in the works, but coming...
Anyway, I wanted to start a discussion on this topic, cause not many people have even heard of this stuff yet... Plus, I bet there are a lot of cool ideas other people can come up with and talk about.
Also, if you have any interesting links to share on this, go ahead! =3 I'd love to see.