Oct 11, 2011

Augmented Reality

It’s still early in the augmented reality lifecycle, but at this time there are about three practical types of augmented reality implementations. We’re going to examine one type each day for the next three days.  The currently viable types include:

1. Marker-Based
2. Marker-less
3. Hardware – glasses, goggles, or even contacts in the future.

Comparison of Different types of Augmented Reality

Over the next three posts, we’ll take a look at each of the three types augmented reality systems.  The one we’ll look at first is called the marked based augmented reality.

Augmented Reality – Marker Based

The race in marker based augmented reality must be on. One technology company from London who specializes in 3D work has already branded a name for the symbol it uses for the augmented reality marker.  The company, Inition, calles its version of the marker a MagicSymbol.  Let’s take a quick look at how the marker based type of augmented reality works.

First we need to take a quick look at the marker itself.  It looks a little like a QR code, but today’s Augmented Reality Marker doen’t really need to carry as much information as the QR code.  Their primary purpose is to

1. Provide a location for the source file (URI)
2. Provide visual feedback to the camera attached to the computer to position the card and the markings in 3D space.

From a technical perspective, the basic computer programming tasks are to

1. Write code that enable you to find the markers in your image or video.
2. Write code to ensure that you have the correct marker and especially that you communicate that information from just about any direction
3. Write code to determine the relative placement of the marker in 3D space.

Honestly, there’s very litte reason for anyone to write this code by hand.  There’s  a lot of of information and code available on the web that can help you to get started at a higher level than writing the image recognition code.  My favorite site for learning about marker based augmented reality is InstantReality.org.  They’ve done a great job of creating educational materials for those of you that want to try to build one yourself.  I’d wager that this is the most comprehensive set of understandable tutorials on Augmented Reality on the web today.

Here’s a video of a what a Marker-Based Augmented Reality Experience looks like.  Don’t be fooled, the 3D isn’t like  a hologram in 3D space.  What you’re looking at it’s the 3D model being displayed in the computer.

Augmented Reality Markerless

Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at markerless augmented reality solutions.

Hardware Based Augmented Reality

The next day, we’ll take a look at hardware: glasses, goggles, even contacts.  Honestly, the contacts are probably a ways off yet.

Joseph A. Moniz  toll free – 1 (877) Joe Moniz

Other Posts on this topic in order:

1. Augmented Reality, Not Just Steak, Not Just Sizzle, It’s Sizzling Steak
2. Augmented Reality Types Marker Based
3. Augmented Reality Types Markerless
4. Augmented Reality Types Goggles, Glasses, and Contacts
5. Augmented Reality Leveraging the Mobile Platform