Comments on: DIY AR

DIY AR

signal — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 07:40:17 -0800

Artag: Augmented reality on your desktop. via Digital Urban, with a HowTo.

By: honest knave

honest knave — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 07:45:28 -0800

Wonderful! I have been thinking about setting up the Agumented Reality Toolkit on one my machines for quite a while. It looks like Artag is a good incentive to get started sooner rather than later.

By: DU

DU — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 07:57:40 -0800

No way. No WAY. Can it really make out those squares in a fuzzy webcam image from N feet? NO WAY!

By: Kikkoman

Kikkoman — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 08:35:56 -0800

This looks interesting -- I want to play. However, obtaining the SDK is a bit cumbersome and I really wish there was a convenient way to hook it up to Processing.

By: honest knave

honest knave — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 08:37:32 -0800

Sigh. DU: ARToolkit is one of the nicer bits of academic research out there, especially because it has been made available to the community as open source. If you have doubts about what it can do, check out the Projects page on the main site. ART has been designed for rather expensive head-mounted displays, but this looks like a simple way to set up test systems.

By: freebird

freebird — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 08:39:23 -0800

The system worked terrifically patched through the video goggles - I was able to write code and test models while walking around, and the ability to superimpose satellite and archival imagery was great fun. I saw my running processes as milling crowds of pedestrians and monsters, and my admin tasks became a series of hidden levels and boss fights. I didn't take the goggles off for two weeks, so I was wearing them when the Event occurred, and finally removed them to find myself in an empty, abandoned city. If anyone else still has Signal and reads this post - please respond. Is anyone still physical?

By: DU

DU — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 08:41:04 -0800

I wasn't be skeptical, I was being enthusiastic. Well, and a little skeptical. But open-mindedly. After looking at it for a while, it's a little hard to imagine a use for this on my desktop. (Maybe as a way to do away with UI controls for a simple viewing app.) As you say, head-mounted displays would be better. But if you don't mind looking really dorky, someone could probably make something unwieldy and cumbersome on a reasonable budget.

By: DU

DU — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 08:52:42 -0800

Another great use that wouldn't be too expensive

By: adamgreenfield

adamgreenfield — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 10:31:44 -0800

Supersweet, thanks!

By: dammitjim

dammitjim — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 10:49:46 -0800

One step toward the technological scenario described in Vinge's Rainbow's End, where augmented reality becomes the standard view for many people.

By: lekvar

lekvar — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 13:23:58 -0800

I saw something like this a few years ago (it may even be a different branch of the same project) that seemed inspired, but never seemed to go anywhere. Instead a webcam and a computer, the recognition/rendering software was installed on a camera-equipped PDA. The camera read the data embedded in the little printed squares and display it as an overlay on top of the direct feed from the camera. When I saw it the project was still in alpha, and has likely been dropped since the PDA marked has tanked. Basic idea, embedded info with a reader/decoder, struck me as genius.

By: sleep_walker

sleep_walker — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 08:40:51 -0800

this is amazing - thank you so much for posting :-)