Augmented Reality app for you guys to give a try out... yay *dances*

[Graham]

Augmented Reality app for you guys to give a try out...

Hey.

I thought some of you might want to give the app I've been working on a try.


It's an augmented reality app, so it really does need a webcam (although it can work without one..).
The content that is included is very minimal right now (lots I haven't uploaded) but I'd still like some feedback.

There are missing features (eg, the help docs, some downloads) but it should be fairly stable.

It's mostly aimed at education, but there is some 'fun' christmas themed content in there too.

install page.
It's windows only, and requires .net 2.0 (which it will auto install)

Secret undocumented features:

press print screen to save a screengrab,
F12 starts/stops video screen recording
holding the space bar will bring any text elements to the screen for easier reading.
you don't need to use a real email address

Code and design wise this is pretty much 100% my own work. Major exception being the underlying tracking library and it uses axiom for the rendering, although I've spent serveral 100 hours debugging their.... issues


I'm interested in what feedback you all have.

Thanks

 

[Farid]

You should try to make this thread in General Discussion and/or the Console Forum (It's cool with me), you'd get a lot more feedback I'm sure.

It looks like a cool app, but sadly I can't try it, seeing that I have no webcam. Althought, I should have the Eyetoy somewhere, and I think there are PC drivers for it. Might try it later if I get my hands on the Eyetoy.

 

[epicstruggle]

Thats pretty cool Graham. I was doing my Masters thesis on augmented reality story telling, and your app brings fond memories.

SOme of the tech is still a bit cumbersome, but eventually AR will be the next "it" field.

epic

 

[Graham]

Yeah I was thinking of putting it somewhere else, but expected it would just get moved here. I'm not sure how to move it (I guess I can't)

It does actually work in a '2D' interface. You simply drag fake paddles around with the mouse.. Let me get a picture..


epic, do you know about the BBC AR story projects? You don't have a part in those by some chance?
The BBC have all the content capabilities, but their technology and backend isn't so hot. Whereas we are somewhat the opposite.

As for AR being mainstream, yes, it's a tough nut to crack. I've spent a *lot* of time trying to make it as seamless as I can, but you can only go so far. Still, I feel what we have used is a lot better than the likes of the ARToolkit (which I once worked with for a number of projects). Although I've had to add a bunch of things to this one, like auto light level thresholding, etc.

That said one of the biggest issues is simply the webcam. We source usb 2 cams from china that do 640x480 native at 30fps, the difference between these and 100kpixel usb 1.1 cameras is night and day in terms of usability.


2D mouse driven UI: