Youtube Day
Today a quick entry to keep you up to date and to deliver some videos for the TGIF…
Virtual Mirror
A great concept for the virtual mirror metaphor can be seen in the following video. Using the Kinect we get a nice combination of body tracking for interaction plus augmentation. The thing I like most is the well working use case, where you can see your handbag dangling down from your real hand. With more physics and cloth simulated we could have a great virtual dressing up in flag ship stores soon!
Note switching the surrounding behind you by holding up your hand (yielding in an augmented virtuality scenario) and by using another interaction mode (sound, i.e. clapping) for changing models. Nice work from SRI International Research in Silicon Valley, documented by Scobleizer:
Handheld Fun
Now we’ve got some news from the handheld sections, where Sony displays the augmented reality features of their NGP gaming handheld on GDC conference 2011. Bad video quality, but the tracking looks pretty stable (if it can be judged from a distance at all):
Meanwhile, Nintendo 3DS’s augmented reality capacity can be seen in more and more videos now. (Still waiting for the German release on 25th.) Shown is the game “Face Raiders” (quoted from youtube):
After launching the game, the user takes a photo of someone, or many people. The game changes the photo into many floating, angry, avatars that the user must shoot with tennis-ball-like projectiles. Since it works on a real-time camera feed, the player must move around to protect him or herself from the assaulting faces.
3D Feature Tracking
…and as a final video for today, metaio has demonstrated a new version of their 3D feature tracking for worker support for assembly/service scenarios. Using a Vuzix HMD the worker can see the construction parts and step-by-step description augmented hands-free:
Philosophical Thoughts
… and if you have seen enough and want to dive into some new perspectives on AR theory, you might want to read some university work done by Daniel Drognitz (in German only, sorry). It deals with the construction of one’s own reality, the phenomenological subject or self-model (as explored by German cognitive scientist and theoretical philosopher Metzinger) and leads to art and how created realities interact among the recipients: online text and PDF available here.
Enjoy the weekend!