Finished Project

So ive finished my project, DVDs are  burnt, all files are present and on the dvds, the covers look nice, the project is fully working and all ready for tuesdays presentation!  instead of going to bed i thought id write this.

Final Project final description

Final Project : Robert Gregory 10055997

22/5/09

Ar.Shopping 3d Catalogue & Impuzzable 3 dimensional tutorial project.

The Project I have made is an augmented reality system; it uses ARtag technology to create a real time 3d object by aiming a web camera at a black and white patterned tag. The idea was to create a situational based 3D system for a home use.  I looked into a situational based DIY system, but because of rendering issues with the 3d, complicated 3d models were not clear enough for such a purpose.  The final aim was to create a 3d catalogue, a more commercial example of the technology while also creating a small tutorial to two puzzle cubes.  One of the key areas of dissertation that formed the context of this project was how the perception of a technology was key to its acceptance. With a highly commercial and cosmetic application like the catalogue and a fun use in the puzzle game I feel I have created two platforms for AR use that is not only innovative but actually a great way of getting people interested in this technology compared to the many more geeky and complicated applications its being used for.  The idea was just to have a book with the AR tags inside, and a system to view it other than on a monitor.

This progressed to the use of a ring binder folder and projector to have a place where the book could be stored and the projected against. Shown below.

There were many Inspirations for this Project, most namely the Argos catalogue.  Even the Design of the Ar.Shopping was intended to show the connection to it, the idea that you could have your home copy of the Argos catalogue, but in 3D.  Like the aim of my project, the Argos catalogue aims at a different demographic to that of the kind of people subjected to and aware of AR technology in general. Other inspirations have come from The Diamond Age, the young girls primer by Neal Stephenson, the primer in the book being a technologically advanced book with AI that instructs and teaches its owner in specific tasks for the life they lead, or in the case of the book the life the proper owner should have read.  Other AR inspirations and examples I have looked at were matrix, Metal gear Solid, Ghost Recon, Second Life.  In relation to my dissertation I have chosen to take the majority of my inspiration from Popular culture, Science Fiction films, and computer games so I can emulate such technologies in a more realistic and acceptable fashion.

Key concerns for this project is the cost of the technology, although the webcam and the ARtag technology was easy to come across the project still needs a laptop at least, and for the system I have designed a projector is expected.  I chose the mini projector because it’s an emerging technology, the next generation of them are already coming out on phones, and the one I have is compatible with some mp3 players that have video function.  With these considerations it becomes apparent that in the future the projectors could eliminate the laptop all together from the system by having that functionality making it a projector and webcam system which would be small and work perfectly for the system I have built.

The ramifications of this project are many, the key one I have come across when demoing the system to friends and colleagues is that it inspires new ideas straight away, some of these have been to use a headset and camera duo instead of the projector for museums or exhibits of 3d works, others for inclusion into house hold items so that they have ARtag’s on them for hidden text or animated instructions on how to open them etc.

I have included a small demo of a wii remote based situation based piece which was part of a test I did to illustrate the future ramifications of such a system when the technology can be produced with better graphics and clearer resolutions for the projector (which is actually only 10% as powerful as a projector).

This technology at this simple level could be widely used, in education it would be perfect for any lesson to have AR based demonstrations, in marketing you could have flyers with the tags on them so you have 3d scenes and animations, in shops large 3d AR representations of the products on sale like my catalogue.  These areas although not ground breaking take AR away from the video gaming and science fiction crowds and start applying it to purposes that actually affect the main stream of our culture, and with this from my work in my dissertation, I feel is the key to such technology getting out there, not on TED or minority viewed “geeky” sites.

The catalogue has 7 products, one of which has two pages, while going through it you can spin the tags to get a 360 degree view of the product.  It was designed in the theme and inspired by the Argos catalogue, this is to illustrate the future potential for a brand like Argos to use such technology, and the commercial value and impact it’d have.

The Puzzle game, Impuzzable, is a bedlam cube, I have created a 7 step tutorial for the yellow cube and 6 for the orange cube, each page has a piece you need to put in and an ARtag to show a 3d image of where it goes. The piece your using is represented in a clearer brighter colour in the 3d where the other cubes are dull.

The Plug demo included allows the user to project instructions for opening up a plug and labels for the parts, its meant for using with a wii remote so that you can have it projected on a wall near you while you work, its a demo for the original concept of situation based DIY.

Project DVD cover all made and designed and Video filmed at med school

Just returned from printing the design and filming the video of  teh project being used to edit later on.

Heres the project dvd cover

The video went well, especially because turns out Babbage no longer has any cameras, i think i must’ve missed that bit. The feed back i got was brilliant, and it has the effect i had hoped, people were genuinely pleased n wanted to try it, however they were obviously looking to see the potential in their field, but it does show how people look to see how such technology could be use when presented with the two books ive created.  Only issue ive got to sort out before the presentation is the screen saver stopping theprojector, no biggy.

test time

So i let my sister loose with the project to get some feedback, im filming it being used tomorrow morning at the peninsula medical school e-learning department, see what they think.

heres the pics

Making the book

So today i got all the stuff printed, very nice too, the amount ive been in there latly im surprised they dont know me by name.  I bought some fixer spray to glue the card n paper and super glue for the asotate.  Heres a few pics of me working…

Designs for the book

3D designs done….

Here’s a few of the 3d pieces ive made…very proud of them actually, 24 hours on 3ds max and you really do get used to it, even thought the rotate option is awful, always end up looking at an area where nothing is…

Got the tutorial sorted, Impuzzable!

Decided that impuzzable was a gd idea for the AR tutorial.  Heres a pic…

mine are yellow and orange thought, the blue is more difficult, and i dont want them to be too hard, they are just to prove a concet witht he AR technology…

.OBJ’s

So now that i have the ARtag program im looking at testing it…the only problem being my copy of 3DS max is playing up, so i had a mate send me some .obj files so that i could test the code and make sure im not kidding myself that i can use it.

Turns out its realtivley easy to change from the defualt images to one home made, altho the materials are a bit off…..

Inspiration

There are many areas this project has taken inspiration from.  The main one is Popular culture, because of the close link with my dissertation it was important for me to take inspiration from popular culture so i could emulate technology’s uses.  This is because in my dissertation i make a correlation between good use of technology in a film and its subsequent appeal to mass public, where as a bad depiction could lead to negative feelings like the matrix’s take on Ai for example.  Another example of the correlation of popular culture and technology is the automatic door, a device first seen on star trek before being created, the version in the program were operated by stage hands opening the doors and providing sound effects.  Popular culture links to AR can be listed with examples like CSI New York’s virtual autopsy, Bones‘ 3d reenactments of crimes, the HUD system in the game Ghost recon, the AR training in the game Metal Gear Solid, the engineering process in Iron Man when Stark is building his suit etc.

The next Inspiration for the Project was the Argos catalog, also other versions like that Index had a few years back.  I feel that to reinvent a technology for mass public use then its a commercial application that would be most effective, The normal AR uses are somewhat aimed at a more “geeky” market and most of them are already informed about a technology and less effected by popular culture depictions.  So, while accounting for ARtags’ potential, it seemed logical to allow it to add an extra dimension to an existing product.  Innovation is normally the use of a new technology in a new area, but its just as innovative to take a technology and use it in an area that can be seen as neglected.  Although places like Argos have continued to develop with technology like orders from the Internet, quick order kiosks and terminals to check stock yet they have still continued to use catalogs.  So my first innovation was to revitalize the catalog, by adding it a new dimension, allowing it to be viewed in 3d and prove as a new example of a technology many in the mass public would not have seen.  Keys for innovating the catalog with this technology is that its a very simple and cheap system, a computer to runt he software and a web camera with some print outs of the tag and someone able to make a few models and edit a few script lines.

The other inspiration is the technology itself, the key that ive found when discussing it with people is that its the type of technology that once people are aware of they start spilling out ideas for great uses of it.  Just like Shot Codes have become common place within marketing, like for Coca Cola, so can ARtags, it just relies on the technology developing, and the interest and support for it being shown.