Reader Mark Lukas has been in touch to share details of an interesting Augmented Reality (AR) project he has been working on. For those of you unaware of AR is a rapidly emerging technological concept involving the overlay of an interactive visual display, such as data, graphics, video or animation, onto a physical object or environment.
The aim of this project is to provide easy access to digital information whilst reading a book without disturbing the learning process. In this example, the concept of AR has been applied to interactively locate 3D models in a school textbook.
Mark describes the process further:
This concept of a classbook visualizes different parts of the coal-mining process. Beginning from the combustion of coal until the global trade, the whole topic is summarised in 14 pages. I also tried to use augmented reality as a tool for an easy way to locate a 3D model in a book. The user can easily thumb through the book and the specific 3D model appears directly, when the webcam recognizes the pattern on the page.
The video below provides a more detailed demonstration of the process at work:
Congratulations to Mark on his progress to date with developing applications of AR. This is an interesting conceptual demonstration of AR in a practical setting and represents a valuable step forward in this hugely fascinating subject area.