Functional Augmented Reality – A Classic

Hey, since the AR hype started way after we released this software tool, I wanted to share this classic application with you. As there are more and more augmented reality applications popping up, whith a functional approach (sometimes the execution is a little weak) this viewer should be named. Actually this movie is based on our good old interior design tool, where you can plan your living environment within a simple picture of your real apartment. But with a little effort we created the living movie …

When The Going Gets Weird, The Weird Turn Pro

OK, this blog never has been a good source for the breaking news, latest campaigns or new new new applications. The augmentedblog is more down-tempo. A wise positioning I believe, because otherwise I would have to update my little read-and-write-project twice a day in the meantime. Since I´ve started to blog about augmented reality many things have changed. And the frequency and multitude of stories is overwhelming. Lucky you and me, that there are some enthusiasts, gathering background information, thoughts and up-to-date-stories with journalistic principles and the values of the german soccer national team. So, keep it up Rouli, Ori or Tom!

In so many other AR-is-cool or technology driven advertising blogs, like everywhere else in the bloggosphere, I see the tendency to just forward videos of “campaigns” and produce yet another top-ten-augmented-reality-campaigns-of-all-time-ranking (by the way, this will be interesting in 20 years…). There is no journalistic work (for example do some research on the providers, sources or performance) and most of all, the applications are lumped together. A functional approach for the US postal services is mixed up with a pizza box game, a technologically poor virtual fitting comes together with a groundbreaking feature tracking approach. People keep on the surface and the funny thing is, that the coverage quality of a project becomes more important than the project itself.

Let me give you a concrete example. The campaign for GE was groundbreaking, with nice interaction and good content, well suited to the brand strategy of being an innovation leader. And it was flash-based, thus having the maximum degree of penetration through running on almost every system. Finally the whole microsite has won a Cyberlion. Many campaigns were following, some better than the others, but when you go through most of the wrap-ups you never read something about the deployment, or get a discussion started about pros and cons. Flash is nice, no question. But you are stuck to a piece of paper (or the marker on something – does that come along with a styleguide?) and the demands to the GPU are very high (penetration goes down, because everybody has flash, but not evrebody has a rendering machine at home). Finally it is only somewhat-3D, not offering the best content quality. The other side of the specter is an Active-X Plug-In or stand alone software, with very good options for interaction and content, but with limited access and a hurdle for viral mechanisms. Well, you guess. There is something out there, combining the performance and robustness of the latter with the availability of an Adobe product. But have I read something in the bloggosphere? Although the strategic conclusions could be very important to marketers, almost no blog or magazine has reacted on phase 2 of the GE campaign, performing quite well on the cover of Popular Science magazine. It is Shockwave based! Is there anybody out there not wandering why this old-school-thang-platform is one of the best augmented reality web-viewers recently. Man, I had dogmatic but prolific discussions about that. And at the end, many people said: why not? What do you say? Are you interested in taking the consulting phase of an AR campaign serious and go into detail? Is there anybody out there? There is. So, I have to go back to work now…

The mentioned application I would love to get some feedback / discussion, can be found here: 

 

www.popsci.com/imagination

 

 

 

All About Augmented Reality

I´ve just finished a book review about the recently released “All about Augmented Reality”. As it is fully and only in japanese language the review of the pictures was done pretty fast. But for all my japanese readers and fans of AR and typography I can recommend one of the first trivial books about this revolutionary topic. The best way to find it in the net or your local shibuya bookstore might be the ISBN numer – hey, at least I was able to read this: ISBN978-4-8222-1083-0

As far as I understood it the book gives a good wrap-up and components overview about the state of the art in augmented reality. I bet, there are some books to follow in one of the languages I am able to read and write. I will keep you updated.

iLive and iPlay

Let me introduce my charming colleague Katha and two of our iPhone apps to you. While the latter are available in the app store, it was only Mihai Corlan who had the pleasure of a live-demo at this years Webinale…

http://vimeo.com/5016374

Have a nive day!

Driven by…

… content, there are some AR applications, which still work really nice with just a simple piece of paper. Julian Perretta´s  work for example, seems to be so catchy, that it´s worth to mention. But if you put a marker on something inadequate (for example an oily food box) and fail to produce both a nice game logic and fancy design, augmented reality becomes totally obsolete. Driven by nothing. And because I am driven by augmented reality I don´t want immersive “campaigns” to be as attractive as a modem. This unique interface is at the beginning. But some ideas in the last months look like the end is near. So here´s my official call for content and optical reference quality, if it isn´t technology driven, like university demos. Still I have to mention this application like a mantra again. Because the form follows the function, thus it is good (information) design…

Via Bewegungsmelder and Augmented Times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

German software engineering, italian style …

Augmented Reality In Your And Your And Your … Hands

In humanities there is this everlasting struggle between the macro- and micro-perspective oriented approaches. Some say you have to look at the big picture and deduce from there to a social phenomenon. Others take a single action or one social agent and try to construct their general theory from small to big. Personally I favour the emergence approach, but this blog is not dedicated to universal theories  and the related discussions.

This blog is dedicated to augmented reality and as far as I can see it in my own stats, feeds, alerts, requests, discussions and so many other indicators it represents quite well, what is going on  out there. The correlation between small and big is quite significant in a blog. Although we are far away from saturation and – so called – killer applications, augmented reality is not such a niche anymore and the demands for blog articles are going in the same direction as the requests for software in this market. And because I want to cover a groundbreaking software release I also wanted to do something different for my blog this time. Thus, I went for  an expert talk and usability test of  the corpus delicti “Unifeye Design” – the first professional augmented reality software tool for non-programmers – with Matthias Schroeder from SCHROEDER + WENDT User Interface Design and this is what we have talked  about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Picture: The GUI of Unifeye Design and that MINI again.

Matthias is founder of Magdeburg based SCHROEDER + WENDT, business developer,  designer and member of the Usability Professionals Association (UPA). Besides his interest in intuitive and sense-making information and interaction design he is an augmented reality enthusiast. And, although he would deny, an AR expert! Actually he started blogging and thinking about augmented reality clearly before me. Please note, that we were not in a question-and-answer mode, thus I just transliterated parts of our session. We hereby want to start some exchange about this topic and maybe publish more facts from the sub-tasks like GUI design, possible applications or results from the BETA-test surveys bit by bit.

augmented reality in the spotlight

Matthias´ first impression was – and lucky us: “I have never seen an AR software like this before. It must be the first one for non programmers, right? I think it could enable almost anybody to play around with this technology”. But who is this anybody, who needs a tool like that? We both were of the opinion, that for example designers and advertisers could use this interface to get in first touch with augmented reality. Actually this is what Unifeye Design is all about. The demand came from the market. More and more companies are interested in augmented reality, but not everybody understands this technology in detail – and its vast possibilities. Not to mention for example customers of agencies, who haven´t heard of  augmented reality before. And when we proclaim, that an advertising campaign or a presentation of context sensitive product design is more fascinating and more informative, we should give the enablers of such measures a tool in their own hands! A simple example, which has happened last week during  my stay in Hamburg with the guys from Die Bildproduktion – after a trial phase, some playing around with the tool and brainstorming they had so many fantastic ideas. They just blasted me away. And I was not the only one, because we went to one of their customer agencies and they were so excited to see running customer projects augmented with yet another dimension. They needed to see something specific and they did!

Of course  we are still focussing on this “almost anybody”, because you definitely need some experience in for example photoshop or a 3D software. But Matthias said something very interesting: “maybe now the second movers come in. OK. But what if one day these tools are so simple and compatible, that really anybody could  interact, work and play with AR. With very own content and the number of  ideas out there”. This opens your mind! and you start thinking about “the creative cloud”. I am wondering what my nephew would do with his own augmented reality. Or Woody Allen. Or this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7GGkKpBR-g

This leads to the the next and final part of our talk – a session, where we went through the GUI of the software and Matthias made his comments and suggestions. I will not enclose the complete result of the usability and interface design analysis, but I want to cover the most interesting parts. These which might interest augmented reality enthusiasts and newbies willing to also try out the demo-version of Unifeye Design.

First of all, I have to admit, that Matthias found many things that need to be improved. But he wanted to evaluate it as one very professional visualization software following the standards in form and function he would implement, when doing a job in his own company. And he took the perspective of somebody with absolutely no experience in AR. Thus not having seen a movie or demo or something before. Said and done by a guy who described his work as “we want people to have fun with interfaces, even when they are doing their annual tax declaration.” So, these people at SCHRODER WENDT strive for the maximum usability and interaction fun. Thus Matthias found many small and medium things to be  improved, but please keep in mind that we were sitting in front of our public BETA demo version. Another premise was, that he had a user in mind, who never had contact with 3D-programs or augmented reality before, which Unifeye Design is only peripheral – it´s mainly  addressed to information designers, thus professionals. Nevertheless, maybe in a couple of  months or years AR is so common, that there are more and more people doing their first steps. We still have this creative cloud in mind.

So I listened carefully, when Matthias went through the GUI following his standard procedure, when evaluating a software and we even reacted on some of the stated points. For example: there is a better getting started documentation now, we produced some video tutorials, enclosed FAQs to the related website and we made some usability tests with a more heterogenous target group. We want to improve Unifeye Design now step by step, day by day.

Furthermore we were talking about the definiteness of icons, tab based approaches, GUI based help and explanation, the logical assumption of function segments, the relation between the operation fields, methods to improve the workflow and many other elements of usability and interaction design. You will find many nice examples at SCHROEDER + WENDTS website and blog. With the conclusion, that for example our AttrakDiff result is not optimal and that the simplicity and the look and feel need to be improved.

Finally you – yes, you the reader with enough involvement to follow this long article – come in. This article addresses AR evangelists and enthusiasts, to go to the website: www.metaio.com/design , download the software and check it out. We would love your feedback! And turn this article about developing a “normal” user oriented augmented reality software into a never ending story. Until everybody can participate in an augmented world…

Thank you very much for your patience.

Magic + Magic = ?

Marco just sent me his augmented reality card trick movie and I immediately had to cover it. I think he did a great job. Exactly that is what I mean, when talking about ideas in 2009 and following. These days you will not develop the wheel or be the first to cook a meal with fire, but you can combine existing things in a new way. The augmented card trick is an invention and I am sure when it is implemented into the fascinating (commercial) show programme it will become an innovation, proven through market entry. And this is not magic, this is inventive talent.

PROFOUNDAR

Following this claim by Rouli and inspired by a chat with Thomas I wanted to post something completely different this time. And maybe there will evolve a little series. The video below gives you some insight on how you can use augmented reality in the production process of a car. Combined with a measurement arm you can visually overlay CAD data for example on prototypes and assist the technician. It simplifies the consultation process within production stakeholders and helps avoiding very expensive mistakes. So, maybe I sound a little uncool, but on the one hand we should keep in mind, that augmented reality can help saving ressources, improve the quality of work and help building better products. And on the other hand: industrial scenarios are also prolific for catchy-fancy marketing applications, because the requirements on the core technology are very high, thus the systems in general get more stable and more flexible. Does that sound like a (german) software car engineering campaign? Sorry for that – it´s my heritage… 

AR-B-Q

Some things are quite easy to imagine: me, in front of a plate with a juicy steak on it, with frolicing potatoes dancing hand in hand with fresh salad around that splendid specimen of meat. No problem. But what about an outdoor kitchen in my garden? Besides the fact that I only have a balcony in the middle of Giesing (represent!) it would be very hard to get an impression of such a context sensitive and solid element in an outdoor living environment before I have decided to buy and integrate it. Especially with regards to the many configurations, constellations, materials and functions of such a product. In correspondence to the infinite creativity of nature, architects and gardeners. But of course an augmented reality tool comes to the rescue:  YOUReality allows you to configure your individual outdor kitchen and to integrate it directly into a picture of your own garden. Augmented Sales at its best! And I think it will help to “sell outdoor kitchens better” as they say in their slogan… What do you think?

And… Errrr, this self adulation these product presentation news has been brought to you by the technology provider: metaio.

Daily Mirror

Again, one of those recent augmented reality measures where I have been neither to lazy nor to fine to cover. I just think, every reader has seen plug into the smart grid by Goodby, Silverstein somewhere else. If not, do your homework! But the above “Save the trees reddit” needs a voice. At least mine. Really love the approach and somehow these augmented things tend to be adaptive enough for user genreated content. Isn´t this pre-generation-Y-activist-show-the-kids-how-to-rethink-stuff activist an example of pure involvement? Let me quote: “GE has this spiffy augmented reality site that advocates greener energy. The problem? To experience the spiffiness, they ask you to wastefully print out an image on a piece of paper! Well, in the interest of the trees, here I am accomplishing the same thing with a mirror. Take that GE! ”

Nothing to add.