AR Services for the City of Basel at the ISMAR 2011

From October 26^th to 29^th, the city of Basel in Switzerland is host to ISMAR 2011, the international conference on research, technology and application in Mixed and Augmented Reality. Part of the conference is the very interesting AR-4-Basel project, organized by PEREY Research & Consulting and its partners.

Model by VirtualcitySYSTEMS

The purpose of this project is to establish a framework in which creative professionals can push the envelope of what has been done in Smart Cities with 3D data sets and to showcase the first generation of services that are available to the public with smartphones during the ISMAR 2011.

The project coordinates resources in the city of Basel and internationally for the purpose of implementing real world mobile AR services, and receives the support of businesses, government agencies, municipal service providers, private and public institutes of learning. In order to help build AR based services for people in Basel and visitors to the conference, the project provides datasets of 3D city models (see image above). This is an interesting challenge for researchers and developers in the field of Augmented Reality. We at metaio are curious to see what our colleagues will present.

Current technology is advancing rapidly. While having a readymade 3D Model available is certainly useful for projecting AR overlays correctly aligned onto buildings or street views (we have been using those lots of times), our current approach at metaio however goes a step further. We now have technologies which can in fact create a model of reality on the spot, dynamically and at the very instant the user looks at the world through his smartphone camera. By using very advanced 3D optical recognition and tracking technologies we are able to capture and reconstruct the environment around the user without having to rely on a prefabricated city model. 3D objects can then be directly inserted into this “live” three-dimensional space in perfect perspective, alignment and occlusion.

It will allow people in the near future to walk through any cityscape with their smartphones and benefit from correctly aligned digital overlays and useful Augmented Reality information services as a completely natural experience. We call this the “Augmented City”. You may have seen this video, but we show it once more to illustrate the point:

Unifeye Design 2.5 Now Available

metaio is pleased to announce that the latest version of our Design software is now available for download.

Once again, AR is neither a sci-fi fantasy nor something limited to gimmicky one-off applications. Our design software enables anyone with a Windows PC to produce rich, interactive content. Our clients and partners use Design in trade shows, integrated marketing campaigns, classrooms, commercial applications, internal demonstrations and much more.

If you’re not already familiar with Design, you may have heard about our wonderful project with LEGO, now deployed in every LEGO-branded store in the world.

For the new 2.5 update we’ve rolled out the following updates:

• New features:
  • Facetracking: for tracking a users face and overlaying3D content (e.g. hats, glasses etc.)
  • Extensible tracking: for tracking in unknown environments the system automatically creates and updates an internal map of features for tracking based on the camera image. This allows you to move around freely with your camera and the system adjusts on the fly.
• Markerless tracking: Improved performance and stability
• Licensing: Licenses can be moved to another PC (only full version)
• Uses new version of BsContact renderer (7.2.2.0). For a list of features see the release notes on the Bitmanagement website.
• Several bugfixes for Unifeye and the Workflow Authority GUI

For more information, please see our web store and our extensive documentation on all of our software.

Update

A Design license (post-activation) is bound to the user’s PC, so moving / transferring the license is not allowed. There are however cases where a user would need to transfer a license, such as when uploading to a new machine. Starting with Design 2.5, license holders will have the ability to transfer their licenses twice. 

To send a request or purchase a license dongle, contact sales (at) metaio (dot) com.

To transfer your license, go here. Enter your activation key and click Get Licenses.

 

Augmented Expression: ARtists Making ARt

Augmented Reality as a technology is often seen through utilitarian eyes. AR has many appropriate industry uses, such as improving mechanical safety inspections, interactive training procedures, mobile instruction manuals, and assembly-line safety. But over the past few months, we’ve seen developers use our technology more and more for personal, emotional, most importantly artistic expression.

XYZ Site Gallery AR experience

It’s difficult to try to comprehend the almost limitless design possibilities when you have the potential to take any digitally-designed or rendered object and place, overlay, or otherwise anchor it to the physical world.  Imagine: a vast museum of virtual artifacts and objects occupying the same space as the Louvre- accessible only through your mobile device! The term “mixed media” is barely sufficient anymore- we’re beginning to see a real blending of the virtual and the physical, with a substantial emphasis on using metaio’s software, like junaio, to curate and design galleries, exhibits, art and space augmentations, and even use “basic” functionalities of junaio to guide and navigate around them.

Chris Hodson and Sarah Staton recently designed an experience for the Sheffield, UK Site Gallery in which they designed and implemented sculptures that were part virtual and part material, including marble, concrete, metal, wood, glass, wool and cork. The experience was triggered by a series of markers placed around and inside the museum- such a simple installation process for something so complex! Hodson and Staton even worked with physicist Dominic Hosler to design a “cuboid game of life and death”, in which “infinitely accumulating and dissipating cubes” loop themselves into eternity.

Anyone living or vacationing in Italy this year should already be familiar with the 54^th Venice Biennale Art Exhibition. This year, we’re pleased to announce there will be a junaio channel running the duration of the event until 27 November 2011. The channel, “Venice Augmented”, was developed by San Francisco-based Certified Developer Vitamin AR under the direction of artist Amir Baradaran, and places examples of Baradaran’s work in POI’s around Venice and the Biennale, as part of his “FutARism” campaign:

I am interested in how small acts of resistance, particularly within so-called virtual domains, can create pockets of transformation. Seeking to generate much more than novel surprise, my art explores new ways of being.

These are just two ways in which artists are using junaio to design wonderfully interactive experiences. Below is a list of links to recent examples of junaio augmenting the art world. What kind of projects could you envision, knowing that what you design is not bound by the laws of nature? A Borgesian map, perhaps?

Wink.

-Trak

********

Scope, Cabinet Exhibition, Peninsula Arts Gallery, Plymouth, UK; Vladimir Geroimenko and Roberto Fraquelli

-          “Scope” junaio channel that adds enhanced dimensionality to a specific exhibit

Mao Dollar Channel, part of the Manifest.AR art festival

Gallery Kessler-Battaglia AR experience, developed by our partner eDiam Sistemas

Museum Night in Belgrade with our own TV appearance!

What about Markerless, Freehand Augmented Reality?

On our way to an augmented world there are still some hurdles to be taken. Data generation, bandwidth, standards and such. But we are not to far away anymore, let me tell you this. And it´s not only us doing the homework. While we are working for example on markerless tracking algorithms, others work on processing power and smart architecture. And there is another important stakeholder: output devices! For some scenarios – industrial as well as commercial – you`ll need both of your hands – and that´s where AR-able head mounted displays (a layman like me would call it magic glasses) step into the arena. You know what, today is a goood day for AR game developers, industrial AR researchers or experience designers! Vuzix Corporation today announced that it has formed a marketing and development partnership with metaio, the leader in the field of professional Augmented Reality (AR) software systems, to deliver head mounted display (HMD) solutions for their customers. The two companies will work together to identify and deliver customer solutions that require both metaio’s AR software capability and Vuzix’s line of ARenabled Video Eyewear. Paul Travers, President of Vuzix, commented, “Both metaio and Vuzix are leaders in and at the forefront of AR markets with highly complementary offerings. With Vuzix providing its award winning Video Eyewear products and engineering services and metaio providing its leading software platforms and software engineering capability, we believe that together we can better address this rapidly emerging market need.” metaio and Vuzix have identified a number of common customers that require integrated hands-free HMD solutions for applications such as marketing and advertising, assembly, maintenance, on-site and on the factory floor problem solving, training and education and entertainment.

Because images say more than a thousand words out of the official press release, here´s one of the many examples for markerless, handsfree augmented reality. By the way, this is registered in 3D and most of all: a real use case.

Making Life Easier with Augmented Reality

Although the correct description “mobile markerless tracking algorithm optimized for dual-core chips” sounds very complex, the demo below shows how easy life can be with AR. For example by getting virtual service instructions of a printer embedded into the live video. And focussing on AR beyond gimmickry is our main goal ever since …

For widespread and daily usage the whole AR eco-system – still in a phase between infancy and an adolescent hype – has to work closely together in order to deliver useful, robust, smooth and still fascinating augmented reality experiences. The “Wow” factor will expire, but the true potential will come out even beyond our imagination. In order to take full advantage of augmented reality and to finally bring the technology to the mainstream of smartphone users – chipset manufacturers, carriers and technology providers have to cooperate closely. Improving the performance, experience, usability and capabilities of AR applications is crucial for broad adoption and daily usage. metaio`s AR software Unifeye Mobile SDK and their, currently seen by many experts, most advanced AR browser junaio offer for example vision based AR and go far beyond compass/GPS based approaches. However, multimedia tightly registered to the physical space triggered by planar objects is computationally intensive and requires a tight integration of hardware and software. metaio CTO Peter Meier summarizes: “With the computational challenges of an augmented vision in mind, a markerless trackable real world, cooperations between hardware and software providers become even more important.” Working closely together with leading chipset manufacturers for an optimized software/hardware integration is where metaio puts its development efforts – besides constantly working on new tracking methods and backend approaches with many patented solutions. The latest results will be shown at the Mobile World Congress 2011. By the way: if you download junaio, search for and open the channel “Printer manual Demo” and point your phone onto the image below, you can try out our image processing. For a live demo you have to come and visit us @ MWC2011!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for augmented reality!

Ben & Jerry’s just released “Moo Vision”, an augmented reality app for the iPhone using natural feature tracking, which now is possible with the iOS 4.0. Ben & Jerry’s worked with its Digital Agency, Edelman, and “imaginative tech” development shop Circ.us, which used metaio’s Unifeye Mobile SDK to roll out the first campaign worldwide using this new image processing feature on the iPhone.

ReadWriteWeb´s Chris Cameron describes it as following: “With one of four flavors of ice cream, users can view different virtual dioramas that display scenes from small family farms where ingredients originate. By unlocking all four, users can access special Ben & Jerry’s iPhone background images – a small token that encourages participation.”

What’s particularly remarkable about the app is that Ben & Jerry’s didn’t have to redesign their existing packaging.Typically, with augmented reality, the packaging must be altered to include a marker to trigger the experience. This means costly packaging redesigns, not to mention how long it takes. However, Edelman Digital and Circ.Us used the existing Ben & Jerry’s packaging to set off the triggers for users to experience their ice cream in a whole new dimension. This is one reason, why Katie O’Brien from Ben & Jerry’s comes to the conclusion: “We had a very positive overall experience working AR into our campaign – a process that only took two months from start to finish, with many changes and revisions along the way.” Below you will find a tasty video:

Augmented Reality in 3 Clicks

Mobile augmented reality: Check! Web-Viewer-based augmented reality: Check! The media love it, the people watch it, the clients … well, some have to be convinced. But how? One possibility: you start with an offline application at a trade fair, create a POS scenario or do any kind of installation, where you have control over the hardware environment and where the clients can directly see the success of your application. After every project we have done in this sphere – for example LEGO, SEAT or SCION – the marketers were affirmed with their opinion, that live marketing is a perfect playground for augmented reality. It is interactive, outstanding and differentiating, has a higher visualization level for the benefits to be communicated and makes people come to the booth or shop and take products, brands and messages in their own hands. The average viewing time increases, the brand awareness, the benefit remebrance as well, and so forth. With Unifeye Design you now have the possibility to create and deploy exactly these scenarios without any programming knowledge and with low efforts in general. It is GUI based, has a workflow engine, is compatible to standard 3D software and has simple authoring elements for tracking and live-video rendering. What makes it even more interesting, coming back to the point with convincing clients: you can easily click, drag and drop an augmented reality presentation in order to visualize your ideas, which shall be deployed on no matter what channel – mobile, web-based, POS, trade fair. When the clients actually see, what will happen, in 3D and not with scribbles, well, the “yes” comes closer. And by the way: for a 3D designer the pitch situation and live presentation is his daily business. He himself can stand out from the competition within his 3D designers market. I mean, you now can create mini-campaigns for important pitches and show the new house on a brochure, present your context sensitive design within the real environment or just add a new media channel to your portfolio. It´s that easy!

It´s been a while, since Thomas played around with our 1.0 version of Unifeye Design and there are many improvements in all sections of the software. It makes use of the improved and advanced tracking core libraries of the Unifeye platform, the GUI has been completely revised, as well as the workflow engine and – last but not least – the price and the distribution logics. It´s available in an online shop. Again, more about the AR for everybody software and the link to the shop can be found here. Hasta la Vista mat boards!

Introducing: Unifeye Mobile Augmented Reality SDK

Let me proudly present our new product movie, introducing the most comprehensive mobile augmented reality software suite and showcasing fully integrated, working applications, which can be created and deployed by visionary developers in our growing domain. Besides some colour correction and one little tweak (guess where) there has been no post production. As you can also see, we are running on multiple platforms, including Symbian, iPhone, WinMobile and – ta dah! – Android. If you´re one of the happy few to be at the Mobile World Congress you can go to the “Creation Day” by Sony Ericsson and play around wiht our brand new Android demo on one of their new devices.

By the way: resemblances of the actors with real world developers at metaio in the spot below are pure coincidence. And: no Zombies were harmed!

The Unifeye Mobile SDK is the most comprehensive development software suite …

Kapitel 1

· … for creating mobile augmented reality applications …

· … supporting all major mobile platforms …

· … based on the proven AR platform Unifeye by metaio.

Augmented Reality 2.0

The one augmented reality, which uses a gps signal to overlay 2D graphics onto the real world trough the video camera of a mobile, generated a lot of buzz. With a reason. It made visible, where augmented reality is heading and what even more cool interface a mobile can be, combined with this technology. On the other side, due to the hype, many aspects of our fascinating field were ignored or not even recognized. Because the other augmented reality with image recognition still has limitations. But  this other augmented reality seems to be even more promising. To say it different: that there is only one real augmented reality. Nothing new to the folks at Venturebeat. And the good thing is, they share their knowledge A quote? “Finally, Metaio’s plans for 2010 include creating the world’s first “AR city”. This is an attempt to move AR into the mainstream by blanketing a specific geographic location in the US with a high-density of AR data. Such an environment could be a giant test lab for the fledging AR industry. Watch this space.

Here´s the full article:

The Evolution of Tracking

Just like in “wire-less” there is as much as potential and demand for the development of “marker-less” tracking techniques in the augmented reality domain. Besides the fact, that we need markerless tracking and image recognition for a true augmented vision in the mobile sector, 3D tracking is very promising for almost any existing use case in the augmented reality. In industrial scenarios this will mean, that we will be able to recognize and overlay real world factory and working spaces. Or, for example, we can enhance product presentations or product design processes absolutely seamless. The object itself – and not something written or printed on it – is the optical reference.

The movie below showcases the 3D markerless tracking capabilities of the Unifeye SDK. Our japanese partner KGT demoed this Formula 1 streamline overlay at the SIGGRAPH 2009. As you can see the model car is registered and overlaid with 3D content, true to scale, orientation and place. A very nice demo indeed.