Well, the Japanese have tamed the virtual makeup down. Created for cosmetic giant Shiseido by Fujitsu, the following application can be found in kiosks across Tokyo:
And, if you are not lucky enough to live in East Asia, Walmart and the British drugstore chain Boots are piloting the following kiosk by EZFace. Unfortunately, it works on a static image and doesn't augmented live video feed, so it's not really AR.
Following video presents a cooperation between Korea's drugstore Oliveyoung and Samsung (if Google Translate serves me right). Never mind it's not applied in real time and requires user interaction, but does it increase your sales, making your customers look like clowns?
Well I guess it's a step in the right direction, but probably the technology is not ready for prime time yet.
Last month, this student's project, using AR to advertise IKEA, got me excited. Now, Brazilian furniture retailer Tok&Stok is letting consumers arrange rooms and place furniture using augmented reality. To do so, clients can use AR kiosks placed in stores, as seen in the video below, or try a web-cam based application online.
I guess, augmented reality is only used as a gimmick here, since you could arrange the same furniture using a simple 3d application (after all, it doesn't virtually place the furniture in your room, like the IKEA campaign did). However, the video claims that sells are higher thanks to this application, so who am I to argue.
Live video captured by a camera and is re-projected on the wall behind the camera, functioning like a “magic mirror.” But the CLOUD MIRROR software alters the images on the way to the screen. It runs an algorithm that tracks faces from frame to frame and also examines each frame for 2D barcodes printed on attendee badges. By pairing each face with a badge, and each badge id with a database row, the CLOUD MIRROR can identify by name whoever is standing in front of the installation.
It's very similar to this Squidder's video, but adds more ways to embarrass yourself and others. More (mostly technical) details can be found here, but in a nutshell it's based on ARToolKitPlus, OpenCV for face recognition, and lots of python.
(Remember, you can too drop me a note about any AR related news by sending a mail to rouli.net ~a~t~ gmail.com)
The New York Times on the future of sales kiosks - "Consumers can walk up to the kiosk, swipe a barcode for a foundation cream, and see how it looks on the onscreen image of their faces."
Fraunhofer, the German research organization that brought us the MP3 format, is presenting two augmented reality technologies in CeBit this year. First is a nifty magic mirror, presented in the video below (no horizontal, English version yet, sorry):
The mirror is actually a touch screen, a camera, and an algorithm that samples the camera feed 30 times per second. The algorithm looks for the original logo imprinted on the shirt in order to replace it with another logo (or even with a video), while changing the shirt's color at the same time. Once you understand it's marker based, the demo looks less cool.
On the other hand, Fraunhofer demoed a mobile AR technology, aimed to augment historic tourist attractions. In the future, using an application installed on an iPhone (or currently on a mini Sony Vaio), tourist will be able to examine the Reichstag or Brandenburg Gate and see them as they looked through the years.
The software recognizes the buildings, as well of the perspective of the shot and delivers the historical equivalent of the photo, covering the original. The rendering of the historical snap is done is real-time – so if the user walks around the building, the picture moves with him. The picture is sent to a server via the 3G network, which delivers the “Augmented Reality View”. Views of the Reichstag just after the Second World War, during the separation of East and West Germany, or after the fall of the Berlin Wall are available. The user can scroll back and forth between the different time periods and short explanatory texts round off the offering. (source)
Fraunhofer presented the same concept for ancient Rome in SIGGRAPH 2008, but it seems their technology has matured since then.
Let me first apologize for posting old news, I totally missed that a month ago. Avid fans of augmented reality surely remember that Lego and Metaio are collaborating, setting up specialized kiosks to enable buyers to look at a Lego box and see the completed model in 3d. It seems that Total Immersion won't let themselves be outplayed (sorry) by this collaboration. At CES 2009, Total Immersion used their technology to augment K'NEX boxes. Now, a cool video surfaced on Youtube showing it in action:
There's nothing on Total Immersion's site to indicate that this is a true cooperation, and not just a technology demo, but it's enough to make us update the scoreboard - Total Immersion: 1, Metaio: 1.
Well, everyone has already written about it (where you can find lots of pictures). Lego collaborated with Metaio in order to augment some of its packages in such a way that when looked through a camera, the packages will display the completed Lego model in 3d. From the press release:
The DIGITAL BOX from the LEGO Group comes to the rescue. From November, children great and small can hold special LEGO boxes – containing a hydraulic digger or police station, for example – up to an interactive kiosk and watch a 3D animation of the product inside the box – superimposed on the box. All of this is made possible by metaio’s software, which fuses virtual 3D animations into a live video of the actual product packaging. As a result, buyers can hold both the box and the finished product in their hands. Construction sets are a great match for this technology. Here, metaio’s software not only creates a fascinating technical experience, but gives retailers a unique selling pitch while helping to inform interested buyers. After all, customers get to see exactly how much fun there is inside! The idea has not been termed “smart packaging” for nothing.
This is another sign that augmented reality is creeping its way to the mainstream. Moreover, it's a great opportunity to officially announce about this blog's little competition between the two AR power houses. Starting from 1/1/09 the current score is Metaio: 1, Total Immersion: 0.
We, at Augmented Times, believe that augmented reality (AR) is the next big paradigm shift. Connecting the world wide web with the physical world and the many objects, places and humans it contains, AR is both a disruptive technology and an exciting vision of the future.
This blog's goal is to document AR taking over our lives, but it needs your help. Have an augmented reality related news or story? Published an interesting paper about AR? Have something to say about this site or the AR community in genereal? Tell us about it, at rouli.net ~at~ gmail.com
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