History of AR

by Dirk Gombos

Last week we discussed how AR and VR are the hot new emerging technologies. This week we are going to dive a bit deeper into the history of AR and who is out there and what they are creating.

Steve Mann is the father of Augmented Reality (AR). LAYAR from The Netherlands uses GPS and compass: so you can point your cell phone at a sign and it will tell you info about it. There is also , a AR start-up, working on integrating with Android and make a 3D typing app in air. Par Works, does data overlay for AR. Blippar is a phone based AR app that you point to an ad or sign for information.

Intel is making an Industrial based product for AR, so it does not want to compete with consumer product of Google glass (fizzled out, but spurning new tech) and Hololens from Microsoft (below coming soon). 

AR from what we read after the wow factor stuff is taken away seems it will be a day to day common use, i.e. at grocery stores or in foreign country looking at signs and menus, etc... 

Whereas entertainment, education and the like will have a combo of AR and VR 360 used to really put you in the AR action. 

Company called Total Immersion, does baseball card AR overlays. There is a human Pac man, which gives you motion of AR, but you must still wear a headset. A Canadian company, EH, has sold AR tech to the US military, they are called Arcane Technologies.

So yes, the future is AR, but 3D and VR 360 will still serve a part and currently is the space to be in.

Let us look at a few limitations and not get caught up in all the glory. GPS is a large part of AR and currently we get 30ft or 9 M. Cell phones have a small screen and will not be the great final home for AR, more likely glasses of HMD companies will revolutionize and perhaps make cell phones extinct in the future? The graduation into AR, will impose a Too Much Information and social etiquette/privacy issues, and we think people will eventually learn to use it, like TV’s/video game consoles/cell phones, in some final way, some author’s point towards a day to day sparingly used for real world applications. 

Entertainment, education, advertising verticals will get a huge impact of positive use from AR landscape “For Sale” in the mediated reality, which could be something to look at in conjunction with post production, and AR experimentation facility/ landscape production via 3D and 360? People feel we will, have 20/20 AR Vision by 2020, catchy phrase but is it true to have the complete answer, time will tell. 

Next week we shall discuss the definitions of VR and AR and how 3DE will move forward today into tomorrow…

AR vs. VR

by Dirk Gombos

The hottest new technology has emerged in the virtual and augmented reality worlds. We at 3DE would like to explain a bit about what it is, what could mean for your brand and bring you a bit of historical information. Over the next few weeks we will illustrate 3DE’s all-encompassing approach to drive your content straight to the marketplace.

AR (Augmented Reality) is in the marketplace, currently in the GPS and compass based way with additional Info applications. The main point of AR is to take a clear set of glasses between you and the environment and through mediated reality, superimpose graphics (VR)/Objects (live camera 360 or rendered).

VR (Virtual Reality) is still driving innovation and will be a piece of the AR tech, especially in the filming of 3D and 360 formats for education, movies and advertising. This is evident that as AR gets better, still a safe 1 or 2+ years away, the video game companies will use rendered current VR applications and place the person inside the game through AR device. However, a real world experience (In camera) would feel that much more immersive for people, thereby creating a need for having live camera capture in 3D and 360 as part of the overall solution... that is, till we have implanted chips in our head that does everything. ;)

Conclusion: VR 360 is still a viable money maker and still exploding for the next 1-3 years, while AR applications, technology and content gear up for consumers closer to 2020 and beyond.

Perhaps hitting the low laying fruit of VR 360 and using that to immerse and desensitize the overwhelming feeling of being in a new environment for the current clients, will do a few things:

·        Help AR technology get better through VR 360 innovation and its foray into marketplace.

·        Educate the users on VR today so when they move into wearable AR clear glasses in the future, they will be used to the wow factor, having only adapt to a more immersive AR interaction.

The final AR form will seem to want to incorporate tactile technology of some sort (Hand and body mapping and tracking in space). The first bleeding edger’s are starting to offer Green screen replacement/MOCAP based solutions currently, not exactly for AR scape but getting ready for it.

So the overall AR experience is a bit away, the VR 360 Bridge is still here, there are theme rides at Six Flags already with Samsung Gear VR in conjunction with a ride.

Pushing the in camera capture to integrate into Advertising, Movies, Education is a great opportunity for both production and post production today while integrating AR as R&D till we have viable niche to pursue and keep sustainable.

Next week, we give a very brief history of AR and some companies leading the way in AR…