Monday, January 28, 2008

AR book is out

Augmented Reality: A Practical Guide is out!

who will be the first to review it? will it be you?

the code download for the book is available on the Pragmatic book page

Thursday, January 10, 2008

CNN uses Augmented Reality

during the Iowa primary election coverage, CNN's Anderson Cooper held up a "magic pie chart." Jon Stewart showed the clumsy use of the technology on The Daily Show. it's actually an application of Augmented Reality, but the BBC was the first group (I know of) who used it for election coverage.

I haven't been able to find any images of the CNN example, so if you're reading this and you know of one, please post a comment.
update: wow, thanks to datadreamer for the quick reply.


- Anderson Cooper showing off Augmented Reality
(from http://www.flickr.com/photos/monoki/2165007234)



- Bill Gates tries out an ARTag AR system that uses a head-mounted display (our AR book uses ARTag but does not require anything other than a Windows PC and a webcam)

Mark put this short video up on YouTube, it's a good demo of what we're talking about in our book: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItOtTdhDoto

this game shows a simple way of using the technology to enhance a card game experience.

Monday, January 07, 2008

augmented reality book is coming

the book that I co-wrote about augmented reality will be coming out soon.

Dr Mark Fiala, a researcher at the National Research Council of Canada, was my co-author and together we have written (what I believe is) the first book about augmented reality that is targeted at the average person. all you need is a computer, printer, and a webcam.

BTW -- you can see ARTag videos on YouTube (just search for "ARTag").



from the publishers website:

"Augmented Reality is the fusion of real and virtual reality, where computer graphics objects are blended into real footage in real-time. AR creates the illusion that virtual, computer-generated objects exist in the real world. All you need is a computer and a webcam. This book will show you how, and teach you about game development at the same time. You can run the included demos, or use the ARTag API to customize your own AR applications.

About this Book

Augmented Reality is a natural way to explore 3D objects and data, as it brings virtual objects into the real world where we live, rather than forcing us to learn how to navigate inside the computer. With video-see-through technology, AR handheld devices such as tablet PC’s, PDA’s, or camera cell phones, (or in many cases just a webcam and our standard computer monitor), you hold the device up and “see through” the display to view both the real world and the superimposed virtual object. You can move around and see the virtual object, model, animation, or game from different views as the AR system performs alignment of the real and virtual cameras automatically.

This book will introduce you to Augmented Reality (AR), provide detailed explanations of how the technology works, and provide samples for you to try on your own. Code samples using the freely downloadable ARTag software SDK in C++ and C# are included; all you need is a computer, printer, and a webcam."
- Pragmatic Publishing