Future is near or possibly already here. It was physical reality. Then it was virtual reality. Now it is augmented reality. Augmented reality is the mixture of the physical reality and the virtual reality. It can be described as hybrid between physical and virtual reality. Augmented reality was introduced not long ago. Many questions have been raised. How much impact this will make is one of those questions. In order to make great impact on our living, this technology needs to be generalized. To make faster generalization progress, it needs to reduce user’s discomfort when they are using it. If the new technology is making more of discomfort than comfort, then it will disappear or take longer time to be generalized within our living. Good and bad generalization progress example can be found near us. This example can be found between Compact Disk and Mini Disk. Both media was expected to be next generation of storage, however only one of them managed to survive. Compact Disk was generalized successfully and has been making impact on our living since whereas Mini Disk disappeared not long after its introduction. Normally it takes time for the new technology to be generalized among people and other field of technologies. If it tries to do more than what It is capable to do then it will only cause discomfort and people’s bad perception. People’s perception on new introduced technology is one of key to make successful generalization. This is the point that I have been concentrating on. I have been trying to make the most of this augmented reality technology using ‘Junaio’ without making any discomfort. In other words, for example I do not want it to show high-end 3D moving image to show off its potential when it needs couple of minutes to load it. I would rather use simple 3D geometry to help my design presentation straight away, which doesn’t even need number seconds to load those 3D files. I have been trying to maximize augmented reality technology’s practicality within given circumstances such as Internet speed and smart phone camera’s lens quality. This document will introduce my journey of experiments to find that optimum condition.
Initially I planned to improve instantaneity and practicability of this new technology called augmented reality in our everyday life. To achieve good practicability, I planned to adopt this for architectural presentation. To improve instantaneity, I planned to cut loading time of artifact. Below story from my previous post describing how my initial proposal was.
‘Boy A has an architectural presentation tomorrow morning. He made a house model. He has a house model to present but he wanted to emphasize more in detail of the house rather than exterior, which is already presented by his model. It’s going to be a free flowing presentation this time so there is not a set time for him to present his work to everyone. So he decided to use 'Junaio' augmented reality technology for people and critics. By using this he won’t have to repeat what is inside and how it was constructed also he won’t have to spend time on explaining model’s interior and details. He assigned simple detail drawings and floor plan to specific point of the model so when people looking at particular spot with their smart phone they can understand what is behind and how it was made. He was concerned about loading time, as there is no Wi-Fi available at the venue but 3g network. So he decided to use simple smaller 2D image file to minimize loading time.’
Above was the starting point of my experimental journey. One of my key points of initial plan was the faster loading time of artifact. To achieve it I used 2D plan rather than complicated 3D model. However during my experiment, later it was found there is not significant loading time difference between 2D and 3D artifact since 'Junaio glue' restricted file size to be within 1mb. 500kb was given for 3D artifact and 500kb was given for texture. By this time I could decide to change my plan to use 3D artifact rather than 2D artifact. I also realized when further heavier file is needed that can be uploaded into Internet as 'Junaio' can assign link with tracking image.
From the initial plan up till now I have been experimenting various possibilities. During my journey I found that various factors such as type of device or speed of Internet influence Junaio’s stability. The fact that I found for speed of Internet was when I used 3G network or ADSL Wi-Fi there was no significant problem. However when the device connection dropped down to 2G it took more than half of minute to load 450kb 3D artifact. The other factor that I found during my journey was that there is different stability exists among different devices for 'Junaio' recognition. Among devices of Iphone 4g, Iphone 3gs, Ipad 1 and Android tab, I found that Iphone 4G worked best to recognize tracking image and Android tab was found to be the worst at it.
During my development my Iphone 4G found it hard to recognize 3D tracking model. At first, I assigned 2D artifact (plan drawing) onto 3D tracking model. I did this at school studio. It worked fine when I tested it at school studio. However Iphone could not recognize this 3D tracking model when I came back home. I found different light condition influence on phone camera’s recognition. Later it was realized 2D tracking image works better than 3D tracking model. The Difference between 2D tracking image and 3D tracking model is that 3D tracking model has contour, which cause light and shadow effect. 2D tracking image doesn’t have contour and is not affected by light as much as 3D tracking model.
At this stage I needed to change my tracking medium from 3D tracking model to 2D tracking image. Up to this stage throughout my experimental journey, 2D artifact had been changed to 3D artifact, as there was not much difference in loading time between them. Also 3D tracking model was changed to 2D tracking image due to 3D tracking model’s contour which is causing light and shadow effect. From this stage I have been trying to find further optimum condition to achieve smooth architectural presentation.
Tracking image plays very important role since camera need lots of contrasting hint to recognize it. During my experiment and discussion, it was realized that tracking image needs extra border space for camera to recognize it better as well as number contrasting colours helps too.
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| Doorway was picked for making tracking 2D image. |
I choose one spot of plan drawing to make tracking image. I deleted blurry detail to maximize bold line. Then I coloured it. At the end I put red square bolder line to make contrast. Last tracking image was worked best with smart phone’s camera for recognition.
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| Development of tracking image from original doorway plan drawing for better detection. |
Above ultimate tracking image was tested for 'Junaio' detection during day time and it worked fine in school workshop. However at night, when workshop’s lighting condition had been changed, Iphone’s camera started having trouble recognizing tracking image. My initial tracking image was from Photoshop. It does not contain any sort of light and shadow effect on it. It is original clean tracking image. During daytime the tracking image was not influenced much by natural light, however at night time tracking image was heavily influenced by artificial light and this was the reason why Iphone couldn't detect the tracking image at night.
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| Original 2D tracking image from photshop. |
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| Iphone's camera started to not detecting tracking image when light condition was changed. |
Then I re-assigned same image but this time the image was taken from Iphone. By taking same image using Iphone gives better possibility for it to recognize since camera is detecting tracking image through its lens. So image that was taken by lens will work better than original Photoshop image.
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| Tracking image created by Iphone's camera. |
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| Iphone started to detect tracking image. |
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| Pop up menu when 3D artifact was touched. |
The other fact that I need to consider was that the interrelationship between 3D artifact and the angle of device’s camera. When the camera looking at tracking image straight, assigned 3D artifact tend to pop up easily. However when I started to tilt the camera it tends to disappear. It was found that 'Junaio' is very unstable when it comes to angled camera. This makes users to experiencing difficulty to view the 3D artifact on an angled position. So the coordinate of 3D artifact needs to be controlled according to this restriction. For example if presenter wants to show 3D door way, then the 3D door way façade should facing opposite to tracking image so users can view the details of void space that presenter wants to show.
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| Bad example of assigning 3D artifact as viewer cannot see the actual entrance void space. |
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| Better example than above as viewer can see the void space. |
To maximize the content of information the plan can provide, I put some details into tracking image, which means tracking image also has its own additional information for its viewers.
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| Example of tracking image that doesn't contain much of information. |
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| Better example than above. Tracking image which contains additional information of plan drawing. |
So when the viewer sees this tracking image, it is already providing information of 2D perspective drawing. Then when the viewer applies 'Junaio' camera on it, actual 3D artifact appears. Viewer can obtain more of information when the 3D artifact appears.
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| 3D artifact appears and viewer can see the void space of doorway. |
Below is how I want to use 'Junaio' technology for architectural presentation. Below is my ultimate proposal of architectural presentation using 'Junaio'.
From above plan drawing presentation, viewer can obtain the information of plan drawing as well as perspective drawing of specific area.
At this stage viewer can obtain the information of plan drawing and perspective drawing of doorway. If the viewer wants to obtain more information of for example doorway then the viewer can use 'Junaio' to find more detail of it.
3D artifact appear as soon as viewer uses 'Junaio'.
When the viewer touches 3D artifact, detailed description with website link button appears.
When the viewer touches web link button,' Junaio' connect to website that shows detail drawing of specific area of plan. For above example it is doorway. So by using 'Junaio', the viewer obtained the information of plan drawing, perspective drawing, detailed description and detailed drawing without presenter's explanation. By using 'Junaio', the viewer can obtain whatever information whenever the viewer wants without presenter's help.
Above is my ultimate proposal for our everyday architectural presentation. Augmented reality needs more of refinement for sure, however we still can make the most out of it as I explained. There still are some of down side of 'Junaio'. One of the most significant downside of 'Junaio' is that camera’s recognition ability. The camera of the device is too sensitive to create stable flow for users. Also tracking image is influenced by different light effect. Despite above downsides of 'Junaio', it is still developing and refining technology with huge potential of impacting our life. By using this 'Junaio' augmented technology for my presentation, it creates some sort of buffet of information for viewers. What it means is that viewer can gain whatever information whenever they want to without presenter’s help. To conclude this journey, I would like to insist that the augmented reality technology has huge potential of benefiting our life.
Relevant links
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHWww8hUp5s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6FMABGBMjY&playnext=1&list=PLD5293A72A9A36595
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0AhIxhZCSQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnuMiN1HPdE&feature=related
