Augmented Reality

[Lemo]

Hey guys
I know AR is not brand new tech but I think it can be a good complement for those of us who are into product or arch viz.
So anyone tried already?

I did some experiments this week and it was quite fun.
First thing you need is the piece of software to augment your life.
After bumping into over-expensive ones, laggy flash solutions, or developer-oriented tools, I finally found a nice one: ARive.


Nice design and easy to use. (non-commercial though)

Then you need a plugin to export the model from your 3d software:
http://www.openscenegraph.org/projects/ ... ty/Plugins
The one for 3dsmax works great, but (again:p) the one for maya seems quite complicated (I couldn't even install it).

Here is a snapshot of what I could do for now

You can play with it there if you like:
http://dl.free.fr/tg2XDsF25 (link will self-destroy in a month)
This file is a bundle of a "lite" install of ARive and my model, with a custom launcher .bat file, that I turned into a "user-friendly" .exe with that:
http://www.bdargo.com

Actually it's part of a (not that sexy) project I'm doing in Indigo for a friend

Tips:
If you really don't wanna print, you can show the marker on your screen and flip your cam. (it's harder to turn the screen though)
ARive also works with DV cam or HDV in DV output mode. (through firewire)
You can display the marker on a smartphone. (but the reflections are not your friends)

Okay so to make it short, I think I gonna continue some testing, and if you do too please post here.
And If someone succeed with the Maya plugin I'll be happy to know how he did.
The osg format also support animation, baked lighting and switch interactivity, so there's a lot to play with.

[PureSpider]

Woah thats nice!
Im struggling on getting a nice osg model at the moment, didn't find any C4D exporter!

€dit: just seen ARive comes with a nice converter
Let the games begin!

Nice find, Lemo!
However, your packed exe thing doesn't seem to work for me...

[PureSpider]

My own test...
A pity I cant export any nice lighting or textures cause I need to export to DXF first
Does ARive support transparency?

[Lemo]

Cool test
Maybe you can try through Blender and its exporter?
The manual says you'll only get basic stuff with the built-in converter.

I haven't tried my .exe on another computer yet, can you describe what happens at launch?

About the transparency, it's supported indeed as I can see through my windows :]
You may as well get nice reflections on glass if you set up an environment map.
I think I'll also try to bake some shadows for my next test.

[Lemo]

There is another good software for AR, actually it's a "cousin" project as it's based on the same core tools than ARive (ARtoolkit & Open Scene Graph). It's called BuildAR and it's from New Zealand like Indigo .
I tried the free version last week, which wasn't that great, but I just noticed they have a "pro" version with a better tracking, additional features and, more important for me, FBX support! which is just perfect for Maya and Max users.(it's not fully supported yet though)
I'll try to make some video later with BuildAR or ARive.

[Lemo]

A lil video test with an animated version of this guy.
http://img850.imageshack.us/i/u7j.mp4/
Too bad it doesn't render like in Indigo in realtime

[OnoSendai]

cool

[hcpiter]

very cool !