Augmenting Reality

After augmented reality was made available for web platforms such as Flash, it became quite popular to build such AR capable apps. It looks as if what started as a revolutionising way of interacting with virtual interfaces is now as repetitive and pointless as QR codes came to be.

But have we explored all that AR can bring us? As for most "new" technologies, it's not what it does, but how we use it.

In my simplistic mind I separate AR projects like this:

By definition AR is the act of augmenting or enhancing reality. But when all this means is printing a piece of paper and looking at a 3D model on a monitor, it just makes me think: why not just put the 3D model in the monitor in the first place? The answer to which would be the interaction capability provided by the ability of physically handling the virtual model. But then again, it all depends on what you do with it.

Rubbish

If you just want someone to visually explore a 3D model/environment, making them go through the trouble of downloading and printing something is just not the best way. Don't take me wrong though, it's really amazing! But it gets old pretty fast. Also the fact that you have you to keep changing medias can be quite confusing for the user.

If you can eliminate the printed tracker you start making things easier for the user and ultimately creating a fun experience.

Fun

This example, done by Total Immersion, doesn't make use of any printed tracker instead it uses face tracking. This allows you to instantly engage with the AR experience. Only negative side here is that you have to download a special plugin since it doesn't support flash. But they have several other examples that definitely show that not using a printed tracker is the way to do it. For example:

It's definitely amazing and really engaging. But what can be done with it?

Functional

Even though the AR tracking is what makes it really fun to interact with, AR shouldn't be limited to it. This is a nice example of augmenting reality with no real need of tracking in order to convey a powerful message.

Fun and Functional

This card game offers extras and a new interaction with the cards. What's really good about this example is that it doesn't need a tracker, instead uses the actual card.

I'd say there's much to be explored and, as some of these example show, we'll probably still be seeing a lot more of AR.