Snapdragon AR: Drag and Drop2D Augmented Reality Authoring

Caitlin Fisher, Canada Research Chair in Digital Culture, Associate Professor, Department of Film, York University

WHAT IS AUGMENTED REALITY?

- Merges real and virtual image streams- Historically an industrial application- Traditionally very expensive

immersive tracking hardware and video see-through displays … more recently, smartphone-enabled experiences

- We’re interested in all kinds of AR, but have focused recent attention on inexpensive computer vision solutions and easy-to-use interfaces to introduce new audiences to ar as a creative medium

Our innovation: SnapDragonAR

SnapDragonAR is a unique new tool for artists, educators, and storytellers of all ages.

We wanted to build expressive tools for non-programmers so we generated a wish list that prioritized easy buy-in, drag and drop, scaleability, high resolution 2D, and extremely low cost http://www.futurestories.ca/snapdragonar/

SnapdragonAR

What do you need?Mac computer (at the moment the software is for mac (intel) only), webcam, printer (or printed markers)

What else could you use?

Data projector -- for showing your ar masterpiece to a crowd

Inexpensive gaming goggles - if you would rather have the uncanny effect of seeing your paper marker come to life in your hand, rather than on your computer screen

Camera with a longer cord to explore markers further away from your computer

Is it easy?

Yes. Transform any surface into a screen simply by adding a marker.

Print stickers at any size you like, using your regular printer.

Bring everyday objects to life and make your own projects at home.

Simply print your markers, turn on the camera, and start dragging 2D images from your computer into the drop zones.

How does SnapDragon work?

Computer vision techniques provide augmented reality programmers a low cost solution to achieving accurate registration.

Markers -- fiducials-- are used to mark coordinates in a real scene.

There are many marker systems available. The Mfd-5 marker library, a particularly robust tracking system developed by our collaborator Dr. mark Fiala, is being used exclusively by our lab to create new tools for artists and designers.

- Snapdragon is a stand-alone application built as a plug-in to Max/MSP (but you don’t need to have Max/MSP to run it). Great for rapid prototyping of these kinds of experiences - very inexpensive, scalable, easy to produce. We can’t offer you the Max code, but we create custom interfaces depending on the project or installation we’re working on. SnapDragon has the most popular of these features.

SnapDragonAR projects: Andromeda

Andromeda -- augmented reality poetry, co-winner of the Vinaròs 4th International Digital Literature Award 2008.

SnapDragonAR projects: Circle

Circle augmented reality tabletop theatre, presented at the Digital Arts and Culture Conference 2009, UC Irvine.

SnapDragonAR projects: 52 card cinemaG. A. Rhodes' 52 Card Cinema

SnapDragonAR projects: Wonderturner

Helen Papagiannis Wonderturner (an augmented reality exquisite corpse)-- on display at the Ontario Science Centre summer 2010

SnapDragonAR Projects: living Postcards

Andrew Roth - Living Postcards kiosk

Living Postcards is an interactive display designed for use at the Future of the Internet Conference, Prague (2009) and the Canada 3.0 Conference, Stratford (2009). Users approach the booth and can watch a mirrored projection of themselves holding a movie clip in the palm of their hands.

SnapDragonAR Projects: Expo 67 maquettes

How might ar be used to give new audiences a sense of the viewing experience of multi-screen and immersive cinema works that can never be seen in situ again? The creation of inexpensive models to which historical film footage can be added, as it is found, has been used for the collection of film fragments -- augmented reality recreation as methodology -- if such models were easy and inexpensive to generate, if they could be built and rebuilt within a day, rather than a month. SnapDragonAR lets you do this.

SnapDragonAR in the classroom

-- bring maps, charts, family trees, historical presentations to life with audio and video

-- living postcards, objects, toys, video puzzles, animated chess sets

-- ar markers on classroom walls and ceilings, shirts and masks, quick-change theatre costumes

-- ‘Harry Potter’ newspapers and sorting hats

-- easy multichannel cinema, ar poetry and ar pop-up books

-- device for understanding cinematic and literary conventions, storyboarding games

-- uses we haven’t thought of yet -- tell us!

SnapDragonAR in the classroom

SnapDragonAR in the classroom

easy-to-produce, reconfigurable, low cost and low tech buy-in invites play, exploration, mash-up

From JK-University

SNAPDRAGONAR IS FREE TO TRY

The free download gives you a full feature version with a time-out… long enough for a student to demo a project.

If you enjoy using SnapDragonAR you can buy the full version of the software with incredible features: Resize your image in real time. Move the image right off the marker. Record video at the press of a button. Read images from any Quicktime movie or jpg hosted online

(so you can pull from youtube, add immediate context to your project via the weather channel or cnn or …)

SNAPDRAGONAR FUTURE FEATURES

In the lab we’re working on a variety of new features, including: Collision detection (marker A + marker B = event C) …

great for math instruction, storyboarding of complex interactive narratives, interactive storytelling and tabletop theatre)

Detection of marker rotation (use a marker like a dial! … take your story from sun-up to sundown… use your marker as a time machine to move through historical material!)

If demand is sufficient, a pc version is possible

Find out more

Try or purchase snapdragon: http://www.futurestories.ca/snapdragonar/

Additional project page: www.yorku.ca/caitlin/futurestories/snapdragon

Information about York University’s Augmented Reality Lab: http://futurecinema.ca/arlab/

Our YouTube channel: thearlab

Contact caitlin@yorku.ca