IDAT 204 - Real AR Testing

In order for me to develop an augmented reality project I felt that first I had to investigate how AR works and feels myself.  I therefore set about finding a source on the web with which I could test the capabilities of AR.  The first I cam across was the Smart Grid AR designed by Ecomagination (http://ge.ecomagination.com/smartgrid/#/augmented_reality).  The following are a couple of videos of me looking at these AR projects designed by Ecomagination:



These AR visualisations required the user to hold the paper up vertically infront of the camera.  After testing this method I feel that this is not the best way of dealing with AR as it is not that flexible and can be awkward. Also it limits the users view of the AR as there is not a 360 degree rotation on the most sensible axis and so users only get a 180 degree view of the model from that angle.  I therefore think an AR project should be something that can be located on a table top or somewhere flat to ensure that the users get the easiest manipulation of the object.

AS well as experimenting with these I decided that I should also look at the AR project which I most like, the packaging AR shown in the previous post.  However I was unable to launch the software for this and so could not test it.  However I feel that the way that this visualisation uses AR is better as it allows you to place the AR flat and so there is the 360 degree manipulation.  This simulation is also clever in that you can relate it to objects of the real world which you may wish to package.  The simulator incorporates an opacity setting which allows users to increase or decrease the opacity of the AR box so they can work out whether their object will fit inside.  This demonstrates a real practical use of AR and is the kind of simulation I would like to be able to achieve in my project.