eBook
Available on Compatible NOOK devices, the free NOOK App and in My Digital Library.
Related collections and offers
Overview
Understanding Augmented Reality addresses the elements that are required to create augmented reality experiences. The technology that supports augmented reality will come and go, evolve and change. The underlying principles for creating exciting, useful augmented reality experiences are timeless.
Augmented reality designed from a purely technological perspective will lead to an AR experience that is novel and fun for one-time consumption - but is no more than a toy. Imagine a filmmaking book that discussed cameras and special effects software, but ignored cinematography and storytelling! In order to create compelling augmented reality experiences that stand the test of time and cause the participant in the AR experience to focus on the content of the experience - rather than the technology - one must consider how to maximally exploit the affordances of the medium.
Understanding Augmented Reality addresses core conceptual issues regarding the medium of augmented reality as well as the technology required to support compelling augmented reality. By addressing AR as a medium at the conceptual level in addition to the technological level, the reader will learn to conceive of AR applications that are not limited by today’s technology. At the same time, ample examples are provided that show what is possible with current technology.
- Explore the different techniques, technologies and approaches used in developing AR applications
- Learn from the author's deep experience in virtual reality and augmented reality applications to succeed right off the bat, and avoid many of the traps that catch new developers and users of augmented reality experiences
- Some AR examples can be experienced from within the book using downloadable software
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780240824109 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Elsevier Science |
| Publication date: | 04/26/2013 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 296 |
| File size: | 6 MB |
About the Author
Dr. Craig has been called upon to speak as an expert in VR and AR at countless worldwide events and continues to speak at various venues. He has taught classes related to VR and AR online as well as onsite at universities, companies, and high school campuses. Dr. Craig has worked with government and industry entities regarding VR and AR applications. He has been interviewed by numerous publications, television, and news outlets.
In addition to Understanding Virtual Reality (with William R. Sherman) he also authored Developing Virtual Reality Applications (with William R. Sherman and Jeffrey D. Will) and Understanding Augmented Reality. Additionally, he has written multiple book chapters and articles. He has developed many virtual reality and augmented reality applications in content areas ranging from archaeology to zoology. He also teaches and advises on related topics. His primary focus has been on the use of virtual reality and augmented reality in educational applications and his work centers on the continuum between the physical and the digital.
He holds three patents.
Read an Excerpt
Understanding Augmented Reality
Concepts and Applications
By Alan B. Craig
Elsevier
Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc.All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-240-82410-9
CHAPTER 1
What Is Augmented Reality?
INTRODUCTION
This chapter introduces the idea of augmented reality (AR) and defines what is meant by the term augmented reality in the context of this book. It also distinguishes augmented reality from other related media and technologies, as well as introduces some terms that will aid in understanding the chapters that follow.
Throughout the entirety of this book, I consider augmented reality to be a medium, as opposed to a technology. By medium, I mean that it mediates ideas between humans and computers, humans and humans, and computers and humans. Of course, implementing augmented reality as a medium requires technology and a clear understanding of that technology. Numerous technologies can be used to implement augmented reality, and this book addresses a variety of different methods and types of technology that can be used. These technologies and the ideas behind them are covered in later chapters in the book. There are advantages and disadvantages with different technologies for different types of applications. The chapters that follow address the characteristics of the technologies and show the advantages and disadvantages of using them in different types of applications. By taking the stance that augmented reality is a medium, it will become much clearer how the technologies involved can be used to create compelling applications for a variety of purposes instead of as a mere technological novelty. In much the same manner as a book about making movies needs to treat not only the technologies involved, such as cameras, lights, and projectors, but also how to use the medium to tell a story, to evoke emotion, or to document an event, it is important to consider more than just technology to create compelling augmented reality applications.
Humans interact with different media in different ways. Typically, people read a book. They watch a movie. They listen to music. This book considers that the way people engage with augmented reality is to experience it. Augmented reality can appeal to many of our senses (although currently it is primarily a visual medium). Augmented reality is interactive, so it doesn't make sense to watch it or listen to it. We must engage with it in order to gain the experience that it provides. Augmented reality can support many different application areas. It can be applied in education, entertainment, medicine, and many more areas discussed in this book. Each of these different application areas and specific applications constitute an experience.
So what is this augmented reality experience? In brief, the core essence of an augmented reality experience is that you, the participant, engage in an activity in the same physical world that you engage with whether augmented reality is involved or not, but augmented reality adds digital information to the world that you can interact with in the same manner that you interact with the physical world. I'll define augmented reality more precisely later in this chapter, but for now, consider it that you are engaged in the regular normal world, but there are additions to that world that consist of digital information that is placed in the world to augment the world with things you would not normally see, hear, feel, touch, etc. What's an example of an augmented reality experience? Imagine for a moment that you go to visit a vacant lot where you intend to build your dream home. Now let's consider an augmented reality experience in which you go to that (vacant) lot, but through the use of technology you are able to see your dream home in place on that lot. You can walk around the house and see it from all different viewpoints just like you could if the house was actually completed on the lot. You can interact with the house, open the door, and so on just like you could in the real world. However, AR can also offer the potential to do things that are not possible in a normal interaction in the real world. Perhaps you want to see the house in a different color, move the house on the lot, or see the house take off like a rocket ship. These are all possible with augmented reality.
Let's start by looking to the past to see where some of the ideas behind augmented reality came from. Then, we will be able to define augmented reality more precisely and explore how it works and what it is good for.
WHERE DID AUGMENTED REALITY COME FROM?
Since the beginning of time, humankind has sought to alter and improve their environment. Early attempts to modify and enhance their world involved manipulating physical objects in the physical world. For example, early humans cut clearings in jungles, gathered rocks to sit on, and sharpened branches into spears. Later, they learned to represent information symbolically and learned to create imagery, such as paintings on cave walls for functional purposes—to indicate a map to a favorite location, to tell a story, or purely as an aesthetic adornment (Figure 1.1).
As humankind progressed, they began to discover and make tools to aid them in altering their environment. However, most changes they made were rather permanent and required a lot of effort to make and alter. At this point, the world was purely in the physical realm (Figure 1.2).
As humankind and technology progressed, ideas became much more important, and those ideas were represented symbolically, whether realistically (such as a literal drawing) or symbolically (such as a map). At this point, the world consisted of physical entities, but also ideas and representation of those ideas in physical media. Ideas were expressed as paintings, sculpture, music, dance, and more. Mapping technology improved, and the field of semiotics matured (Figure 1.3).
It wasn't until the 20th century that it became feasible to create, store, and retrieve information rapidly. The "industrial age" saw rapid improvements in the ability to construct, deconstruct, and modify physical structures with relative ease. However, the rate at which they could be constructed and dismantled still remained rather long, measured in years, in months, or, at the best, in days. Adornments to the physical world remained in the physical realm, that is, any modification to the environment was manifested with other physical entities that had weight and occupied space. Thus, if it was desired to make a piece of information available in a specific physical space, the only real way to do it was to create a physical artifact that either was or contained a representation of that piece of information. For example, if it was desired to indicate the maximum rate of speed at a certain place on a specific road, a physical sign would be erected that was constructed to convey the desired information (Figure 1.4).
If it was desired to change the information regarding that place, it was necessary to construct a new sign, or at least to repaint the sign. Advances in technology made it possible to construct more generic signs with information that could be changed at will. Thus, if there was a need to change the speed limit, whether permanently or temporarily, the sign could be updated with the flick of a few switches (Figure 1.5).
Additional technology allows the addition of still more information based on what is happening at that place and time. This additional technology allows the physical sign to indicate the maximum speed allowed at that place and time, but also indicates a driver's current rate of speed (Figure 1.6).
Finally, a modern sign can not only convey the speed limit and your current rate of speed, but it can also determine whether or not you are abiding by the law and inform you of your status (Figure 1.7).
The important thing to note about this series of speed limit signs is that in all cases they are conveying information specific to a particular place at a particular point in time. In each case just described, there is a physical component to the sign and an information component. The physical component has weight and takes up space. The information component is much less physical in nature. It can take the form of paint, which can be repainted, or the configuration of lightbulbs (physical) that can be switched on or off to communicate information relevant to that location and time (information). It is easier and quicker to change the information on the electrical sign than to repaint one of the older style signs. As technology has progressed, it has become easier and faster to store, retrieve, and display information.
The advent of the information age and the digital computer allowed information to be represented digitally. With the computer, huge amounts of information can be stored, manipulated, and retrieved very rapidly in a very small amount of space. With this ability to modify and retrieve information instantaneously comes a more powerful way of modifying and augmenting our environment (Figure 1.8).
The ability to store, manipulate, and retrieve information very rapidly with ubiquitously available devices such as home computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, and smartphones, combined with a pervasive network interconnecting these devices, has led to the ability to do astounding things that are beneficial in everyday living.
Along with an increase in power, and a decrease in cost and size of computing devices, the ability to compute simulations of natural and/or fantastic events makes the line between what is "real" and what is simulated, or "virtual" become increasingly. With the capability of computing very complex simulations, it becomes possible to replace some physical objects and devices with simulations that behave in the same way as the device that is being emulated. For example, it is now possible to simulate most musical instruments to the point that a simulation of an instrumental performance can be indistinguishable from a performance using an actual, physical instrument to all but the most discerning listeners.
The ability to generate and render three-dimensional (3D) computer graphics in real time led to the ability to create scenes that were not possible to create in a purely physical world. While trick photography and artistry gave a glimpse into impossible worlds, or visions of worlds that appear to be real, computer graphics enabled anything that could be imagined to be rendered and displayed to our senses, to the point of fooling our senses. Not only full-blown virtual reality systems, 3D movies, and supercomputer simulations are fooling our senses. Image editing programs such as Photoshop(r) and others allow anyone to create imagery that appears to capture something real, but truly only represents an idea in the mind of its creator. On a daily basis, we all encounter things that, if we stop and think about it, push the issue of whether it is something real (physical) or something that only appears to be, or acts as though it is real.
Three-dimensional movies and 3D television sets (with 3D content) have exposed many people to stereoscopic imagery and whetted the appetite among the general consumer for 3D graphical content and an experience with entities that seem real, yet are actually either photographed or synthesized imagery. Even with 3D movies, the imagery is created for a specific, predefined point of view, and the story is predetermined by the movie creator. Changing the position of your head does not result in the ability to change the perspective that you are seeing the movie from. Computer games and gaming systems offer interactivity and the ability to change the perspective from which you are viewing the scene, but these actions are detached from your own body and are mediated through devices such as joysticks, mice, and buttons. Newer gaming systems such as the Kinect (Figure 1.9) and Wii (Figure 1.10) engage the participant in a more physical, bodily interaction.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Understanding Augmented Reality by Alan B. Craig. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc.. Excerpted by permission of Elsevier.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
- Chapter 1 What is Augmented Reality?
- Chapter 2 Augmented Reality Concepts
- Chapter 3 Content is Key! Augmented Reality Content
- Chapter 4 Augmented Reality Hardware
- Chapter 5 Augmented Reality Software
- Chapter 6 Interaction in Augmented Reality
- Chapter 7 Mobile Augmented Reality
- Chapter 8 Augmented Reality Applications
- Chapter 9 The future of Augmented Reality
What People are Saying About This
Augmented Reality deconstructed. Gain a core understanding of what this powerful emerging technology is, and how it can be applied to real world problems