2008/2009 has a seen an explosion of Augmented Reality (AR) promotions where video from a webcam is merged with 3D graphics. Although most of these are little more than a one shot wow they are compelling nontheless.
Some of my favorite examples so far are:
Living Sasquatch
- because you can create custom sequences
Living Sasquatch – Papervision – Augmented Reality from Boffswana on Vimeo.
Topps Virtual Playing Cards
- aside from being awesome they introduce a simple game into the AR world
Lego Store at Disneyland
- – because it shows how you can use AR in a retail/kiosk setting.
Ray Ban Virtual Mirror
- because it allows you to try things on completely virtually..
You can find more examples here
So what next?
Well the next wave seems to be mobile applications. With the GPS/location based capabilities of phones this introduces a whole new area for development.
Nearest Tube
will help you find the will help you find the nearest subway station. No need to ask for directions, and you will never get lost.
Twittaround
takes the iPhone’s camera and overlays live video of the world around you with tweets. Move around and you can see who is tweeting and how far away. Because words just don’t do it justice, here’s the amazing demo:
A whole new genre of alfresco gaming, social networks and virtual messaging may be just around the corner and it surely won’t be long after before the Lego example becomes a reality on the move and you can get more information or even leave reviews for products.
I'm a User Experience Designer and Digital Strategist with a range of experience from large systems integration projects to brand experience sites.
