Project Proposal and Planet Prototype

Two of the first things I did concerning my project were to complete the Major Project Proposal, and then after confirming the collaboration with the National Space Centre I started to develop an initial prototype, just to test the waters in terms of basic AR techniques and features.

MAJOR PROJECT PROPOSAL:

In my proposal, as well as defining my project as an MSc and writing about my early research, I outlined my four key aims for the project:

• To research different methods for Augmented Reality development and different display techniques.
• To find out how successful exhibits are put together and what criteria they need to meet in order to deliver to their audiences.
• To evaluate how Augmented Reality applications can be used to meet these criteria in exhibition environments.
• To develop and produce, for the NSC in Leicester, an Augmented Reality exhibit which will provide a novel and engaging interactive experience for its users.

PLANETS TEST (First Prototype):

After completing my proposal, I set about creating the first of my prototypes for the project - the Planets Test. The application, made in Flash using the FLARToolkit library, features three spheres rotating around a central sphere, all registered to one paper marker, and tests out some early ideas for interactivity such as mouse rollovers, mouse clicks, and keyboard input.

In the video here, after putting down the marker, I first click on the middle ball, the information ball, to bring up a window with instructions on how to use the application. Note there is also an information symbol when I rollover this middle ball with the mouse. I then rollover the other three balls, to display their numbers (1 to 3) and then I use the keyboard input, first holding down the 1 key and using the up or down arrows to increase and then decrease ball number 1's speed, then doing the same with ball number 2 by using the up and down keys whilew also holding down the 2 key, and finally doing the same with ball 3. After this I pick up the marker to show the registration.

IOCT SHOWCASE:

One cool thing I got to do at this point was to test my prototype out on the unsuspecting public, as part of the IOCT showcase at DMU on the 6th and 7th of May 2010. I think people were generally quite taken with the idea, and most people who spoke to me could see a clear potential for AR exhibits, which is obviously good news for my project. I did decided though from the results and comments at the showcase that maybe using keyboard input removes the ability to interact by moving the marker around, as it is difficult to do both at the same time. Anyway, here are some photos, taken by Stuart Hollis...