Now that the Layar Augmented Reality Browser has been released on the iPhone, I'd appreciate your help in finding Frosty the augmented-reality snowman (or would that be iPhrosty)? Simply do the five-minute augmented-reality scavenger hunt with your iPhone, take a screen shot of Frosty from the Layar AR browser, and send it to jim [at] aug.mx The first three people that send me a screen shot of Frosty the AR Snowman from the Layar app in their iPhone will be rewarded with one token for any e-book that Apress (the publisher of my Pro JavaFX book) offers. Regards, Jim Weaver Continue reading

Congratulations to Dave Pease of Liverpool, UK, who was the first one to successfully complete the five-minute augmented reality scavenger hunt! Dave walked to the other side of the augmented reality 3D snowman, and identified that the symbol on his back is a Christmas tree! Dave sent a screen shot from the Layar Mobile Browser running on his Android as proof: Quoting Dave: "Here's the evidence. I would have got closer, but it would have involved trespassing and possibly receiving numerous dog bites!" I don't blame you, Dave. I hear that blokes in Liverpool don't take well to people walking... Continue reading

If you have an android mobile device and want to have some fun with augmented reality, go on my five-minute augmented-reality scavenger hunt. Here are the steps: Go outside, with at least a 100 feet area on all sides where you can walk freely and safely. I hear that the graphics outside are wonderful, by the way :-) From the android market on your mobile device, install the free "Layar Reality Browser 3.0" app. Run the Layar Reality Browser and search for "snowman". When the Snowman 3D icon appears, load the layer by tapping on the icon. Look for Frosty... Continue reading

As Bruce Sterling said in the video contained in the previous post, spatial computing is a term that some are using for augmented reality. Note: Bruce thinks that we should all standardize on the term augmented reality for consistency. How cyberpunk-like is conformity, Bruce? :-) Your AR homework today is to watch the Spatial Computing Part II: Shopping video that Albert Hwang created to prototype an augmented reality shopping experience. It is part of a series on spatial computing, and at the beginning of the video he supplies a link to the first video in the series. By the way,... Continue reading

Science fiction author and cyberpunk movement instigator Bruce Sterling has been interested in augmented reality since the term was coined many years ago. He is regarded as a luminary in this field. In his video presentation entitled "At the Dawn of the Augmented Reality Industry", Bruce discusses the history of AR and why it is currently "at the peak of his interest". He also gives some "real" advice for those brave enough to enter this field. :-) Enjoy, Jim Weaver Continue reading

In the previous post, I gave an overview of creating a 3D layer for the Layar Mobile Augmented Reality Browser. We used a 3D snowman character created for this purpose by Kelvin Hutchins. Kelvin has provided some insight on special considerations when developing a 3D model for a Layar layer. Check out the blog post in which he describes the process of building the 3D snowman. Regards, Jim Weaver Continue reading

As promised in the inaugural post of this blog, we're going to be up to our elbows implementing a Layar layer on the Android. That time has arrived, and in this post I'm going to give you an overview of developing a 3D augmented reality layer. This layer will be visible in the Layar Mobile Augmented Reality Browser, which currently runs on the Google Android, and will soon run on the iPhone. The screen shot above shows an augmented reality layer that contains a 3D model of a snowman. In reality, I positioned the snowman in the middle of our... Continue reading

I've been interested in the idea of augmented reality for quite some time, and I think that enough of the related technologies are becoming commonly available to make augmented reality, well, a reality. In this blog we're going to explore together some technologies and applications surrounding augmented reality, and being a developer, we will often get our hands dirty in code. In this inaugural post, I'd like to highlight the work of Pranav Mistry, a PhD student in the Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT's Media Lab. In his talk at TEDIndia, Pranav Mistry demos several tools that help the physical... Continue reading