It all started with a video on YouTube. GE posted a video ad with the words "digital hologram" in the description and I was curious. Here's the video I saw:
After watching this video I had to try this for myself! I clicked on the link to the GE site (which you can find here), printed out a PDF of a simple black and white image called a "marker" and held it up to the webcam on my laptop. After seeing that animation pop off the page, I was hooked. You can even blow on your microphone to create more wind! It made me wonder "how did they do that?!!" and has inspired a quest to find the tools to create something myself.
This "digital hologram" is Augmented Reality, or AR for short. AR is what you get when you overlay computer generated content over reality. Some of the AR projects I've found on the Web involve putting on a headset or helmet in order to view the computer data and others are very simple examples that use a webcam or the camera on a mobile device. I'm interested in creating something using free software or a free plugin to software I already own. I also want to be able to share the content on the Web.
Last weekend I downloaded a free AR plugin for Google SketchUp. I've never used Google SketchUp before, but the price was right for both the plugin and the program. I installed both and then grabbed a 3D eagle someone posted to the Sketchup library and ran it through the plugin. The eagle was very cool and showed up fine on my camera, but I'd rather find a solution that allows you to share content on the Web, not from a single desktop.
I think I may have stumbled upon a better solution tonight. Check out a page on Saqoosha.net about the FLARToolkit here: http://saqoosha.net/en/flartoolkit/start-up-guide/ It uses Adobe Flash, FLARToolkit (free for non-commercial applications), Papervision3D (Opensource 3D engine for Flash), a webcam and a printed marker. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks like the final image can be shared on the Web.
I hope to have time to play with this on the weekend.
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