Video courtesy of Microsoft Research
We love Kinect hacks here at Immersive Tech but we never thought we would see one from Microsoft themselves! I am not even sure if it considered a hack as much as a new proprietary use. Anyway, Microsoft has developed KinectFusion, a fast and easy way to turn anything and everything into a 3D model. It works by simply letting the Kinect gather its depth map while you move it around the room or object and it will put together the 3D model in real time! Although the video starts out slow (thanks for the lack of music Microsoft), it picks up when they start showing the models in action. I will let the video speak for itself, it is pretty amazing!

Once KinectFusion has the model, it can then recognize movement or orientation changes of that object. This means on the very simplest level that events like can now be very easily programmed. The possibilities are only bounded by our imagination.

Augmented Reality (AR) applications are on their way to the Apple App Store! Qualcomm has updated their AR Software Development Kit (SDK) to work with iOS. This allows for developers to now make high quality AR apps using Apple’s Xcode and Unity 3. Support is for the iPad 2, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and 4th Gen iPod touch.

The upgraded SDK will continue to work with devices running Android 2.1 or higher.

We had the opportunity to attend SIGGRAPH 2011, Vancouver this past week and were really happy with what we saw. It takes a certain level of innovation to excite us at this stage of the game but the exhibitors this year definitely did not disappoint. The video above is a compilation of just some of the things we got to see in the Emerging Technologies section of the event.

Since it is not entirely clear what the functions of everything in the video is, I will do my best to explain each briefly in order here:
(please keep in mind that some of these names are not official)

Face-to-Avatar: A blimp that houses a projector, microphone, and camera for new age telepresence applications. It can display either a static image or a stream being sent to its on board wireless receiver.
Cyclone Display: A display that spins disks with different patterns on them. The speed of the disk, along with the speed that the projector is flickering at, determines what colors you will see. Essentially each disk is a sort of pixel.
ISCAN3D: A 3D scanner for your iPhone that works in a few minutes on just input from 5-30 pictures.
InteractiveTop: A twist on the game of tops with graphics and sounds galore. It tracks the collisions and features a magnetic controller for each top too.
Mommy Tummy: A strap on tummy that is used to simulate both the joys and stresses of pregnancy.
Recompose: Actuated Surface: A series of actuators that can be controlled using gestures as well as direct manipulation.
Vection Field: A device that can influence pedestrians to walk in a certain direction by displaying a certain dynamic pattern.
Toucheo: An immersive multi-touch workstation that can be used to easily manipulate 3D assets.
Telenoid: A telepresence robot that can transmit voice and facial movements and is neither male nor female, young nor old.
Virtual Crepe Maker: A haptic representation of fluid dynamics that has been made fun by the crepe making game.
True 3D Display: A 3D display that uses laser-plasma technology to output a virtual object with the amazing resolution of 50,000 points per second. (A part broke in transit and they only were able to operate it at half of its capability.
Thermal Interactive Media: A display that senses the temperature of its input and reacts accordingly.
PocoPoco: A new age musical interface and sequencer with 16 solenoids that are loaded with sensors.
HAPMAP: A sort of haptic navigation in which the user holds a device in their hand which simulates the feeling of sliding your hand along a railing. The “rail” is on a pivoting actuator so that it can steer the user in the right direction.

Have you ever been in a place that you know you have seen before, even though you literally have not been within miles of the location? Augmented Reality Cinema is soon going to have the solution to your problem available on your mobile device. After first figuring out your location, this app promises that it can show you scenes from movies that were filmed right where you are standing. Although not a true augmented reality where the characters would be laid over what your camera is seeing, you will be able to view the clip on your cell phone or tablet while visualizing where things occurred in the actual scenery around you.

Theoretically, it should be able to also point you in the direction of where different portions were filmed or display a database of locations near by so that users can get their fix. The video only depicts UK locations so hopefully support for US locations will be added if the concept materializes.

The video is copyrighted by Augmented Reality Cinema: http://www.augmentedrealitycinema.com

Projecting a head-up display onto your windshield is so passé; Autoglass reckons the future of digital driving is having augmented reality baked into the glass itself. The company has thrown together a video demo of what it believes the windshield of your car will be like in 2020, throwing in intelligent location-based services that can hunt down gas stations, flag up cyclists and pedestrians angling to get run over, and warn you when there’s a speed camera nearby.

There are also some reasonably distracting landmark indicators, along with links to the in-car entertainment system to let you know what music you’re listening to. It can even tell you the meal deals at the restaurants and pubs you’re passing.

With the advent of GPS navigation, paper maps are practically obsolete and people are slowly losing the skill of reading a map as they wait for their GPS to tell them to “make a right in 300 feet.” With how fast technology is advancing these days cars will drive themselves. Google certainly has made significant headway on developing a driverless car. Can you imagine transporting someone 50 years from the future 20 years into the past and handing them a map to navigate from point A to point B? The poor fella might as well give up as that skill would have been lost or never learned!

This video is copyrighted by Autoglass: www.autoglass.co.uk

Sony introduced “SmartAR”, a so-called integrated Augmented Reality technology that looked pretty decent in the demo video uploaded that day. The company produced a new video over the weekend, and if you’re into Augmented Reality, the new footage will blow you away.

To recap, Sony says SmartAR doesn’t require markers to work, that it’s fast and accurate, designed to display content in 3D, and that it has an intuitive UI that makes it possible to interact with virtual objects even in a 3D space.

Judging by the video (in Japanese), this is not hard to believe, and lets hope Sony will integrate SmartAR in some form into the NGP.

This video is copyrighted by Sony: sony.com

While the 3D models here are far from perfect, it is certainly an interesting idea. It would be interesting to see if this speeds up or lengthens decision making time. In an era where large screen TVs are starting to become a commonality in homes maybe shoppers will one day be able to simply shop at home while the rest of us aren’t left standing around holding someone else’s bag. Take note at about 1:45 minutes into the video that we have a gentleman trying on outfits that are clearly not his size. I suppose we all need to entertain ourselves when we’re not really the one shopping!

Microsoft’s Kinect has been put to work in a Russian branch of clothing retailer Topshop–all in a bid to help customers “try on” clothes without the need to strip down in the fitting room.

The virtual system was installed temporarily in Topshop’s flagship Moscow store by AR Door, a specialist developer in all things augmented reality. The prototype system works by getting Microsoft’s Kinect to play nice with image recognition and 3D models. All shoppers had to do was stand in front of the unit and wave. The installed Kinect would then recognize when a shopper was present, and would superimpose images of virtual clothes onto the users on-screen body.

Tell us what you think, would a system like this help you make a shopping decision faster?

This video is copyrighted by AR Door: ar-door.com

Where were you on October 21st, 2010? Listen to augmented reality experts Brian Selzer, Matthew Szymczyk, Bruno Uzzan, and Kristina Serafim talk about what makes them cool and what makes augmented reality cool. Listen as they talk about how augmented reality has progressed over the years and how they see augmented reality developing in the near future.

This video is copyrighted by ImmersiveTech: immersivetech.org