Metaverse One

As part of a presentation I have next week that focuses on mixed reality, I built an augmented reality application for viewing various 3D CAD models. For the time allotted to this project I kept it simple and sweet. I decided to use a traditional marker here as the scene had too much visual noise for image recognition with all the foot and car traffic. Markers on my iPod Touch load different levels of detail 3D models of this one building. Clicking on the model binds it to a viewpoint so the marker is no longer needed. The example in the video is built on a 'mixed reality' framework that allows interactive models to be accessed by virtual and augmented reality applications. I will be sharing more of my work, application examples, and videos about this framework in the coming months.

So I attended the New York Augmented Reality (ARNY) meetup on Tuesday night, which was awesome, and one of the people I got the chance to meet was Marco Tempest, the Virtual Magician . Now I am familiar with Marco by his Youtube videos that blend the latest in technology with magic for super cool presentations and illusions. A native of Zurich, Marco has won numerous awards for his use of illusion with contemporary choreography and his television series “The Virtual Magician” has aired in some 49 markets worldwide. Marco was nice enough to invite me to stop by his workshop in New York City for a chat. As a total fan of magic and tech, this was a dream come true! Part 1: Part 2: Here is the video from Marco's Youtube Channel of the AR card trick shown in the interview. Here is the extended version of the Magic Projection trick he presented at TEDxTokyo. In addition to being 'wowed' by the magic and the chance to talk with Marco, he really put in perspective for me the need ...

A few months back a friend told me of a 3D city map app called UpNext . Naturally being a digital city geek I downloaded the app for my iPod Touch to give it a quick look-see. Launching the app gave me the choice of several 3D city maps (Austin, Boston, New York, Portland, San Francisco, and Washington D.C.) to download that I could access offline which is a super plus for those with an iPod Touch. I selected San Francisco, which only took a few moments to download, and it didn't take long to become impressed with the app. Navigation uses standard Apple interface actions such as pinch to zoom, two finger drag to tilt the view, etc. As I zoomed in from the initial bird's eye view of the whole city, the app broke the city down into its neighborhoods. This was a nice surprise as I still don't know the exact locations of all the 'hoods' in SF. Zooming further down quickly loaded simple but nicely textured 3D building models with more levels of detail as I got closer to ...