INTERACTIVE & REALTIME MEDIA

Use case: Augmented Reality

The brief

To be able to show something that is not really there is one of the main advantages of Augmented Reality. Another is that it gives a playful touch to any information you want to communicate – especially when using a display as handy as a tablet. At the same time it maintains a high level of technical truthfulness to the presentation because you not only seem to show the „real thing“ but also let the user view it from any angle.

These two notions were something our client wanted to combine when approaching us: create an application to display some straightforward technical information but make it enjoyable and easy to consume.

The approach

The approach in this case came easy: take the skeleton structured car – which had originated from a previous project – and use it as an AR base object to virtually extend with 3D components and information about them.

The model car should be mounted on an AR marker attached to a turntable with an iPad next to it to allow for mobile usage of the application.

The application itself should start with the tablet’s live camera picture. Once the car – or strictly speaking – the AR marker comes in sight the real model should be replaced with a virtual twin including all the components. Moving around and closer to the model the user should be able to make buttons appear. Touching these should activate detail pages, showing more information about the components (text, stills and videos).

augmented_reality_gif(application demo clip, image quality compressed for website display)

The execution

The workflow for the project combined most of the services we provide: general media consulting and technical planning, UI design based on the client’s CD, 3D data management/modeling, Unity software development (using Vuforia as the AR plugin), testing/QA, deployment and hardware setup, as well as project management and coordination of the involved crafts.

The exhibit itself was built by Homolka Modellbau, a long-term partner when it comes to designing and building custom trade show and event setups.

The overall time frame was eight weeks from initial inquiry to delivery.

The result

At the end of the project we delivered a custom enterprise iPad application to be installed by the client on their devices, a very easy and convenient way to deploy mobile applications.

The application and the exhibit have been in successful use around the world and updated several times with more languages, including Chinese, Japanese and Russian.

If you’d like to experience the Augmented Reality app or any of our VR or HoloLens applications, feel free to get in touch with us, we are happy to show you.