Augmented reality

The main motivation of ATOMIC is to provide to the community an open source tool that can be easily modified and that does not require too much technical knowledge to access the Augmented reality technology. It was created as a front end (Graphic Interface) for use ARToolKit library without having to know programming. The first developer of ARToolkit has been profesor Hirokazu Kato. It was written in the programming language Processing and is licensed under the GNU GPL. The 3d model you load it's up to you.

If you're interested in augmented reality, you've probably thought about optical see-through and video see-through. Is one better than the other? That's like asking whether a car is better than an plane. It depends on what you need to do: get groceries? the car is unmatched. Get from New York to San Francisco? a plane is very often your choice.

Augmented reality employs computer vision to superimpose information in the real world, in real-time. It turns the environment around you into a digital interface. But, how does it work?. A “tracker” is a simple sheet of paper with a unique design that the application uses like a trigger to merge digital content into the real world.

Vuforia is an Augmented Reality Software Development Kit (SDK) for mobile devices that enables the creation of Augmented Reality applications. It supports a variety of 2D and 3D target types including ‘markerless’ Image Targets, 3D Multi-Target configurations, and a form of addressable Fiduciary Marker known as a Frame Marker. Additional features of the SDK include localized Occlusion Detection using ‘Virtual Buttons’, runtime image target selection, and the ability to create and reconfigure target sets programmatically at runtime.

Currently, there’s a boom of Augmented Reality (AR) projects, new Unity-based apps are appearing. They add a virtual layer to the real world that you can see through a camera or in a special display. Vuforia or ARToolKit for Unity are plugins for the Unity game engine that integrates augmented reality about the traditional template square marker with Unity's graphical and game development features.

If you're interested in augmented reality, you've probably thought about optical see-through and video see-through. Is one better than the other? That's like asking whether a car is better than an plane. It depends on what you need to do: get groceries? the car is unmatched. Get from New York to San Francisco? a plane is very often your choice.