Marker Based Augmented Reality

A simple augmented reality system consists of a camera, a computational unit and a display. The camera captures an image, and then the system augments virtual objects on top of the image and displays the result.

The system captures an image of the environment, detects the marker and deduces the location and orientation of the camera, and then augments a virtual object on top of the image and displays it on the screen. Diagram below shows flowchart for a simple augmented reality system. The capturing module captures the image from the camera. The tracking module calculates the correct location and orientation for virtual overlay. The rendering module combines the original image and the virtual components using the calculated pose and then renders the augmented image on the display.

• Softwares used:- Processing 1.5.1, QuicktimePlayer 7, Wincap, Adobe AIR, MarkerScanner.
• Hardware used :- Webcam, Markers. 

• Project Contents: 
  
  • Our project aims to reciprocate some possible applications of Augmented Reality. We have implemented 3 such applications viz.
    a) Use of AR in Education
    Augmented reality applications can complement a standard curriculum. Teaching alphabets to kindergarten kids with the help of AR instead of orthodox ways. In today's primary schools the teachers, while teaching alphabets, use a picture related to that alphabet to help students remember it. They give a vague description along with the picture. Kids cannot fully understand how the things looks like. So to help these confused kids understand the alphabets and the things related to it we can use this technology, Augmented Reality.
    
    
    Text, graphics, video and audio can be superimposed into a student’s real time environment. We can place markers depicting the alphabets in our books anywhere on the page and we can bind these alphabetical markers to the objects named after the alphabet. Now all we have to do is just place the book in front of the camera and experience the magic of this technology. The camera detects the marker and identifies the orientation of the marker, depending on it the object is Augmented on it. It feels as the object exists right there on the marker.
    We can animate these objects to rotate and translate. We can even interact with these objects with a mouse or a keyboard. We can rotate the object with a drag of mouse and have a desired look at the object from desired angle.
    Textbooks, flashcards and other educational reading material can contain embedded “markers” that, when scanned by an AR device, produce supplementary information to the student rendered in a multimedia format. With these kinds of interactive books we can make Learning far more Interesting.
    
    b) Use of AR in Interior Designing
    Augmented reality can also be used to visualize various types of furniture in your home without actually arranging the real ones. We can browse different furniture, change the textures, color and other such attributes. Gone are the days where one had to imagine stuff and then make the purchase, only to regret later. All this is history, thanks to Augmented reality.
    
    c) Use of AR in Advertisements
    Advertisements need Capital, a lot of it. A page full of Advertisement easily costs around 2-3 lakhs. And if the advertisements exceeds one page then it would be a hell of a investment. The beauty of Augmented Reality is that it requires only a marker and a camera which is almost everywhere. So it not only requires minimal investment but also helps to save lot of Money.
    We can use this wonderful technology in advertisements to our imagination. We can put a small marker in a very small space on the page and we can use the whole screen as a canvas to draw and display almost anything.
    Printed marketing material can be designed with certain "trigger" images that, when scanned by an AR enabled device using image recognition, activate a video version of the promotional material. This way Augmented Reality can be a game changer in the field of Advertisements.