Augmented Reality - What is it? - Virtual Reality Although this site is dedicated to virtual reality, you cannot discuss it without mentioning its very close cousin augmented reality, but what is it? Whereas virtual reality immerses your senses completely in a world that only exists in the digital realm, augmented reality takes the real world of the present and projects digital imagery and sound into it. Augmented and Virtual Reality both fall on the continuum of mediated reality. Which is where a computer system modifies our perception of reality versus the “real” world. As you can probably deduce this means many things qualify as augmented reality. However, when we hear about augmented reality these days it usually refers to a much more sophisticated, interactive and spatially aware implementation of the concept. How Does Augmented Reality Work? Thanks to the popularity of smartphones, which have all the necessary components, they have been the place most commercial augmented reality applications that have been released. Conclusion
Augmented eReality (AR) AR is changing the “what’s possible” for content creators, application and IoT solution developers to create dynamic user experiences. PTC offers Vuforia, the industry's most advanced and widely adopted augmented reality technology platform. Vuforia is used by hundreds of thousands of developers across the globe and unlocks unlimited possibilities for enabling new ways to experience digital content in our physical world. PTC recently unveiled ThingWorx Studio - an AR offering for the Industrial Enterprise. ThingWorx Studio combines the power of Vuforia with the ThingWorx IoT Platform, offering new ways for the industrial enterprise to create, operate, and service products ThingWorx Studio is a game-changing technology that enables enterprises to quickly and easily create AR experiences without requiring any deep programming or expertise in AR. Apply for access to try this innovative technology through the ThingWorx Studio Trial. ABI Research White Paper Read the White Paper
The 20 Best Augmented-Reality Apps Augmented reality has long sounded like a wild futuristic concept, but the technology has actually been around for years. It becomes more robust and seamless with each passing decade, providing an astonishing means of superimposing computer-generated images atop a user’s view of reality, thus creating a composite view rooted in both real and virtual worlds. Although AR apps run the gamut, from interactive map overlays and virtual showrooms to massive multiplayer skirmishes, each piece of software hones in on smartphone GPS and camera functionality to create a more immersive experience. The available selection of augmented reality apps is diverse, encompassing both premium and freemium offerings from a variety of big and no-name developers, but sometimes choosing which apps are worth your smartphone or tablet’s precious memory is tougher than using the apps themselves. Pokémon GO (free) Download now for: Android iOS Ink Hunter (free) Android iOS WallaMe (free) Android iOS Star Chart (free) iOS
The next big thing in tech: Augmented reality SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Reality isn't what is used to be. With increasingly powerful technologies, the human universe is being reimagined way beyond Google Glass' photo-tapping and info cards floating in space above your eye. The future is fashionable eyewear, contact lenses or even bionic eyes with immersive 3D displays, conjuring up a digital layer to "augment" reality, enabling entire new classes of applications and user experiences. Like most technologies that eventually reach a mass market, augmented reality, or AR, has been gestating in university labs, as well as small companies focused on gaming and vertical applications, for nearly half a century. The wearable revolution can be traced back to Ivan Sutherland, a ground-breaking computer scientist at the University of Utah who in 1965 first described a head-mounted display with half-silvered mirrors that let the wearer see a virtual world superimposed on the real world. Atheer, a Mountain View, Calif.
Innovae Augmented Reality - Realidad Aumentada 5 Top Augmented Reality Apps for Education The concept of augmented reality has been in existence for a few years now despite the fact that many users of mobile devices are under the impression that it is a new phenomenon. New technologies such as Google’s augmented reality glasses which are the first computing eyewear are still in the testing phase. This leads mobile device users to believe augmented reality is new on the horizon. Pin it Even though Google Glasses have yet to be officially released, there are hundreds of augmented reality apps that you can get for your smartphone which work just as well. 1. This is an augmented reality app which makes learning about astronomy interesting and fun. Simply hold your smartphone up in the direction of the sky to receive automatic identification of stars and constellations. Google Sky Map is a free augmented reality app and works with Android 1.6 and higher. Download Google Sky Map (Android) 2. Recently released by PBS KIDS, FETCH! FETCH! Download FETCH! 3. Download GeoGoggle (Android)
What is augmented reality (AR)? - Definition from WhatIs.com Augmented reality is the integration of digital information with the user's environment in real time. Unlike virtual reality, which creates a totally artificial environment, augmented reality uses the existing environment and overlays new information on top of it. Boeing researcher Thomas Caudell coined the term augmented reality in 1990, to describe how the head-mounted displays that electricians used when assembling complicated wiring harnesses worked. One of the first commercial applications of AR technology was the yellow "first down" line that began appearing in televised football games sometime in 1998. Augmented reality apps are written in special 3D programs that allow the developer to tie animation or contextual digital information in the computer program to an augmented reality "marker" in the real world. AR applications for smartphones typically include global positioning system (GPS) to pinpoint the user's location and its compass to detect device orientation.
How Augmented Reality Works | HowStuffWorks Video games have been entertaining us for nearly 30 years, ever since Pong was introduced to arcades in the early 1970s. Computer graphics have become much more sophisticated since then, and game graphics are pushing the barriers of photorealism. Now, researchers and engineers are pulling graphics out of your television screen or computer display and integrating them into real-world environments. This new technology, called augmented reality, blurs the line between what's real and what's computer-generated by enhancing what we see, hear, feel and smell. On the spectrum between virtual reality, which creates immersive, computer-generated environments, and the real world, augmented reality is closer to the real world. Augmented reality is changing the way we view the world -- or at least the way its users see the world. In this article, we'll take a look at where augmented reality is now and where it may be headed soon.