Computer Graphics World

JULY 2010

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n n n n Augmented Reality more virtual, your virtual world will be much more real, and the future is coming faster than you think.” Te future arrived faster than Kowalski’s prediction. While large-scale, mixed-reality setups may take time, nothing prevents aver- age consumers from diving into mixed reality right now. Te software that Morone used to present his cell phones, for instance, can be had for as little as €25 ($30 US) per year—less than the price of a standard Webcam. Pocketbook-friendly VR If you’re an Alfa Romeo enthusiast with just €25 in your wallet, you might buy a glossy, full- color calendar commemorating the latest mod- els of your favorite car. You’d be hard-pressed to find any Alfa Romeo memorabilia that costs less at the online Alpha Romeo Shop (http:// shop.alfisti.net). Yet, you’d be glad to know that for the same price, you can buy a copy of Lin- ceoVR from Seac02, the company that boasts the Italian automaker as one of its clients. In what might be one of the biggest under- statements by a software developer, Seac02’s founder and CEO Andrea Carignano says, “Our market is a little bit wide.” Te base ver- sion of his augmented-reality software is called LinceoVR for All—that should give you a rough idea how wide his market is. “With [this edition], we’re addressing the lower-end market: students, technology enthu- siasts, educators, and small companies,” explains Carignano. “Tey may not have the money to invest in a technology that’s nice to have but not a must-have solution.” Seac02’s larger customers, like Samsung and Prada, use Professional and Enterprise Editions of LinceoVR, which come with a number of options better suited for com- mercial projects. For example, the base ver- sion, LinceoVR for All, lets users work in only 640 x 480 resolution in an augmented-reality viewport, whereas Professional and Enterprise Editions let them work in much higher resolu- tions. Similarly, the base version lets custom- ers render images and export them only using lower-resolution settings. Nevertheless, it is a fully functional augmented-reality setup. 22 July 2010 Components of an augmented-reality setup (left to right): a small gadget representing the camera, placards printed with textures of scanned materials, a camera (here in the shape of a kid) positioned inside a building’s blueprint, and a small home associated with the digital model of a home. LinceoVR can import common computer- aided design or 3D files, such as FBX, OBJ, 3DS, IGES, or STEP formats. Once the file is imported, the software lets a person associate the digital model with a marker, a small placard containing a computer-recognizable pattern (the user can print it from a standard printer). Essentially, this enables the software to swap the marker with the digital model in the live video feed, so when a person holds the marker in front of the Webcam, the client on the other end sees the user holding the digital object. For hobbyists, the gimmick itself might be rewarding enough. But for small design shops and consultants, the augmented-reality solution offers a way to let the client see the concept in the physical environment where the end prod- uct might be deployed. E-mailing the client a rendered image is now the standard practice, hardly worth mentioning. But being able to put a lipstick-red cell phone on a mahogany desk or place a chrome-plated laptop under a lamp light when the cell phone and the lap- top in question exist only as digital models— that elevates the art of presentation to a whole new level. Beyond aesthetics, there also may be ben- efits to the technology when it comes to deci- sion-making. LinceoVR user Morone recalls, “Once, we made a desktop lamp for a client. Tey weren’t sure about the right dimensions. So after we made one mock-up, they wanted us to make another mock-up, but larger. Tat would have cost them more money, so I told them, ‘I can show you the lamp in virtual reality.’ ” In LinceoVR’s augmented reality, Morone created a larger digital mock-up simply by scal- ing the existing digital model. He showed the client two digital mock-ups side by side—an illusion achieved by positioning two copies of the same digital model at different scales. With this effortless pixel push, the indecisive client swiftly came to a decision on the dimensions for the lamp. Augmented-reality footage created in Lin- ceoVR can be exported in standard movie files. But they may also be exported in a format viewable in LinceoVR Viewer, a free download from Seac02. Unlike a movie file, the scene preserved in LinceoVR Viewer remains inter- active, so the recipient may move, tumble, and rotate the digital model embedded in it. “You can’t edit a scene in the free viewer,” explains Carignano, “so you can’t apply differ- ent materials or select a different HDR back- ground, but you can do everything else. It’s just like an extended LinceoVR license.” While LinceoVR can be used to render photorealistic scenes, the output may not be as mathematically accurate as higher-end render- ing programs. For example, LinceoVR doesn’t employ global illumination, and its raytracing engine is, by the founder’s own admission, not on par with what’s in, say, Luxion’s KeyShot or Autodesk 3ds Max. In April, Seac02 struck an agreement with Tink3 to add features from the basic-edi- tion LinceoVR into Tink3’s TinkDesign 3D software. Tis makes TinkDesign one of the first CAD software packages to include an augmented-reality function out of the box. Te company is also preparing to release a PowerPoint plug-in for LinceoVR to let users embed mixed-reality scenes in standard Power- Point presentations. Pixel-Perfect Craftsmanship In Henry Ford’s hometown of Dearborn, Michigan, Elizabeth Baron prepares to shep- herd the red-blooded American motor com- pany into virtual reality. Baron oversees Ford’s Immersive Vehicle Environment (iVE) lab, a state-of-the-art facility she helped spawn. Here, designers and engineers shuttle between physical space and the digital realm using so- phisticated technologies. Tis hybrid work- flow allows them to understand, address, and refine a future Ford owner’s comfort before he or she ever sets foot in the car.

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