Bing Maps Augmented-Reality Demo on TED

In a demo that drew gasps at TED2010, Blaise Aguera y Arcas demos new augmented-reality mapping technology from Microsoft. He is the architect of Bing Maps at Microsoft, building augmented reality into searchable maps. He's also the co-creator of Photosynth, software that assembles static photos into a synergy of zoomable, navigatable spaces.

Youtube 3D Video Player

YouTube introduced a stereoscopic player for watching videos in 3D. If you play a 3D video a drop-down menu will show options for red/cyan and amber/blue 3D glasses and some options that don't require glasses. Here's a brief overview video.



To enable the 3D player, you need to add the following tag to one of your videos: yt3d:enable=true. Peter Bradshaw, a Google employee, has more information about this experimental feature:

I'm the developer working on the stereoscopic player as a 20% project. It's currently very early, hence the silly bugs like swapping the eyes for the anaglyph modes. A fix for this is in the works.

The current tags are provisional and may change or expand. They are:

yt3d:enable=true Enables the view mode.
yt3d:aspect=3:4 Sets the aspect of the encoded video.
yt3d:swap=true Swaps the left and right sources. You may need to add this to videos when the player with fixed anaglyph modes ships.

You can try the new feature by searching for yt3d:enable=true.

Augmented Reality Games on Phones

Augmented Reality is going to be coming to your Android phone or iPhone 3GS very shortly. All it takes is a decent processor, a camera, a compass and a GPS. These features enable fun games and useful geo-oriented applications.

The Augmented Environments Lab at Georgia Tech investigating the design and implementation of augmented- and mixed-reality experiences. Their new AR game is called ARhrrrr.



ARhrrrr is an augmented reality shooter for mobile camera-phones. The phone provides a window into a 3D town overrun with zombies. Point the camera at our special game map to mix virtual and real world content. Civilians are trapped in the town, and must escape before the zombies eat them! From your vantage point in a helicopter overhead, you must shoot the zombies to clear the path for the civilians to get out. You can also use Skittles as tangible inputs to the game, placing one on the board and shooting it to trigger an explosion.

This fast-action first-person augmented reality, where the camera controls and movement that would typically require a mouse and keyboard are handled directly by simply moving the device. Advanced tracking technology allows the player to quickly zoom in and out and view the world at steep angles, making this a highly interactive and engaging game.

ARhrrr! was designed for the Nvidia Tegra but similar games and applications will become widely available for the iPhone 3GS and Android phones soon. The virtual world and real world are merging into the Metaverse.

PlanetInAction Ships 3D Ship Simulator Using Google Earth Plugin

Thanks to the ever increasing detail in Google Earth it has now become feasible to write high quality applications and games for the Google Earth API. PlanetInAction.com hosts such virtual environments where the world is your playground. Their first installment is "Ships" - a 3D ship simulator which will take you past the World's incredible scenery at a leisurely pace. All you need to play Ships is a browser and the Google Earth plugin. Many more exciting applications will be added soon.

"Ships" is a case study / Technology show piece that demonstrates what can be achieved with Google Earth. While map data has a tremendous value for practical purposes, it can also be used as a backdrop for a range of games. Google Earth proves extremely capable to handle many overlays with alpha transparencies which enables developers to create intricate and graphically rich instruments. Proof of that can be seen in the Compass/rudder instrument which consists of 5 layers of bitmaps.


When you start "Ships" you will be looking at this screen. By default you are in control of a closed river barge located at "Waal haven Noord" in the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. This location is chosen because Rotterdam is one of worlds largest ports and is shown in great detail in Google Earth. You are looking out across the "Nieuwe Maas" river towards the city of Rotterdam. On the horizon you can see the "Euro mast" tower. From this vantage point you can see some of the other ships you can sail on in "Ships" and yes, the Airship Hindenburg is also part of your fleet.

Check out the gallery for more screenshots or click here to play ships now.

Ships was developed by Dinther Product Design. They have other innovative project such as Virtual Windows. It will turn your monitor into a true window onto a 3D world. Head tracking and special screen management will one day make for the next generation of simulator equipment. Have a look at this video on YouTube.

EON ICUBE - Amazing 3D Immersive Technology

EON Reality, Inc. has amazing immersive solutions such as the ICUBE, a revolutionary PC based multi-sided immersive environment in which participants are completely surrounded by virtual imagery and 3D sound.

The EON ICUBE consists of 3, 4 or 6 walls according to the users requirements, and that can be setup in any configuration. Thanks to the rear-projection of the images and the flawless image continuity in the corners, the illusion of a complete sense of presence in the virtual environment is created. On top of that, the system is fully compatible with tracking and input devices. It is built on PC technology whereby several PCs are synchronized together to generate simultaneous images in stereo (stereoscopic visualization) on multiple walls seamlessly.



Using a series of infrared emitters, high-end projectors, and stereoscopic active lightweight shutter glasses and position trackers, the result is complete immersion of the user in a virtual world where objects float in space with high quality graphics. Electro magnetic 6DOF trackers are implemented to monitor the user's position and orientation and are used to calculate a stereoscopic perspective view while allowing the user to freely move into and around the objects floating in space. The stereoscopic visualization is supported by an integrated audio surround system. Peripheral devices such as force feedback devices, and gesture gloves are optionally integrated into the system.

Innovative solutions such as large immersive displays, 3D and holographic displays, tele immersion systems, and mobile 3D stereoscopic and augmented reality systems can be the next step in user interfaces and the web.

Minoru 3D Webcam - The First 3D Web Camera

Minoru is the Worlds first 3D webcam. Your friends and family can now see you in 3D over your favourite messaging program like Windows Live Messenger, Skype, AOL instant messenger, OoVoo and many others. Minoru can also take 3D photos or even shoot 3D videos for YouTube or other video sharing sites. Minoru = Reality (at least in Japanese)!



The red and cyan anaglyph image produced by Minoru can be viewed by anybody who is wearing commonly available red and cyan 3D glasses (five pairs included with Minoru). It is not HD quality for 3D HDTVs but it is fun nevertheless. Minoru can also be used as a standard 2D webcam for anyone who doesnt have the 3D glasses at hand.

Minoru 3D Webcam is available on Amazon.com for $89.95.

Another innovative step for the coming 3D Web.

Google O3D Plugin Brings 3D To Browsers

O3D is an open-source web API for creating rich, interactive 3D applications in the browser. O3D allows you to create rich 3D web applications using JavaScript. O3D is a much needed effort to enable innovative 3D applications in the web browsers. Virtual worlds and games such as WoW and Second Life could use O3D instead of native clients.



Vangelis Kokkevis and Gregg Tavares will discuss O3D on the upcoming Google I/O conference in May 2009. This session will primarily cover best practices for getting 2D and 3D content into O3D. They will also explore the API's advanced features, primarily through demos and coding examples to keep the session fun.

Download O3D for Mac or Windows and test it for yourself. Nice job, Google!

Sparkle Brings Second Life to the iPhone and iPod Touch

Genkii has launched a new iPhone application in the App Store called Sparkle IM. It is a Second Life client that runs on the iPhone or iPod Touch that allows sending and receiving IMs directly on the mobile device.



Sparkle IM is just the first virtual world app by Genkii. It is expected that the updated full Sparkle Second Life iPhone client will support 3D presence, too. Stay tuned!

Virtual Worlds could be rendered on the server side as demonstrated earlier by Vollee and Liveplace.

Virtual Cocoon Helmet to Mimic All Five Senses in Virtual Worlds

We rely on our senses to interact with the world around us. Do we actually need to travel to be somewhere to experience it fully? The “…towards Real Virtuality” EPSRC Research Cluster" project aims to develop a "virtual cocoon" through which people can interact naturally with the world without actually traveling or being put in that particular, potentially dangerous, real situation. All five senses will be stimulated to provide a rich sensory "real virtuality" experience.


The virtual cocoon will revolutionize the way in which we do business by providing low-cost, high confidence, high quality multi-sensory knowledge directly to your current location. This will significantly change, for example, purchasing via the internet because you could smell the flowers, feel the fabric of a dress, try out a sofa for comfort, examine products in any desired lighting condition, etc, all before you buy them. The virtual cocoon could even be linked to, for example Google Earth, to enable you to investigate the ambiance of a restaurant on the other side of the world when you are planning your trip.


The Virtual Cocoon headset is a nice accessory for 3D immersive surfing of the metaverse. It is a great gadget for gaming, entertainment and virtual tourism. Too bad that it is somewhat expensive for now.

The Emerging 3D Web and The Metaverse

What happens when video games meet Web 2.0? When virtual worlds meet geospatial maps of the planet? When simulations get real and life and business go virtual? When you use a virtual Earth to navigate the physical Earth, and your avatar becomes your online agent? What happens is the Metaverse.

The Blog of Marc Wallace and friends, 3pointD.com reports on this emerging 3D connectivity — a phenomenon sometimes called the metaverse — in all its manifestations. From virtual worlds like Second Life to applications like Google Earth, from cool mapping hacks that link up real-world locations to new ways of creating virtual ones, from concepts like folksonomy to the culture of online worlds, find news and feature articles about all that and much more at 3pointD.com, every day.

A nice example of the emerging 3D Web is AjaxLife - an AJAX based SL client by Katharine Berry. It enables us to experience the 3D Second Life Grid in a web browser! Imagine this in a 3D Web browser and 3D display and you have a virtual window into another universe.

Philips Leads Autostereoscopic 3D HDTVs

We are just at the beginning of a new era where 3D displays will eventually replace the current 2D displays in both professional and consumer applications. 2009 could mark a new milestone for the adoption of innovative 3D technologies.

Since the mid nineties, Philips is conducting research and development on lenticular based auto-stereoscopic 3D display technologies. The Philips lenticular auto-stereoscopic 3D technology comprises the lens design, 3D signal processing, manufacturing process technologies and innovations in the 2D panel to optimize for the 3D functionality.

Philips is entering new ground with its flagship 56″ quad full autosteroscopic 3D HD TV. Based on a new rendering technique, the 56-inch QFHD 3D Display creates 46 views and has a large 3D comfort zone! The ‘autostereoscopic’ part of the description means that depth perception is achieved without the use of special (and geeky) glasses.

The Philips 56-inch QFHD 3D Display is based on an LCD panel resolution of Quad full HD (3840*2160 = 8.29 million pixels) meaning it is like having FOUR 1080p LCD TVs. This results in a stunning perceived 3D resolution of HD quality with 3D viewing angle of 160 degrees.


The special 3D display interface format is based on 2D-plus-Depth and Declipse. It is described on the Philips 3D Content format page and in the 3D Interface Specifications white paper.

The unique Philips 56" Quad Full HD 3D Display is commercially available on customer request in large scale projects for an estimated $25.000.

Stereoscopic 3D displays such as the Samsung Syncmaster 2233RZ and the ViewSonic VX2265wm FuHzion 3D are much cheaper and are compatible with nVidia GeForce 3D Vision Kit introduced at CES 2009. The new DisplayPort 1.2 standard will enable 3D thanks to the large bandwidth and support for 120 Hz.

It is time to create new content such as 3D movies on Blu-Ray, 3D games and 3D video. These innovations will add a new dimension to communications, entertainment and the Internet.

2008 Year in Review

2008 was the year of social networking and mobile internet innovations.

Let's highlight the most interesting news and trends of last year.

Cloud computing hype has reached all time high:

• The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google
• Google App Engine + OpenSocial = Web 3.0?
• IT in 2018
• Wua.la Launches Online P2P Storage Cloud
• Bandwidth usage of the Amazon Cloud has surpassed all of Amazon.com’s website traffic
  

Mobile Internet and gadgets has become a platform:

• iPhone Apps Lead Mobile Internet Innovations
• iPhone Roadmap Possibilities
• Rapid Mobile Broadband Usage Growth

High-Definition Video has started to conquer the Web:

• Hybrid P2P-CDN Streaming Enables HD Video Delivery
• Video Traffic Bandwidth to Reach Exabyte by 2015
• HD Flash Video on the Web

3D and Virtual Worlds have grown:

• Sun's Open Source 3D Virtual World
• Virtual Worlds are Rendered in the Cloud

FUJIFILM FinePix Real 3D Camera and Imaging System

FUJIFILM has finally announced on Photokina 2008 a radical departure from current imaging systems with the development of the Real 3D System that marks a complete break from previous attempts to introduce 3D technology to the consumer camera world.

The Real 3D System consists of

• Dual CCD 3D digital camera with ‘RP (Real Photo) Processor 3D’ chip
• 3D photo frame: 8.4-inch “FinePix Real 3D Photo Frame” with over 920,000 pixels
• High Resolution 3D printing system

One major benefit of the FinePix Real 3D Photo and Movie Camera technology is that for digital camera LCD playback, display and print, the consumer can enjoy the image just as it was originally seen with the naked eye. No need for special glasses! Check out the articles on the Real 3D System on Wired and DPReview!

Welcome to the world of 3D Imaging! The next step is to use 3D desktop, mobile devices and ultimately the 3D Internet!

When will Apple deliver the iPhone 3D with 3D Camera and 3D Display? Until then check out the wonderful animations of stereoscopic images made by Joshua Heineman of Cursive Buildings.

Liveplace - Photo-Realistic Virtual World Rendered by OTOY Cloud

Mobile phones and devices can already access virtual worlds such as Second Life on 3G networks. Vollee delivers Second Life to more than 70 handhelds by rendering it on the server side. Their Second Life iPhone client is in beta.

LivePlace plans to take cloud rendering of 3D virtual worlds to a new level. TechCrunch has posted a very impressive video of LivePlace's City Space which is a Photo-Realistic 3D virtual world. The beautiful ray tracing is done on the server side or "in the cloud" and delivered to the clients via OTOY. OTOY is a 800k web plug-in that enables cinematic quality 3D rendering in a browser with compressed content streaming.

The City Space demo shows beautiful and highly realistic rendering of different environments. It looks and feels more real and immersive than Earthmine, Everyscape or Google Maps Street View.

The demo video shows real time rendering using an ATI RX 1900 GPU and live streaming to a Treo 700 at 240 kpbs. The final product is said to be even more impressive! The first comment on the demo: "this is the pinnacle of what has been dreamed of since computer modeling and rendering was begun."

TechCrunch has more details on OTOY and LightStage here including interesting interviews with Jules Urbach, the founder and CEO of OTOY.

Inexpensive 3D Camera to Control Second Life

Mitch Kapor and Philippe Bossut are developing body language mirroring with 3D cameras. The exciting Handsfree 3D demos use a 3D camera to navigate and work in Second Life. They plan to use the camera so that avatars can directly mirror body language and facial expression. Kapor expects that 2009 will see mass availability of inexpensive 3D cameras which could be used to control virtual worlds.

Check out the impressive innovation on the video.



The Hands Free 3D blog features more info such as:

• Price of the camera, time to market
• Applications Beyond Games
• “Hands Free” Object Editing

Sun's Open Source 3D Virtual World - MPK20

MPK20 is a virtual 3D environment built using the Project Wonderland Toolkit. In this 3D world, employees can accomplish their real work, share documents, and meet with colleagues using natural voice communication. Just like on Sun's physical Menlo Park campus, known as "MPK," inhabitants of the virtual MPK20 office building can work together in planned meetings, or can talk informally in unplanned encounters. Unlike the physical campus, however, in MPK20, the community can be built and maintained without the constraints of physical location.



MPK20 is a sample virtual world built using the Project Wonderland open source 3D virtual world toolkit. Within the world, users can communicate with high-fidelity, immersive audio, and can share live applications such as web browsers, OpenOffice documents, and games.

The Wonderland toolkit is built on top of the Project Darkstar server infrastructure. Darkstar, a platform designed for massively multiplayer games, provides Wonderland with a scalable and secure multi-user infrastructure well-suited for enterprise-grade applications.

Check out the interesting demo videos on the MPK20 project page.

A Practical Guide To Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality (AR) brings virtual objects into the real world where we live in.

Powerful mobile devices and smartphones such as the Apple iPhone can be enhanced with innovative video-see-through technology. Just hold the device up and see through the display to view both the real world and the superimposed virtual object. Move around and see the virtual object, model, animation, or game from different views as the AR system performs alignment of the real and virtual cameras automatically. Augmented Reality is a technology that could become mainstream in a couple of years and revolutionize mobile entertainment and our interaction with the world around us.

Imagine Google Street View, Earthmine or Everyscape on steroids!


Augmented Reality: A Practical Guide will introduce you to Augmented Reality (AR), provide detailed explanations of how the technology works, and provide samples for you to try on your own. Code samples using the freely downloadable ARTag software SDK in C++ and C# are included; all you need is a computer, printer, and a webcam.

The book provides everything you need to quickly start developing your own Augmented Reality (AR) applications including

• how to get started by running AR on your system
• how OpenGL is used to create computer graphics for AR
• how to create OpenGL applications
• how to develop Augmented Reality applications
• how to integrate ARTag into your OpenGL programming
• how to create 3D models and import them into the AR program you're writing
• how to create a 3D Augmented Reality video game

Earthmine is Indexing Reality into 3D Maps

Earthmine is a street-level, 3D mapping company that is focused on indexing reality. Their geospatial data mine of urban environments is an order of magnitude more detailed and accurate than anything before. Earthmine's new kind of map is a geospatially accurate model of the world that is accessed through an intuitive panoramic interface.

Google Maps Street View and Everyscape offers similar immersive visual experience. However every pixel in each high quality Earthmine image has highly accurate latitude, longitude and elevation data. This provides a unique three-dimensional context to existing spatial data not offered by others.

Check out this amazing Earthmine demo video:



Earthmine has vehicles with a calibrated camera array, collecting highly accurate and detailed data at the street level using technology licensed from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This data is processed into a form that is deliverable over the internet as a subscription service to their customer base. Their highly scalable data collection and processing technology is highly scalable allows entire municipalities to be captured in weeks.

Earthmine will offer the first street-level geospatial platform for urban environments in early 2008. Their framework includes

• a pre-collected base data layer of 3D panoramic images tagged with 3D location data
• a set of web-based professional tools to gather, analyze and visualize street-level location-based information

This geo-spatial framework will integrate into any web application, act as the foundation for layers of geo-tagged meta-data, and connect with existing systems and applications.

EveryScape Takes the Real World Online in 3D

Another stunning 3D mapping service goes live: EveryScape isn't an online world, it's the world online.

EveryScape takes you from the streets to the sidewalks and through the doors of the world's cities and tours. Unlike Microsoft Virtual Earth and Google Maps, EveryScape will let users explore both the outside and inside of major cities.

EveryScape has launched beta with 4 destinations: Boston, New York City, Miami and Aspen. They plan to quickly expand this list to 10 cities in 2007. Users are not only encouraged to tour various cities and towns, but also to collaborate and share in the very creation of them. Everyscape's technology transforms digital still photos from inexpensive cameras into 3D models. The company hopes to recruit users to become "scape artists" and upload these photos.

Check out the experience in this launch video:



The 3D virtual reality experience is based on scapes. A Scape is a three-dimensional, photo-realistic experience of a city, street or business. In a scape, anyone with a Flash capable web browser can move seamlessly and look around via a 360-degree panoramic photograph.

The company aims to get real world businesses to establish their own scapes so that potential customers can experiance their business online. A scaped business can be engaging, immersive and realistic.
Standard pricing for the service is $180 a year to get a business listing displayed along with a photo of the outside. For $250 a year, a business can get one inside photo. Two or three inside photos cost $400 and $500 respectively.

3D Birds Eye Views in Virtual Earth

Another milestone in virtual reality has been reached by Microsoft today. Live Search Map v2 (Gemini) is out with amazing new features! The coolest of them is 3D birds eye views based on aerial photos taken from different angles stitched together just like in Photosynth.

This feature is described in the Virtual Earth blog as:

"Basically, as you navigate the virtual world the camera is snapped to the same parameters the real-world camera had at the time the scene was captured. As you rotate, you will first see virtual 3D buildings and terrain just as the corresponding scene is loaded and overlaid. if you are zoomed out past a single image, a series of white outlines hint at where to click to bring in a new image, very much like the Photosynth UI. smooth camera tweening links the scenes creating an amazing tapestry of the highest resolution aerial image online."

Check out their full to get the details on birds eye view and many other new features such as:

• 1-Click Directions - Also known as “party maps”, this is a single permalink that you can send out, and each person can get directions to it from their house with a single click.
• Route Around Traffic - It’s a check box option to have it automatically route around traffic jams, based on the live traffic data.
• Data Import - Import GeoRSS, GPX and even some KML.
• Birds Eye View in 3D - A way to view Birds Eye imagery while in 3D mode. It’s kinda weird, but very cool.
• 3D Tours and Videos of Collections - You can build a “tour” (fly around, look at stuff, etc), then share it with others by sending them a simple URL. They can control the tour using DVD-style controls.
• 3D Modelling - Using Dassault, you can create 3D buildings in VE.
• Collection Search and Explore - A search engine for more content.
• Enhanced Detail Pages - More info about each business listed in VE