March 30, 2009

Augmented Reality Modelling Tool

Filed under: Arduino, experiments, various stuff — melka @ 9:28 pm

For the past few days, I’ve been playing with ARToolKit and frankly, it’s great.

Maybe you already saw the work I done in linking my Arduino to 3D Studio Max. As soon as I got multi tracker AR working, I thought “damn, I have to try to build a tool to do some modelling the same way you model clay”.

I’m pretty bad at all that C++ stuff, so my code is just a patchwork of fragments taken from different sources, but it works for a prototype.

As you can see, this is just a proof of concept, I only worked on it this morning, but I think it has great potential. However, I don’t have the knowledge / budget to do such work.

I can think of many ways to improve this :
- Have some kind of deformable ball of clay, like what you can see in tools like MudBox or ZBrush
- Use a solenoïd instead of the pager motor. This way, you’ll get a feedback in the axis of the pencil, not just a shaking sensation.
- Maybe use a 3-DOF robotic arm to have the feedback, would be a lot harder to implement, but might be worth it.
- Use a pair of stereoscopic goggles to get a better feeling (head “tracking”, perspective, etc…)
- …




13 Comments »

  1. [...] project info available on his blog. The concept definitely shows potential, anyone care to [...]

    Pingback by Augmented Reality Modelling Tool | SquareCows — March 31, 2009 @ 9:40 pm

  2. Yes melka.
    You did some great job, as usuall.
    Hope to see you when U come back to Paris

    Comment by m_x — April 3, 2009 @ 10:42 am

  3. Long time no see, buddy ^^
    I’ll tell you when I’ll come back there.

    Comment by melka — April 3, 2009 @ 6:18 pm

  4. Hi Melka,
    I think this project looks amazing! When you mentioned in your ways to improve the project “head tracking’ I instantly thought of Johnny Chung Lee’s wii head tracking solution, a cheap and really impressive working hack, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw here is a video of it working. Hope this helps and keep up the great work!

    Comment by Richard Gwilt — April 5, 2009 @ 9:53 pm

  5. Actually, using ARToolKit, I think it would be easier to go with a webcam strapped to the head ^^

    Comment by melka — April 5, 2009 @ 11:17 pm

  6. Melka this is amazing. However, what is the pager motor for? I don’t get that bit.

    Comment by Mike Mc — April 23, 2009 @ 9:29 am

  7. Hi Mike
    I used the pager vibrating motor to have a “force feedback”. When the pen touches the virtual cube, the motor starts to turn so I get vibration, providing a tactile feedback. The harder I push, the faster the motor turns and I get more vibrations.
    It was just a proof of concept, so I used the pager motor to see if I could link the Arduino to the ARToolKit. But it would be better to use another method, like a solenoid to get an axial kick, or some kind of 3 DOF arm with a motor at each articulation.

    Comment by melka — April 23, 2009 @ 8:53 pm

  8. This is fantastic, nice job! I have been looking for interfaces like this, where you can actually EDIT and interact with the augmented reality. I feel this could have enormous implications for the field of architecture.

    Comment by Evan — April 24, 2009 @ 2:20 am

  9. Thanks ^^

    Comment by melka — April 26, 2009 @ 2:15 am

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  13. [...] his Augmented Reality Modelling Tool Melka however approaches AR in a completely new way. click for the [...]

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