Augmenting a Roman Fort

This is just a bit of a prototype that I am working on - using the Qualcomm AR plugin and a Build-Your-Own Roman Fort kit.

http://www.dead-mens-eyes.org/?p=66

I have started to build up a bit of a combat system - but as you can see in the latter stages of the video the framerate really suffers with so many ragdolls around (and running the AR content). I am very very impressed with how good the registration of the AR marker is, even when it is occluded by the buildings and also when the iPad is zoomed in close.

What I would really like to do is develop the system a bit more, so that it can be used on the real models in museums - and of course on the remains of the real Roman forts themselves!!

Enjoy

Stuart

 

I have no time to write, so i tell you this: excellent... "i see what you did here"

 

I'm normally a proper grumpy old sod about iPoo stuff, but if every National Heritage site had AR then I'd just go out and buy an iPad immediately, simple as that. Assuming I'm not alone I think both National Heritage (or other organisations) and Apple could benefit greatly from a large enough scale implementation of this.

 

It certainly has a lot of potential - although we are rather limited at the moment (at least for outdoor applications) with being tied to markers or image recognition. Ideally you would use GPS or something, but obviously the GPS receiver in-built in the i-devices (or any others actually) are only good enough for roughly placing the models - not the accuracy you need to get proper occulsion, etc. Still it's fun to play with and I'm currently in the middle of fighting to get a 3D model of a chunk of Roman wall into Unity - once thats in I can play with rolling this idea out onto a real archaeological site.

 

Wow. This is amazing. I had no idea this was possible...

 

This is really cool. I have always loved AR stuff, especially with the stereoscopic glasses and headtracking. I have wondered maybe in the future that devices like the ipad could drive these glasses externally taking the video and tracking in and augmenting with the graphics and then you use the ipad in the middle like a control device for you to select and maneuver/manage units and the like. Players with their own setups could be synced via wireless and just be all around a big model on a table doing tabletop gaming together! Maybe with the ipad 10 and some of those hires AR glasses this will be tabletop war gaming of the future.

 

Yeah now I really like the idea of that! What I think I like most about the potential for this stuff is that it allows you to go back to the old boardgames and then just add in little augmented bits - so not everything is digital - but it gives it a bit of lift. I am tempted to try and recreate the old BattleChess with a standard chess board - just for kicks!

 

Wow - Battle Chess! I used to play that a lot. That stirred up some childhood memories... I really like AR stuff in general. I went to college at RIT which now has an awesome game design school which makes me just cry going through the website. This didn't exist when I went in the mid 90s, but 3D and virtual reality were it then so everyone was excited about it and we had access to some SGI workstations in the CS department which was quite special for the time. I ended up getting a BS in computer engineering. Imagine getting a BS or MS in Game Design and Development - I am pining right now for a youth potion to knock 20 years off my life. Anyway they have a lot of AR game projects students have done. There are lots of cool games and projects under the student gallery at the top. One really neat AR tabletop game is Zeal.