Robots and Physical Computing: June 2020

Tuesday 30 June 2020

10 most read posts (June 2020) on Robots and Physical Computing Blog

Friday 26 June 2020

Easy, Free and no markers Augmented Reality - location based AR

For a few years, I have been a fan of Aframe and AR.js - these are fantastic tools for creating web-based Virtual and Augmented Reality.

Now AR.js has just got easier - no coding need with the Beta version of AR.js Studio including using markers (see this previous post for more details) and the focus of this post, geo-located or markerless AR.

It so easy I am going to show two examples. First going to the start screen of AR.js Studio https://ar-js-org.github.io/studio, select location based project type.

You will then be asked for the longitude and latitude on where you want your AR to be located, up to 10 locations can be used - I have only used one to trial it. If you don't know these co-ordinates they have included a link to a site https://www.latlong.net/ (see below) that will give you these and you can then transfer them into AR.js Studio that is the geo location bit done. Now for the thing at the location.

So for the first experiment, I going to use a free 3D model from https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/duck-6e039c6c606c4c26a1359514352629fd produced by likangning93 and released under a creative commons licence on Sketchfab. It is as simple as clicking upload file and browsing. The last stage is publishing it on GitHub and you getting a URL or downloading the files and which you can later add to a server - both really just a click option.

So the Duck is shown below

So as a follow up and as I think Jupiter is such as a beautiful planet, I used a model by Miekle Roth on Sketchfab https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/jupiter-c5275eb96af245e4a8453837ac728a62 as a second geolocated object. So now I have Jupiter whenever I want - no I am not that power-mad.

Some interesting things I noticed it is relatively easy to do it, and I think the resources downloaded through AR.js Studio could be a great start on a more complex project. Initially, I didn't have location turned on my phone (obvious I know) but I could still see the object when I looked down - so that is great feature to have when you are trying out markerless AR to see what it could look like.

Try AR.js Studio https://ar-js-org.github.io/studio for yourself.

All opinions in this blog are the Author's and should not in any way be seen as reflecting the views of any organisation the Author has any association with. Twitter @scottturneruon

Friday 19 June 2020

Easy, Free and Quick Augmented Reality (AR) - AR.js Studio - Marker based

For a few years, I have been a fan of Aframe and AR.js - these are fantastic tools for creating web-based Virtual and Augmented Reality.

Now AR.js has just got easier - no coding need with the Beta version of AR.js Studio https://ar-js-org.github.io/studio/

The start screen above gives you the option of location-based or Marker-based projects, I am selecting marker-based and then pressed Start building.

I am going to use the premade marker but you can upload your own )there is a guide to what makes a good marker). The premade marker you can download from the site using the download marker link underneath the marker. Apart from that, you don't have to do anything else to select the marker.

Now you choose whether you want 3D object, image or video. So for this experiment, I going to use a free 3D model from https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/duck-6e039c6c606c4c26a1359514352629fd produced by likangning93 and released under a creative commons licence on Sketchfab. It is as simple as clicking upload file and browsing.

Last stage is exporting the project. Two options

- Published to Github

- Download package

My advice is, if you don't have your own web-server, get yourself a Github account and choose that option, and you just log-in to your account. You will need to give the project a name and then push Publish. Depending on your internet connection it can take a few seconds to a minute or so, but it is worth the wait.

So now you get back a URL https://scottturneruon.github.io/Testobjectexs5y2/ . Now just show the marker.

So to test I am typing this URL in a Safari browser (Chrome can play up) on my phone and allow access to my camera (see below or try it for yourself which is more fun).

This Beta version is very good, no coding needed by the user and easy steps to an AR. At the time of writing the only slight issue was you need to ensure that the file extensions were not capitalised but other than it is a great tool for produce a single AR example. I need to try the location-based version next.

All opinions in this blog are the Author's and should not in any way be seen as reflecting the views of any organisation the Author has any association with. Twitter @scottturneruon