I just got back from the Adobe MAX conference in Los Angeles and I am very excited. The attendees included developers, end users, graphic artists, small businesses … you name it. This event attracted some 6,000 people, each paying between $595 to attend for a single day and $1,695 for late registration to attend all three days.
Adobe brings Flash apps to the iPhone The event occupied the West Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center, every conference room and theater in the complex, and took over the enormous Nokia Theater opposite the LACC for various presentations. There was a lot to be impressed about and one of the technologies getting a lot of attention was augmented reality (AR). AR is the technique of overlaying graphics on an image of the real world such that the graphics enhance and recontextualize the scene. In short, it's a massive show and, considering the harsh economic times, an amazing success that underscores the vibrancy and scope of the Adobe market. AR has been used for years in the military in heads-up displays in fighter aircraft where the pilot's view is enhanced with markers highlighting other aircraft (note that data such as airspeed that is also shown on heads-up displays is not, strictly speaking, augmented reality as it is not an integrated part of the visualize context of the scene). The connection between the Adobe conference and AR is that developers favor the use of Flash content to provide the visual overlay for an AR scene. Alliban, who works for Skive, a London digital agency, which does some amazing work, showed a number of his AR projects that were visually stunning as well as one project that, should you have doubts about the business potential of AR, should change your mind: The USPS Virtual Box Simulator. The whole Flash model combined with the impressive 3D features now available in a number of Adobe products (check out the 3D functions built-in to Photoshop CS4 Extended – amazing!). At the conference, a great presentation by Jesse Freeman and James Alliban showcased some impressive examples that explored both the artistic and business potential of augmented reality.
Developed by AKQA, an international digital agency, the Virtual Box Simulator is a Web application that lets you check whether something you want to ship will fit in one of the USPS flat rate shipping boxes as well as order real, physical boxes. You then print out a "target" – a black and white image that the AR application uses to determine the scene geometry. To use the Virtual Box Simulator you need a Web cam pointing at a table. When you hold this target so the camera can see it, the target is displayed on your computer screen is overlaid with a semi-transparent USPS box - move and rotate the target and the virtual box also moves simultaneously. You can change box sizes and alter the transparency of the virtual box and, when satisfied, use the same Web application to order your shipping supplies. If you can lay the target (and therefore the virtual box) on the table and place the thing to be shipped on the target it is very easy to whether the thing actually fits the box.
While you might say that if you had the actual boxes to hand you could easily test the real fit and therefore the Virtual Box Simulator is more for show that misses the point. Augmented Reality looks like it is about to take off, big time. The point is that this is actually useful and useable and applies to the real world, it isn't just an art project or a test of the technology. Not only are people talking about the concept and producing useful examples, but the marketplace is making the building process easier with libraries that combine Flash with AP such as FLARToolKit and the library wrapper FLARManager. I expect to see a lot more augmented reality not only at next year's Adobe Max conference but in the real world as well.