Augmented Reality Feature Added to Blue Mars' iOS App

This looks pretty cool: The latest update to the Blue Mars mobile app for iPhone and iPad (iTunes store link here) includes a light augmented reality feature. You put an AR marker down in a location you're about to photograph, and your Blue Mars avatar will show up there. So if your avatar looks like Charlie Sheen, like whoever took this pic, well, AR WINNING. Also comes with Facebook integration, so you can send screenshots from the app directly to your account. (I got this pic from Blue Mars Facebook page.) DISCLOSURE: As regular NWN readers know, last year I did some consulting for Blue Mars' developer, Avatar Reality. That profound bias in mind, I do think my former colleagues are doing some fairly sweet stuff expanding the virtual world experience to iOS mobile and tablet platform. Anyway, read more about it here.

Comments

[Adeon Writer]

I will admit, I'm jealous! I may find a way to get my SL self rendered in there.

[Metacam Oh]

Wow, great feature that no one needs or would use.

[Nyoko Salome]

:0 i had a kewl dream a few weeks ago, that i had an ipad (no, the dream wasn't -only- about having an ipad! ;0) - but holding it up to the horizon outside, seeing on its screen the trees rolling across the hills, and the blue sky above it (hint: easily keyable!) - and seeing instead of blank sky (as with my own eyes), on screen seeing the "cloverfield" monster ripping up the countryside, coming my way!! ;0 (can't be seen rl perhaps with some sort of "they live" conceit ;0)

someone =surely= could come up with a localized adventure game that led them to rl cafes, parks, etc etc, at certain times of day, to show either 'real life people' in an augmented reality (they're "trapped in the other dimension"), or monsters, puzzles, etc - all of course that "aren't there", but that can exist at certain rl places. would be extensive to truly 'localize'; customize the puzzle-mapping to individual locales... but kinda neat possibly?? :)

[Nyoko Salome]

another much, much older dream i had, not long after first coming to sl: i dreamed of an slcon someday in the future, where we were all walking around rl, with belt-attached projectors that displayed our holograpic avatars in rl among the room - still controllable with HUDs/danceballs, lol, and having a simulatneous rl/sl party!! :) that's a big 'someday' though...

[Arcadia Codesmith]

1) Photograph real world locations.

2) Import into SL

3) Texture on a big cube.

4) Take screenshots of avatar in front of the cube.

5) Wonder what all the fuss is about.

[sirhc desantis]

:) and 'Charlie Sheen' == 'winning'....woke me up

[Arbit Delacroix]

I've done some AR dev using Papervision3D/Flash and I must say, this is pretty nifty. The fact that it's pulling up and using your own avatar files is impressive. I know it's just a fun little gimmick in this usage instance but the tech behind it is impressive.