At CEDEC 2010, freelance programmer Makoto Hamanaka presented the AR Capsule, a method he's developed for displaying virtual characters using a head-mounted projector.
"When you put this on, you can see a 3D character from all sorts of angles, as if it's right in front of you."
The prototype head-mounted system combines a projector, a camera and motion sensing device. When worn, the camera uses an AR marker to help the system estimate the users relative position, and the video is projected onto a cylindrical screen.
"The camera captures the AR marker to calculate coordinates, and based on those, it generates a 3D picture, which is then projected onto the screen."
DEMO: "No matter which direction you face, it looks as if the character is standing in the cylinder. Using this stick, you can interact with the character inside the cylinder. Now, when I touch this character virtually with the stick, stars appear. In the future, I think there'll be a lot more possibilities for interaction."
"A problem with the current prototype is that the viewing angle isn't very wide, so you have to move the character within quite a limited view. Also, because only the wearer can see the character, it's possible that people watching nearby don't understand what the wearer is doing."
Recently, AR applications using the AR Toolkit are generating a lot of interest. But with AR on a handheld display such as a mobile phone or tablet, although on the display it looks as if the CG is seamlessly integrated with reality, when applications are experienced directly, they don't feel particularly real. This is due to the fact that ultimately, they're still being processed by and displayed on an independent device.
With AR Capsule, because the projected image is based on input data from the head-mounted camera in real time, it can be updated based on the current users point of view, actions, circumstances and environment. This leads to a far more immersive experience when interacting with AR applications.
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CEDEC 2010
