Presentation by Mark Billinghurst at the ARE 2011 conference about Augmented Reality authoring tools

1. AR Authoring Tools
Mark Billinghurst
HIT Lab NZ
University of Canterbury

2. 1998 - My First AR Application
 custom tracking
 ~6,000+ lines C-code
 libVRML rendering
 no interaction
 2 months programming

3. static void init( void ){!
"int i;!
"ARParam wparam;!
Initializing the AR Application
/* open the video path */!
if( arVideoOpen( vconf ) < 0 ) exit(0);!
/* find the size of the window */!
if( arVideoInqSize(&xsize, &ysize) < 0 ) exit(0);!
printf("Image size (x,y) = (%d,%d)n", xsize, ysize);!
/* set the initial camera parameters */!
if( arParamLoad(cparam_name, 1, &wparam) < 0 ) exit(0);!
arParamChangeSize( &wparam, xsize, ysize, &cparam );!
arInitCparam( &cparam );!
printf("*** Camera Parameter ***n");!
arParamDisp( &cparam );!
/* open the graphics window */!
argInit( &cparam, 2.0, 0, 0, 0, 0 );!
/* load in the object data - trained markers and associated bitmap files */!
if( (object=read_VRMLdata(model_name, &objectnum)) == NULL ) exit(0);!
printf("Objectfile num = %dn", objectnum);!
/* test render all the VRML objects */!
glEnable(GL_TEXTURE_2D);!
for ( i = 0; i < objectnum; i++ )!
" arVrml97Draw( object[i].vrml_id );!
glDisable(GL_TEXTURE_2D);!
/* initialize lights */!
init_lights(); !
}!

4. ARToolKit
 Open source – computer vision based AR tracking

5. ARToolKit in the World
 Hundreds of projects
 Large research community

6. AR Application Libraries
AR Application
Video Cap Models UI Events
Tracking Graphics
Camera SDK

7. Low Level AR Libraries
 Tracking
 ARToolKit, ARToolKitPlus, ARTag, SSTT, etc
 Rendering
 OpenGL, DirectX, OpenGL ES, etc
 Model Loading
 libVRML, lib3DS, etc
 Audio, Networking, etc

9. High Level AR Authoring
 Software Libraries
 OSGART, Studierstube, MXRToolKit
 Plugin to existing software
 mARx, Experient Creator, Unity3D, etc
 Stand Alone
 AMIRE, BuildAR, etc
 Next Generation
 iaTAR (Tangible AR)

10. OSGART Programming Library
 www.osgart.org
 Integration of ARToolKit with a High-Level
Rendering Engine (OpenSceneGraph)
OSGART= OpenSceneGraph + ARToolKit
 Supporting Geometric + Photometric Registration

11. osgART:Features
 C++ (but also Python, Lua, etc).
 Multiple Video Input supports:
 Direct (Firewire/USB Camera), Files, Network by
ARvideo, PtGrey, CVCam, VideoWrapper, etc.
 Benefits of Open Scene Graph
 Rendering Engine, Plug-ins, etc

12. mARx Plug-in
 3D Studio Max Plug-in
 Can model and view AR content at the same time

13. BuildAR
 http://www.buildar.co.nz/
 Stand alone application
 Visual interface for AR model viewing application
 Enables non-programmers to build AR scenes

14. AR Markerless Tracking
 OPIRA Library
 Uses natural features for tracking
 Fast, robust performance

15. BuildAR Pro 2
 Markerless tracking
 Video, audio, text objects

16. Esperient Creator AR Plug-in
 Esperient Creator – www.esperient.com
 Authoring interactive 3D applications
 Key features
 Model loading
 Scripting
 Publishing
 Animation
 Plug-in library

17. Creator AR
 ARToolKit Plugin
 Adding AR interactivity

18. Advanced Authoring: iaTAR
 Immersive AR Authoring – authoring from within AR
 Using real objects to create AR applications

19. User Study
 Pilot User study
 AR Workshop
 24 subjects (16M/8F)
 Age: 9-50
 IA vs Desktop tool
 Task: placing objects
 Observation
- Task completion time
- Error count
- Users’ Preference ▲ CATOMIR authoring tool

20. User Study
 Results
 Task completion time
- IA : =3:53, =2.24
- Desktop : =5:05, =2.97
- IA turned out 25% faster
• t(23)=2.84, p=0.00094
 Error counts
- IA : 21 (fatal:0)
- Desktop : 36 (fatal:21)
 Users’ Preference
- IA : 42% (10)
- Mixed : 33% (8)
- Desktop : 25% (6)

21. Conclusions
 Need to move beyond low-level AR SDKs
 Stand alone applications
- BuildAR – simple scene assembly
 Plug-in Software
- mARx – modeling plug-in
- Creator AR – interactive plug-in
 High level SDKs
- osgART – C++/scripting library
 Research opportunities in Immersive AR Authoring

22. More Information
• Mark Billinghurst
– mark.billinghurst@hitlabnz.org
• Websites
– http://www.hitlabnz.org/
– http://artoolkit.sourceforge.net/
– http://www.osgart.org/
– http://www.buildar.co.nz/