Reality Bytes

Author: Tom Marcinko

Issue: April, 2012, Page 98

AR in Action Demo

Use “AR” marker about to open a 3-D Surprise

1. Go to www.popartoys.com/ardemo on your PC browser (no MAC application yet).

2. Hit “Install” where prompted.

3. The AR Demo will download onto your computer. Afterwards, you webcam will activate.

4. Hold this marker up to your screen facing the webcam. (You’ll have to print this marker out from this post for this to work)

VALLEY VISIONARIES ARE SPEARHEADING COMPUTER TECHNOLOGIES THAT ENHANCE YOUR GRIP ON THE HERE-AND-NOW – AND TAKE US ONE STEP CLOSER TO INVENTING THE HOLODECK.

I put on the glasses and I’m gliding over Mars. The cartographically-accurate surface of the Red Planet rolls below me in 3D. A tiny sun shines dimly. Rusty landscape and twilight skies surround me, even when I look over my shoulder.

Back in the real world, the architect of my Martian fly-over – Valley software executive Ken Varga – is talking about a terrestrial version of the simulation. Imagine glasses that compile radar and transponder data so that on a foggy night over Sky Harbor, pilot and tower can “see” the runway. Varga’s company – Real Time Consulting in Phoenix – is also developing consumer-use versions of the glasses for games, road-navigation help and other uses. “We’re going to make the first holodeck,” he promises.

Welcome to augmented reality, or AR: computer technology that superimposes text, pictures, or other information onto the real world through a smartphone, webcam, or other high-tech screen. It’s rapidly catching fire in the tech world, and several Valley firms are fanning the flames.

At his Augmented Reality Development Lab in Tempe, Scott Jochim is developing AR for K-12 classrooms. He opens a manual filled with barcode-like symbols – all mundane and unremarkable to the naked eye. But through a webcam and laptop, 3D images of shuttles, space stations and Saturn leap off the paper. You move worlds around, make them spin, and see for yourself how much bigger the sun is than the Earth.

“Kids play video games for hours a day,” Jochim says. “They’re engaging with that content, but when they’re in school, they’re glassy-eyed. So why not create that type of environment for them [in school]?”

Jochim’s software lets students construct molecules, manipulate numbers and shapes, or build a beating heart. About 10 Valley-area schools are using it, Jochim says, and about 100 in the U.S. and abroad.

At ASU’s Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing (CUbiC), students work from a gadget-strewn bench to make life easier for people with disabilities. Ph.D. candidate Troy McDaniel demonstrates face-mapping AR goggles that will alert the vision-impaired to approaching acquaintances, signaling via a vibrating belt. “You could design custom vibrations,” McDaniel says. “Maybe for your girlfriend, you have a heartbeat-like rhythm. Or for your boss, it’s a more intense rhythm, you know?”

Some Valley-developed AR technologies appear ready for prime-time. In 2007, CUbiC and legally-blind student David Hayden collaborated on NoteTaker, an AR system that puts a live, magnified image of a classroom blackboard on a TabletPC. NoteTaker helped Hayden ace his ASU math/comp-sci courses. He’s now pursuing a Ph.D. at MIT – and, he says, forming a company to market NoteTaker.

How “real” is AR?
“AR has a lot of potential, but it will take a while for affordable technology to catch up with ambitious theoreticals,” says futurist author Pat Cadigan, whose novels mix gritty reality with hi-tech sci-fi. She adds: “Probably the most successful AR at this very moment isn’t visual at all – it’s Siri, available to iPhone users.”

A few Valley AR projects that might impress Siri:
• Scottsdale company Shotzoom (shotzoom.com) sells iPhone apps to help golfers judge angle and distance, work around traps, and select a club – “very much like a good caddy,” says CEO Craig Prichard. The apps show ground or satellite views of 38,000 courses worldwide.

• Point the Mobile Black History Project smartphone app at sites in a dozen or so U.S. cities, and it will fill your screen with text on a place’s story pre-Civil War. The app’s creator, the Cronkite School’s Retha Hill, is working on a version to let users add and share information.

• When Scottsdale firm iGo needed a campaign for power-strips it says slay household “energy vampires,” it turned to Tempe digital marketing agency Sitewire to grab some attention. Point the AR marker from the print ad (or download it) at your laptop webcam and watch the animated blood flow (vampirepowersucks.com). The 2010 campaign was one of the first to use AR and surely won’t be the last.

USE THIS MARKER TO FIND SPECIAL CONTENT!

See Full Article Here

Popar Books will jump out at you!
MARCH 29, 2012

I had such a fun time reviewing the Popar 3D books, I don’t even really know where to begin. These books are like no other. As if by magic, the items on the pages of your book will come to life in a 3D form on your computer screen, right before your eyes.

Here is how it works: I must first mention that it is PC compatible only! First you will need to install the special webcam that will look for specific black and white patterns to make 3D objects and animations appear. Once you have your webcam installed, you will then need to download your Popar Books software that is provided in each book. There is an “i” paddle that you can find right behind the CD-ROM so don’t lose that! You will want to make sure that your webcam has the entire view of the book when it is open. (We found out that you can see your table and things surrounding you so it is best to do this on a clean, flat surface.

When you open the book and go to each page, you will see a black and white marker at the bottom of the page. That marker is what is used to display the 3D images. You must also have the “i” paddle within the view of the webcam. Then as if by magic, you will see the images “POP” off the pages (see YouTube video) and you can view them on your computer screen in 3D. Planets will spin, rockets will blast off, and your child will be doing a whole lot of learning with this process. My children thought it was fun and there is no better way to learn than by having fun doing it! At the back of the books there are extra paddles that you can copy or cut out and use for added fun as each one contains different information.

My children had a such a good time with these products and it made me happy knowing they were actually learning something while “playing”. It provided them with hours of entertainment and it never seems to get boring. Each time they have “played” with it, they took something else away from the experience which is an amazing thing to witness as a mom. Popar Books has three books, 3D Planets, 3D Bugs, and 3D Construction Machines with more on the way. Prices will range from $19.99 to $39.99 depending on what you wish to order. Again, to make this work, you will need to purchase their webcam so make sure you get that with your order! If you are looking for a fun, unique way to teach your child about Planets, Bugs, or Construction Machines (OR they are just “into” them, like my son loves science and planets was his fave!), then you really need to invest in this product!

See Full Article Here

Popar Toys was exhibited by the Alexandria Modern Trade Company “AMTC” at Playworld Middle East at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre from March 6th to 8th, 2012 and attracted a wide range of exhibitors involved in the manufacturing, development, supply and servicing of children’s lifestyle products from around the world. The event attracted trade visitors not only from the Middle East region, but also from the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia and North and East Africa. www.playworldme.com

Alexandria Modern Trade Company “AMTC” as one of the leading Egyptian companies specialized in the international marketing, Import and export support in the MENA region. Innovation word puts in a nutshell, what motivates us day after day using new products to adapt to the changing customer requirements and to create positive and complementary effects to local industries while coping with international ones. Lately AMTC has taken a skyrocketing growth step when we signed an agreement with William Mark Corporation “WMC” in USA to be their exclusive distributor for the Middle East and North Africa for their most innovative and stunning 2011 toy Air Swimmers®.

Why I Love Augmented Reality Right Now

By Daniel Donahoo

Over the last month I’ve had the pleasure of engaging with a range of augmented reality tools for both children and adults that have me really loving watching this space develop. What is most exciting is seeing the potential, the way developers and designers are playing in the space and trying to work out what is the best fit. It reminds me of the days when I first discovered the internet in the mid-’90s, and how I found IRC so amazing and the interface somewhat clunky or the evolution of Angelfire and Geocities sites and the pixelated graphics, emerging design standards and the potential of online video summarized in some rudimentary animated gifs.

I say all this because at the moment that is where augmented reality is at. It is at the next beginning.

This beginning for AR is the commercial beginning. That doesn’t mean everyone is trying to sell something — of course they are — but the commercialization also opens up the etch to amateurs. It is becoming easier for others to explore the space. That is what the Between Page and Screen project has been doing. This project reminds me of when I first discovered hypertextual writing. It was fascinating to see how words and narrative could do different things and be twisted and turned and controlled by the reader. This project is the brainchild of literary experimenter Amaranth Borsuk and designer and developer Brad Bouse and is effectively a book of augmented-reality poetry. It is a joyfully self-referential art project that examines what takes place between the pages of the book that bring words to life on the screen when captured by a computer’s webcam. That capturing is a little stilted at time: the words flicker in and out as you try to move the image on the page in the right way. There is something enjoyable in the physical nature of the puzzle.

Image: Not exactly what Popar AR is like

This is exactly what my children have found with the augmented-reality educational resources developed byPopar Toys. Similar to Between Page and Screen, the Popar Toys’ augmented reality books push for a more immersive experience. They certainly engage children, but at times also frustrate as images in the book have to be well aligned. The books have a lot of cut-outs as well that also bring things to life on the screen. Again, I love it that the graphics are still a bit blocky and pixelated. It annoys me a little when these companies have promotional images that make it appear that the book itself has 3D images projecting out of it, but it is great to see them beginning to shape this new tech to meet children’s needs.

Then of course there is the mobile AR.  Sesame Street got a fair amount of coverage at the Consumer Electronic Show when it demoed its latest augmented reality playsets. I’ve only seen the YouTube videos floating around, but this type of early childhood design where the screen and real life merge and blur is fascinating and will surely help create a new type of digital play and engagement for children that goes beyond the screen. As digital technology continues to move well beyond the desktop and even the devices in our pocket I’m excited to see how fast augmented reality evolves.

See Full Article Here

Best Books To Wow You…And Give You Nightmares

Winner – Popar Toys

One of the buzzes at Toy Fair 2012 was “augmented reality.” What’s that? It is when computers can add to your sense of enjoyment of the toy through sight, sound, feel or smell. In this case, Popar Toys (read our previous post on Popar Books) have created books that you can read like any other book–it is full of information about trucks or insects. But each page also includes a QR code that, when a webcam is aimed at it, shows a moving 3-D image of a backhoe scooping up dirt or of a ladybug taking flight on the screen. This is still a newer technology, so the 3-D images aren’t amazing–yet. But give it time! And they are still pretty cool. The presenter even had a QR code on his shirt which, with a webcam aimed at him, made his head look like a tarantula or put a pair of butterfly wings on his back. Endlessly neat. Although, I think having a spider-head would haunt me for many nights, there are probably thousands of little boys and girls who would find it the best thing that ever happened to them. And with the books retailing at only $20, the added fun is worth the price tag.

5 Interesting Things we saw at the Toy Fair

By  Eddy

Popar Toys: I remember from the ages of 5-10 being obsessed with science.  I wanted to learn everything possible. Central to my learning experience were heavily illustrated books that talked about the planets and solar system or about bugs that seemed to bring them to life.   Now that I have seen Popar Toys’ new augmented reality system, I have truly seen the next progression of learning for both Rock and X.  Armed with a webcam and the Planets 3D book, the planets actually come alive.  Using image cues on each of the books pages the camera translates the images in the books into 3D animated images on a computer screen.  The image actually looks like it is coming right out of the book just like a pop up book for the internet age.  By tilting the book, you are able to manipulate your view of the plants or solar system.  In addition, kids are able to submerse themselves in the experience by using costume cards which dress your or your childs image in the camera with a animated costume such as that of an astronaut.  No internet is needed and the books that have been created include the aforementioned Plants 3D, but also Bugs 3D, Princess & Her Pals 3D and Construction Machine 3D.

See Full Article Here

Popar Toys: New 3D Technology for children

Posted by Ted Hicks

Tech Company First to Market 3D Affordable Toys in the US

Popar Toys debuts books, interactive paddles and action figures at New York Toy Fair

Digital Tech Frontier, LLC a leader in cutting edge technology for more than fifteen years, creating innovative concepts and growing product lines within the digital technology space officially announced a new toy line division this week at the New York Toy Fair called Popar™ Toys. The Augmented Reality series bridges the gap between digital technologies such as video games and traditional reading formats transforming the way children engage with the world around them. The toys provide an interactive experience as ‘real’ 3D objects and animations pop off a book page or in a room.

“As a technology company our entire line of toys are based on Augmented Reality and its capabilities that allow us to constantly enhance and evolve a multitude of products on a regular basis,” said Scott Jochim, CEO and owner Popar Toys. “This is not first generation tech play. Our team provides animations and interactivity on every single page as opposed to selective pages when it comes to our books. We let our consumers play with our products in an array of different ways to appeal to multiple types of interactivity. One of the coolest features is that we allow you to turn into your favorite character at the same time and give you the option to create your own videos and pictures to share with friends and family using the technology.”

Digital Tech Frontier has been on the forefront of a vast array of applications from motion simulators, to cancer therapy, to offering K-12 students with the opportunity to use virtual reality as a teaching modality to learn differently.

“As forward tech thinkers, we are seeing s a natural transition from virtual reality to augmented reality. Imagine giving the ability to a child to hold the earth in the palm of their hand and understand the relation to the sun in the other hand. There is current disconnect in the learning space between written and oral information. Kids need creative and unique ways to process and comprehend information outside of school and teachers and parents need to be engaged. Our job is to create an environment that shapes its information, tasks and organization in kinesthetic ways so that we don’t recreate or follow blindly but that we comprehend it and find the best way to bring technology forward,” Yochim said.

The team at Digital Tech Frontier is constantly working to develop new products. Toys that are in the current product line include:
■Bugs, Planets and Construction Books: Interactive 3D books that include 12 3D realistic models, heavy duty interaction ‘i’ paddles, 3D interactive sounds on each page, security sealed PC CD-ROM, 12 separate toys, virtual reality games and 36 rich, detailed, fat filled, illustrated colorful pages and Sunburst web cam that utilizes an amazing USB video class device
■Popar Digital Toys: Provide the ability to see 3D objects and animations through utilizing a web cam such as excavators, shuttles, tarantulas, rovers and more.
■Popar Be It: 3D technology that allow one to transform into a Popar Book character. Utilizing a Marc-E Magic Costume Closet full of heads, wings, jet packs and planet heads. Allows one to make a viral video or snap a silly photo and share the images with friends on social networks.

The groundbreaking concept uses a computer, a webcam, and special black and white patterned markers. The technology works on either a PC or a Mac-based computer and requires a Webcam. Webcams do come for free with a purchase of a Popar Book.

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Popar (www.popartoys.com) is in Pop plus “AR”) has an idea about how to fuse books with augmented reality digital experiences to create a deeper, richer, more multifaceted read.  The results are pretty spectacular and may do more to add new life to traditional printed books.

The idea is pretty simple. You buy a big ‘ole picture book (about $27) wherever books are sold.  They’re hard-covered luscious looking books with topics like Bugs, Planets or Construction Machines.  The books all have special AR markers on their pages.

Each book comes with a DVD that installs the Popar software. The software takes control of your webcamera and brings the pages of your book to life on screen.  You hold a page of your book up in front of your PC’s webcam and the marker gets automatically recognized.  That’s when stuff on your display screen kicks into action.  In the Planet book the planets’ start circle, rockeships launch … in the Bug book scorpions appear to carry their babies, butterflies flap their wings. Planets start swirling, bugs start crawling, and a narrator’s voice explains the subject material.

But wait, there’s more. Each book comes with a marker (named Mark-E, of course) that reads the page aloud to you and sets things in motion when it’s held in front of the camera. And, in the back of each book there are cut outs that turn into AR digital toys that you can mix and match for even more action.   Finally, there are add-on packs of AR cards which are also markers.  Hold these cards in front of the webcam and even stranger things happen.

That said the results are a fun read and an eye-candy full of 3D and printed delight.