Project 1: Things Will Never be the Same

This project is about Augmented Reality. It explores AR widgets ranging from 3D clock to a 3D weather device. There is a hint of magic and wizardry theme. It represents of how magical and mysterious AR is in its current state. These widgets can tell time, date, and weather infomation. The goal of this is to one day replace the physical widgets with trackers with the hope that AR glasses will become the norm. The use of these are easy, all you need is the AR tracker image and let the camera and the software handle the rest.

Links and resources are at end of this page. Please contact me for any additional questions.

Scroll of the Clock.

Book of the Forbidden Date.

Potion of Temperature.

Guide of the Wind Spirit.

Weather Condition: Clear.

Weather Condition: Partially Cloudy.

Weather Condition: Scattered Clouds.

Weather Condition: Broken Clouds.

Weather Condition: Shower Rain.

Weather Condition: Rain.

Weather Condition: Thunderstorm.

Weather Condition: Snow.

Weather Condition: Mists.

Make sure Unity and Vuforia version are correct.
Unity: 2019.4.1f1 - Download Unity Here
Vuforia: 9.4 - Download Vuforia Here

If you haven't, please install the Unity download first. After that, open Unity and then run Vuforia installation. This should automatically install all the necessary packages.

Please dowload the source code from my GitHub page. You will able to find all the links here.

After you download the source code, open the project in your unity. Make sure you have selected the right unity version and have Vuforia installed.

If you want to build and run this project for your phone, continue to follow this guide. If you want to build and run on your computer with webcam, please click here.

1. Plug in your device into the computer. [If you are using Andorid make sure it's in developer mode]
2. Click the File tab in Unity and go to 'Build Setting'.
3. Here you are able to choose the platform you want to build for.
In this case we will build for Andriod.
4. Now click 'Build and Run'. You should able to see the app up and running on you phone.

For computer build, all you need to do make sure a few things are configured.
1. Go to Windows tab in Unity and Press 'Vuforia Configuration'
2. This will bing up content on the left under 'Inspector'. Scroll down and find 'Play Mode'.
3. Make sure your 'PlayMode Type' and 'Camera Device' are both set correctly.

At this point it doesn't matter if you are running through your phone or your computer, all you need to do is point your camera at the target image to see the result.

The images are in the GitHub repository if you accidently missed it. There should be 5 images in the word document.

I believe as technology progresses these augmented reality widgets will become a normal household item. This is like computers a couple of decades back. When the technology for the computer was not consumer-friendly, not mature, and not a lot of people even know about it. For those that do they are most likely do not want to invest hundreds of dollars into it. This is like the augmented reality widgets right now. For these widgets to be used daily we must invest in a pair of augmented reality glasses. These are not cheap and as of right now these are not appealing either.

I do believe that later in the future when augmented reality glasses are as normal as smartphones today then that is the time when most of the augmented reality widgets will be replacing most of the physical widgets. This is because there is already not a lot of people who has a calendar, a clock, and a thermometer. The reason is all these data can be found on your phone even if there are more steps to get this data. But when we have augmented reality glasses, we will most likely not be using our phone to check the time, date, and weather. This is because with these glasses all we need to do is glancing at the target image and the widget will be shown and this is less step then accessing your phone to find the data.

Though these augmented reality widgets can be convenient some will not be as popular. For example, the weather widgets. Unless the weather data is built into the augmented reality glasses then these weather widgets will not be as popular. This is because for you to know the weather you must go somewhere that has this target image, so you can see the data. This is even more inconvenient than accessing your phone to get the weather data. What will be very popular will be ads. Businesses will take advantage of this technology to display their ads on billboards and sides of a building. We might even need an Adblocker for these later in the future.

Personally, I would love to have these augmented reality glasses. I like to be as minimalistic and functional as possible. So, if I could use widgets to cut down as many physical items then it would be a minimalist paradise. I would imagine the best place to use these will be in tight spaces. Especially places like studios or dorms. There are many places around the world where houses each year are being built smaller due to the constraint of their land such as Japan. These could cut down the cost of the items but also provide the scalability for people living in these smaller houses.

In conclusion, I believe this technology will be very useful when it is matured more and more consumer-friendly. The smartphone was the step after the personal computer, and I believe augmented reality could be the step after the smartphone.