Printlovers, n. 69, Ottobre 2017
Per sperimentare tutta la potenza rivoluzionaria della realtà aumentata bisogna capire che siamo di fronte a un nuovo oggetto comunicativo. E’ una nuova sintassi che sta nascendo, destinata a condizionare la comunicazione e il marketing.
Qualche giorno fa il Wall Street Journal ha pubblicato una recensione su una stampante 3D, la MakerBot Replicator Mini. Niente di troppo insolito, se non fosse che il giornale è andato oltre la solita presentazione.
In primo luogo, ha fatto un video animatoriale di due minuti. Poi ha usato un modellatore 3D per creare un grafico a barre tridimensionale che mostra la crescita delle vendite di stampanti 3D e in seguito lo ha trasformato in un oggetto fisico proprio tramite una stampante di questo tipo.
Source: www.primaonline.it
Successivamente la testata ha caricato il modello del grafico su Thingiverse di MakerBot, in modo che altri utenti muniti di stampanti tridimensionali possano scaricarlo e creare la propria versione reale.
Infine ha usato l’app Augment per incorporare sul giornale cartaceo una versione del grafico creata con la realtà aumentata, visibile attraverso lo smartphone come se fosse nello spazio reale.
Considerando tutto il lavoro che c’è dietro, è facile pensare che un semplice grafico a barre in 2D avrebbe comunicato bene le stesse informazioni. Tuttavia è significativo che un editore tradizionale sperimenti nuovi modi per ottimizzare la presentazione di una storia e per raggiungere un nuovo pubblico.
The BBC has given us a startling look into the future by recording a news bulletin with 360 degrees that will allow you to take a good look around with a virtual reality headset like an Oculus Rift.
Source: www.techradar.com
The BBC has always been a trailblazer when it comes to new tech, and they have gamely filmed Fiona Bruce’s news bulletin in a novel new way to get us in the mood for virtual reality television.
The experiment is just part of the BBC’s look into next-generation viewing, including 3D sound.
The purchase of Oculus Rift by Facebook appears to have been something of a catalyst for the Beeb, with head of business development Cyrus Saihan explaining just why he is pushing immersive experiences in a blog which includes the all important making of video.
Artist J. Robert Feld noticed something that if you’ve been to a gallery or art museum recently, you’ve probably seen too. “People rush through a museum, like a scavenger hunt, capturing images in their devices, as if that’s an appropriate substitute for pausing and contemplating the work,” he told Fast Co. Design. This invasion of technology in a formerly tech-free zone inspired him, ironically, to create a series of paintings that actually require the viewer to look at them through the lens of a smartphone in order to properly experience the work.
Source: news.artnet.com
Feld’s “Mondrian Inverted: The Viewer Is Not Present” series features reproductions of Piet Mondrian‘s famed geometric compositions with inverted color schemes. In order to see the paintings with their intended colors, one must look at them through the function on an iPhone or Android that allows for the inversion of colors.
He chose Mondrian because his work is both aesthetically pleasing and widely known, and his use of primary colors also makes the contrast between the inverted and intended colors stark. In an added twist, Feld insists that the paintings themselves are not the actual work.
“The act of looking through the phone and seeing the painting appear more real and recognizable on the screen than on the wall in front of you is the concept of the series,” he says. Though a bit gimmicky, the point resonates.
The ubiquity of smartphones and social media apps dedicated to photo sharing has made it almost impossible to do, look at, or experience anything even somewhat remarkable without feeling the urge to whip out that device and capture it, even at the expense of enjoying the moment for what it is. And, as we’ve seen, sometimes on-the-spot Instagram uploads can be less than tasteful, if not downright dangerous.Any art project that makes us question our collective iPhone obsession can only be for the best, right?
Augmented reality toys have become a small but steady part of the gaming market, but augmented reality as a concept has always been hit or miss. If the companion app isn’t a tacked-on bell and whistle, the toy itself often isn’t much fun to play with. But Lego, which has a long history of blending tech into its traditional building sets, may have struck a decent balance with a new project called Fusion.
Source: www.theverge.com
Fusion’s premise isn’t too different to that of similar toys: put an object on top of, or next to, or under a tablet, and a version of it will appear in a corresponding app. It begins with four fairly normal-looking sets, each based on a different Lego theme: race cars, a town, a medieval castle, and a resort (part of the girl-focused and frequently maligned Friends lineup.) But among the pieces is a small plastic base, each set’s version emblazoned with a different pattern. Build on top of them, and your tablet’s camera will be able to recognize and scan the resulting design, as long as it’s not too big and adheres to some other rules. Whatever you make will end up being part of a mobile game.
BUILD A FACADE, AND THE APP WILL TURN IT INTO A 3D BUILDING
In the Town Master set, for example, you build a house’s facade on what looks like a piece of sidewalk. Start the app, point the camera at your creation, and you’ll be asked to line up its base with a small box on the screen. Once you get it right, the app scans the bricks and matches them by color and shape, reconstructing a virtual counterpart.
The app stretches it into a 3D model, and you can place it in a town-building game that’s reminiscent of a highly simplified SimCity. In the beta version I tried, scanning success depended on good lighting and a few retakes, when the design came out with random black horns or missing bricks. It wasn’t difficult, though, and it didn’t require any special features like NFC. Once a building is scanned, you can check citizens’ needs and assign it the role of a hospital, restaurant, "Segway store," or any number of other businesses and utilities.