AR Experiments
Factum Arte
2019
Factum Arte
2019
In July
2019, I interned at Factum Arte, a world-leading digital conservation studio. I
developed several demos showcasing the potential of augmented reality, an area
Factum had not yet explored.
To present a clear and compelling argument for AR, I looked at projects already in production, and thought of ways I could use AR complement or transform them in simple but effective ways. I chose Factum’s experiments with elevated printing techniques to reproduce scanned flower specimens. I built a mobile app that animated the flowers and overlaid information on them. Factum brought the app to Masterpiece Art Fair 2019.
To present a clear and compelling argument for AR, I looked at projects already in production, and thought of ways I could use AR complement or transform them in simple but effective ways. I chose Factum’s experiments with elevated printing techniques to reproduce scanned flower specimens. I built a mobile app that animated the flowers and overlaid information on them. Factum brought the app to Masterpiece Art Fair 2019.
Flowers AR
Following the demo, I was asked to create a companion app for one of Factum’s exhibits at the Masterpiece Art Fair in London - a floral wallpaper which combined colour and 3D data from pressed flowers captured using Factum’s proprietary “Lucida” scanner. Flowers AR produced adds a new dimension to the piece through an interactive, multi-layered experience, featuring a stop frame animation of each flower, as well as its common and Latin names and a photo, which could be toggled on and off. As well as creating the AR experience, I also assisted in the creation of a folio which featured colour and 3D scanned versions of each flower side by side.
Mobile Augmented Reality Demonstration
With this demo, I intended to showcase the potential for integrating augmented reality into Factum’s work by creating an AR leaflet in the vein of an exhibition guide, displaying 3D models and a video. When designing the leaflet, I wanted to create image targets which were visually subtle and did not interfere with the user experience, but were also easy for the app to recognise, and so I settled on the barcode-like dividers shown above. These, in combination with the images and title text provided a very stable tracking solution.