Another fantastic example demonstrating the power of Molehill. In this video Eugene Zatepyakin produced a special shader to control the light in an AR 3D scene using a real world lightmap from his ASFEAT 3D engine.

Molehill can also be used for 2D projects. Terry Paton recorded his findings in this video:

Flash on!

Thanks to Flash augmented reality has become accesible to anyone with a browser and a webcam without the need to download anything extra. There are some pretty amazing examples and apps out there but this one is pretty unique.

ZooBurst is a new service where kids can write their own stories and create their own pop-up books. The 3D book builder is built on top of the Flash Platform and lets you add images, animations, speech balloons, and more in an easy to use interface. When you’re done creating your book you can share it on your blog or social network pages. The coolest part of ZooBurst is the reading mode. When you click on a book it shows you the 3D world you created. The real fun starts when you enable the webcam mode. In webcam mode you control the 3D view with an AR marker. It also allows you to use gestures to flip pages. Just wave your hand from right to left to flip the page.

Check out the videos below. Flash on!

Augmented reality has been around for quite some time but now that it is available for the Flash Platform (and thus available to just about everyone) it is really booming. I was recently looking for some AR examples and came across some really cool applications. I hope these will give you a bit of an idea of the immense possibilities this technology has. It’s not even that difficult to build. Check out Lee Brimelow’s tutorial video and you’ll be building applications like this in no time.

LIVING SASQUATCH

This one really blows people away. You can completely animate the sasquatch while still being able to control it in 3D space. You really need to play with it yourself to believe it. Check it out on http://www.livingsasquatch.com/

RONALD CHEVALIER

This one is very funny to demo. You stick the black and white pattern on your forehead and when you launch the application, your face is replaced with the one from Ronald Chevalier. Good fun! ;-) Check it out on http://ronaldchevalier.com/mindportal/

GE SMARTGRID

This was the first augmented reality Flash application that I saw and you’ve probably seen it as well. But if you haven’t, go check it out on http://ge.ecomagination.com/smartgrid/#/augmented_reality

MICROSOFT SQL SERVER
I think this is the first augmented reality campaign in Belgium. Obviously the agency and the client chose the best platform to do this. The Flash Platform is also the only cross OS and cross browser platform that allows you to bring AR to the widest possible audience. Check it out on http://sqlug.be/augmentedreality/activate/activate/

I’m sure you’ll agree that augmented reality is pretty cool but what do you do with it? In Brazil, Doritos actually put the black and white pattern on the Doritos bag. When you go to their site and show the bag, you get access to exclusive content. (via http://kiss-the-future.blogspot.com/2009/04/augmented-reality-in-doritos-sweet.html)

Lego even created an in-store display with augmented reality. Just hold up the box to the camera and the display shows you what the finished project looks like. See http://www.notcot.com/archives/2009/01/legos_digital_b.php for more.

I’m sure there are more AR cases out there. If you know of any or are building one yourself, please leave a comment.