Week 9: Augmented Reality

I first came to learn of Augmented Reality (AR) when I bought my first Nintendo 3DS six years ago. It was the first gaming device to try and incorporate AR as an entertainment feature and I thought it was really cool when I tried it out. You were given AR cards that came with your portable console, each representing a different Nintendo character. You could place any one of these cards around your vicinity and the character would appear to be standing where the card was when you looked through the device's camera. With all the potential this feature had, Nintendo sadly did not capitalize on this and the feature was not improved and incorporated further.

My next encounter with AR came unexpectedly when I was shopping for new furniture. My family was looking to buy a new sofa for the living room but we did not have time to head down to a furniture shop to look for a suitable one as well as take measurements. My father says it was too mafan. I was looking through an IKEA catalog when I came across a notice that said to download the IKEA catalog app and "design my room space". 

I felt the application utilized AR very well. You could select from hundreds of IKEA furniture and project a 3D image of it through your phone's camera. You could resize and place any furniture around your vicinity to see how it would look in real life. The coolest feature I felt this IKEA application had was that you could place the physical IKEA catalog on your desired space and the application would automatically resize and position the furniture to more accurately represent what it would look like in real life, in your home. You could also take pictures of your desired home set up for future reference.

I think AR has a lot of potential, from gaming to more functional purposes such as with the IKEA application. I look forward to seeing what else can AR be incorporated in.