Spatial Augmented Reality

This article explores issues associated with immersive storytelling in order to examine how the field of World Building can constitute a theoretical framework for practice in the context of VR-based and Full Dome artistic projects. With respect to immersion, the intent will be to interpret the concept of storytelling in relation with the recent formulation of the concept of extended reality (XR). The very concept of World Building is transauthor and transmedia by nature. The transauthor dimension of World Building resides in the idea of subcreation, i.e., designing environments and interaction rules that help create a storytelling basis for generating multiple stories. Once the universe has been conceived, stories written by different authors take shape through transmedia processes across multiple distribution media (film, video games, web, etc.). The question then arises: How can the World Building approach shape the construction of immersive experiences? The article sets out to answer this question, and in doing so, to contribute to the research on environmental storytelling.

We present a novel multi-step technique for imperceptible geometry and radiometry calibration of projectorcamera systems. Our approach can be used to display geometry and color corrected images on non-optimized surfaces at interactive rates while simultaneously performing a series of invisible structured light projections during runtime. It supports disjoint projector-camera configurations, fast and progressive improvements, as well as real-time correction rates of arbitrary graphical content. The calibration is automatically triggered when misregistrations between camera, projector and surface are detected.

In this paper we propose a feature-based alignment method for visualizing geographical content on a movable paper map using non-calibrated projector-camera pair. In order to project correctly aligned geographical content on a movable paper map, we detect two kinds of features: printed features and projected features on a paper map. First, we print landmark points as map features on the paper map for registration purpose. We then project landmark points onto the paper map. We then detect these printed and projected features simultaneously. The transformation from the projector coordinate system to the image coordinate system is estimated using the feature correspondences. This transformation is used to warp the geographical content before the corrected projection. In succeeding frames, the features are tracked in order to update the transformation. We evaluated our method against the motion of the paper map, the camera and the projector with average projection error of 9.5 pixels.

This article wants to present the Spatial Augmented Reality technique (hereafter S.A.R.), better known as video mapping, used by the Studio Glowarp on scale models of archeological finds and cultural heritage. The use of S.A.R. technique offers new communication ways for archeology and museum fields. It helps to show fragile or destroyed goods, sometimes far away from the exhibition set, for the listed reasons considered as fragmented and hard to be reached by a bigger audience, become interesting case studies of digital anastylosis. The aim of this paper is to show from a different point of view the S. A.R. method that now can be considered not only as an " artistic " technique but also as a technique serving the cultural heritage, and to recommend it as one of the possible means of the future restoration and of the augmented heritage field.

Virtual studio technology plays an important role for modern television productions. Blue-screen matting is a common technique for integrating real actors or moderators into computer generated sceneries. Augmented reality offers the possibility to mix real and virtual in a more general context. This article proposes a new technological approach for combining real studio content with computer-generated information. Digital light projection allows a controlled spatial, temporal, chrominance and luminance modulation of ...

This paper analyzes what technologies, devices and equipment are available today that can contribute to the creation of an interactive environment based on Spatial Augmented Reality (SAR). The objective is to define what should be considered to build a room-sized workspace equipped with SAR tools, aimed to facilitate both artists and designers to develop their creations.
This workspace will be designed as a "white box" cabin in which the user will be placed, The user will be able to interact with images projected on the walls and primary volumes by using gestures and their own body movements. Interaction with an interface based only on projected images can be carried out in an intuitive and gestural way, removing the technological constraints that appear when working simultaneously with different devices and interfaces. To be immersed in a physical space where the environment itself acts as a working tool would change the concept of a workplace by eliminating everything that could cause problems for the creative task.
Once built, this prototype would be used to raise a methodology for analyzing the influence of SAR in the process of creation of indoor spaces, both at creative and emotional level in designers and artists, as well as the influence in the design itself obtained.

Tape drawings are an important part of the form finding process in the automotive industry and thus for creating the final design and shape of cars during the product development process. Up to now this step is done on white boards in 2D and on clay models. In this poster we present a system that supports designers during the tape drawing process by transferring drawings created in 2D to the clay model by using projector-based spatial augmented reality. Furthermore we show an optional 3D input method for creating tape drawings directly on the clay model that additionally allows the transmission of information into a 2D representation using a registered projector-camera system. This system guarantees the consistency of information in different media and dimensions during the design process.

Studio Glowarp gained experiences into the application of the Spatial Augmented Reality (SAR) that allowed creating a cultural exhibition called GLOWFestival (www.glowarp.com/glowfestival.html) whose aim was the revaluation of the cultural heritage set in Ostuni, using digital technologies. The enhancement, intended not as a substitute of the historic and cultural value, provides an alternate use through a multimedia installation. The light and its linked technologies promote the culture sustainability infused in an interested audience. Thought as a four-year festival come to an end in 2016, it evoked an event totally dedicated to light as artistic medium. The web had a fundamental role as mean of sharing and diffusion that helped to start important inter-disciplinary collaboration in the ICT area. The share of the event via social network had made possible the involvement of artists from all over the world who merged into an environment open to sharing digital skills. The decisions made brought different age groups closer to the expressive potential that this medium offers as a show through the form of the artistic edutainment. The participation of artists from all over the world was free of charge. This paper wants to show the results, the findings and potentialities of the GLOWFestival.

Video display content can be extended to the walls of the living room around the TV using projection. The problem of providing appropriate projection content is hard for the computer and we solve this problem with deep neural network. We propose the peripheral vision system that provides the immersive visual experiences to the user by extending the video content using deep learning and projecting that content around the TV screen. The user may manually create the appropriate content for the existing TV screen, but it is too expensive to create it. The PCE (Pixel context encoder) network considers the center of the video frame as input and the outside area as output to extend the content using supervised learning. The proposed system is expected to pave a new road to the home appliance industry, transforming the living room into the new immersive experience platform.

Contemporary Art is not always well acknowledged even when work of successful talents. Forgotten, if not abandoned by its own community, it is often not recognised as Art by the potential users, as the Italian educational system does not always provide the right tools for its understanding. This paper focuses on two case studies which final aim is to increase the value of Contemporary Art and its educational foundations using the Spatial Augmented Reality (SAR), well known as video mapping, a performative action that allows to "augmenting" the existing contents. Today this artistic form is undergoing a split: on the one hand a growing graphic data processing are turning into independent performance whose immersiveness recalls that of gaming, on the other its use as a means of enhancement and education for Art, including the contemporary one, without taking anything away from the artistic performance. Here we want to show two preparatory performances made recently by the Studio Glowarp that follows the second mentioned front.