The inspiration for my final project comes from an online interactive Flash-based comic named Nawlz.
As you can see, it is a cyberpunk themed comic where the main character (and most all of the other early 20s characters) alter their brain chemistry and mapping in order to cast digital images onto a common channel. The main excitement for the first season of the comic (currently part way through the second season) is the Mad Bionic Concert. The band has placed images all over the city, which when mapped onto the brain of the concert-goer increases the experience of the show.
One of the things that I really enjoy about the comic is that the characters have the ability to cast their own image in the digital space. In this way I guess it is similar to Second Life, except that it happens in real time, and often is only used to alter ones appearance in a surrealist way (extra appendages etc). I also greatly appreciate the idea of being able to enhance ones city with ones own imagery.
Basically I would like to take steps towards creating a platform where people would be able to virtually color the city with their own images. Really, I want to be able to see an eight ball role down the street in front of ITP, fall into a hole, and grow a tree. For my project, I want to explore my options in order to accomplish this.
I have looked into the various platform types currently available to a consumer developer interested in Augmented Reality.
Layar – supports Wavefront (obj.) files, but these don’t support animation (except with texture)
Wikitude – Currently has no consumer option for adding 3d models
Junaio – supports Location based animated 3d models, but in the 14 year old .md2 Quake II modeling format. It also supports Wavefront (.obj) files.
I will continue to explore other options for already established platforms, but as of now I am thinking of modeling a simplified version of my ideal graphic and attempting to display it on an iPhone through openFrameworks.
Rather ambitious, but worth a shot in my opinion…and at the very least I will learn more about OF, Open_GL and compiling for the iPhone.