Niantic's Pokémon GO mobile game paved the way for more to be interested in augmented reality but a new imaging technique from the MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory takes it up a notch.
One of the flaws in the current AR techniques is that the images are just juxtaposed for the effect. It also uses a fast camera pixel tracking technique to keep the image placed on what the camera sees similar to how Hollywood fools people with flashy visual effects.
MIT's new imaging technique dubbed Interactive Dynamic Video (IDV) developed by their CSAIL takes AR into another level by allowing users to interact with what they see on the camera. What makes it interesting is that the AR effect can also be applied for more than video games.
The new MIT CSAIL technique offers a cheaper way to simulate virtual objects on screen without having to build a 3D object from scratch based on what is shown to the camera, ZDNet has learned. Researchers believe that the new technology, if refined further, can be a huge tool for movie visual effects and even infrastructure projects.
Another interesting bit is that the technique does not need any sophisticated camera device. The YouTube video shows that the footage they used was just captured using the rear camera from Apple's iPhone 6.
CSAIL PhD student Abe Davis who worked on the IDV project in MIT will reveal the full details of their technique in their paper that will be published by the end of August, Yahoo News reported. One clue for their technique is that the image vibrates when the user or a virtual object interacts with the captured image or video.
However, it is not as simple as sending ripples throughout the picture or footage. The IDV features an algorithm that detects and calculates how the tiny movements would affect the image in the real life and translates it into the virtual world for better AR techniques.
Pokémon GO will not be the only game to take advantage of the IDV technique from MIT. Even VR companies with their Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets could also make use of the process with their new models in the future.