Augmented Reality Business Card - Avatar Concept

You can find the application running here. There's also a marker for you to print in lieu of one my real business cards.
http://www.burtonposey.com/thecard

The augmented reality avatar concept for the business card provides a way to provide potential clients and associates a way to get past the logo and brand and get to know the people. You could just as easily include hobbies or little known facts for yourself or an employee.

This is an idea I'd been kicking around in my head since February. I wanted to find a way that a company could deliver a catchy identity for themselves. Avatars, be it the Mii's on the Nintendo Wii, or an Xbox Live Avatar, have become extensions of the people who use them.

Special thanks to the Papervision team for the recent rev 911 of Papervision. With it, I was able to resolve issues I had been having for several months that prevented my avatar's animations from importing properly.

-Character was modeled, unwrapped, rigged, weighted in Maya by myself. Animations (idle, wave) done by Jason Barnes.
-Texture created in Photoshop (Ambient Occlusion maps overlayed from Maya) by myself

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• augemented reality
• flar
• avatar
• mii
• game
• developer
• papervision3d
• papervision
• flash

[fullsignal]

This is a fantastic execution and of all the 20 or so examples I've seen, its the best. If you were going to use a mobile QR reader - which one would you use to activate an AR video?

[Sentientv2]

@fullsignal I'm fond of String AR. That uses the Unity 3d engine and only works on iOS. I just like the smoothness of it. If I needed to do Android and iOS, I would use Qualcomm's AR libraries and works with Unity. Qualcomm is free I think, though you still need Unity iPhone ($1500). It's easy to earn that back in freelance work though if you make something cool, :). Good luck!

[andrekriening1]

Do you need a webcam? Or does it work with a smartphone as well?

[Sentientv2]

@andrekriening1 My implementation needs a Webcam. I don't know of any implementation that can work on both smartphone and web. You'd need to build two different applications using different technologies as far as I am aware. Metaio might have something, but I've heard their licenses are $20k+, which is crazy in my opinion.

[appzguru]

if i get your card, how would i be able to see the avatar? thats not clear to me at all..

[Sentientv2]

There are two things on the back of my business card. One is the marker (symbol). The other is a link to the application on my site, which I've added to the description of this video. You can download a print version of my card on the right hand side of that page to use the application.

Essentially, the application uses your webcam and is looking for that particular marker. When it sees the marker, it superimposes a 3d avatar of myself on the card using the orientation of the marker.

[RyanfaeScotland]

My avatar would be a penis and the text would read Trolololo.

[fullsignal]

@Sentientv2 Thank you! That is very helpful.



[jennifertuazonify]

great videos.

[204cherrie]

Super Cool!!! Can you make me a business card!? I'll pay you!! :D

[AirshipGames]

@gentlefury it's Flash, which tends to come installed on most desktops, laptops. The application runs like any other Flash experience where it loads on a given webpage.

[gentlefury]

You are expecting a lot of an employer if you think they are going to install an application just to see your biz card....its hard enough to get them to look at a resume or a reel!