What if a picture were more than a picture? What if pictures could capture and replay life’s special moments or family memories?
What if a photo card delivered more than a message? What if it delivered magic?
Now, they can.
Augmented reality is taking the world by storm, though the world may not know it by that name. Augmented reality is the sizzle behind Pokémon Go. It is the technology that places (or layers) a wild Pokémon into a real world setting.
Mirage AR uses similar technology to layer multi-media like videos, music, and voices over a real world image. In the same way that Facebook uses image recognition software to help tag people in your pictures, MirageAR uses image recognition software to know when to launch and layer multi-media content into the real world.
At Mirage Studios, pictures are mapped so that our app, Mirage AR, will recognize them. Mirage uses the camera in smartphones and tablets to look for an image that has been mapped. Images that have been mapped are called triggers. When Mirage AR spots a trigger, it launches multimedia content onto the mapped image. A picture of a special day is suddenly playing a highlight reel of all the meaningful moments from that day. It’s magic.
Since mapped images look just like any other image to our eye, we use a special marker or icon to signal to people that a trigger image with augmented content is nearby. Our marker looks like this:
If you see this mark near a picture or image it’s a signal that an enhanced image is nearby. To experience augmented reality, search for MirageAR in the iTunes Store or Google Play app store and download it. As you download it, you will be asked whether or not MirageAR can have access to your camera. Say, “Yes!”. Remember, MirageAR uses the camera to “see” images enhanced with augmented reality. Use the app’s View Now feature to allow your device’s camera to “see” an image. Sometimes, people aren’t sure whether to aim the camera at our mark/icon, or at the image. Aim your camera at the image, not at our icon, then enjoy enhanced content.
To learn more about augmented reality, check out the AR page on our website.
To download the app to your iOS device, take this link over to the iTunes Store. To get the app for your Android device, visit Google Play.