AR Relight

From HIT Lab NZ

Researchers:	Johan Karlsson , Mikael Selegård
Date:	September, 2005
Funding:

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Contents 1 Publications 2 Additional Content 2.1 Image Gallery 2.2 Videos

In a mixed reality scene (AR) the blending between the real and the virtual worlds are crucial for a realistic impression and immersion. In order to enhance this blending the lighting conditions from the real world can be captured and applied to the virtual objects (global illumination). The synthetic objects should be lit by the current amount of light but also to cast correct shadows on the real world. In order to capture the global lighting conditions we place a reflective sphere close to our existing marker. By analyzing this sphere we can acquire the real lighting conditions for our model. We can also determine the position of the main light sources in our room, for the creation of correctly aligned shadows.

Where realism is essential in AR this method can vastly improve the graphical realism and engender the feeling of immersion. It can also simplify user interaction through a better understanding of the world.

Improved immersion:

• Improved graphical blending due to the use of a global lighting model.
• Better depth cues due to the addition of shadows – Easier to get an understanding of where the objects are placed in correspondence to the real world.

There are several areas where improved realism is wanted:

• Systems for placing furniture/objects into any real environment
• System for locating architecture within a landscape design
• City planning
• Museums
• Entertainment

But there are also areas where the improved depth cues might lead to smoother user interaction with the objects.

We plan to research a placing system where a user can import objects from any 3D modelling tool. The system must also be able to evaluate the different material properties in order to obtain correct lighting. These virtual objects can then be inset into any real world with a near realistic impression. We will also look further at more complex environment capturing systems for improved results. Some work of how shadows from the real world can affect our syntactic objects must also be done.

Publications

Additional Content

Image Gallery

Videos

Video - AR Relight Date: Aug 2006 Duration: 1 mins Project Details..