Maker Bot & Leap - from floating 3D hologram to printed out Iron Man suit

When the MakerBot becomes common place in the future, I may be able to, literally, email you a chair.

So what's a MakerBot? It's pretty much a 3D printer, you give it a 3D model and it will separate it into layers and print it out for you in plastic. You can print things like model prototypes for engineering projects, or print out 3D models of characters you've made in Maya. This is great for rapid prototyping. You can print out anything, but in reality the objects have to obey the law of gravity. Not everything that is printed will hold up against gravity and you'll know right away.

Three dimensional modelling software like AutoCAD and Maya exemplify direct manipulation in their design by allowing for the user to deform and change a virtual and  continuous representation of the model. However, even though 3D modelling software uses direct manipulation design heuristics, something like Maya can still be so very un-intuitive to use. Wouldn't it be more incredible if you could move virtual vertices in reality? Something similar to what is seen in the Iron Man movie, where Tony Stark pushes and pulls portions of a virtual representation of his Iron man suit.

(Noessel, 2013)

The nice thing about sci-fi is that things can move from science fiction to science fact, and the technology has already arrived. With release of the Leap finger tracking device, the ability to use hand gestures to control the pointer on a computer (or multiple pointers even) is so intuitive we're probably all going to throw away our mice in the near future. I would very much like the ability to have more than one mouse pointer to help me move multiple points in Maya, speeding up the modelling process. Not to mention this thing uses infrared LED technology (Baldwin, 2012) which has been around for decades.

Of course not all actions in a 3D modelling suite can be performed in reality. An example would be that it would be easier to give the user an undo button to press when they make a mistake while modelling, or when someone gets in their way (same sensation as destroying a sand castle but with the reversibility!). How would a user gesture they wish to undo an action? A gesture doesn't really exist for this intention, and mainly comes in the form of someone verbally communicating that they wish to undo. Voice recognition is always a possibility, but we're kind of getting out of scope here.

There are some flaws in the Leap Motion though, such as the fact you need to hold your hands over the sensor (Baldwin, 2012). This can be very tiring to do more long period of times, and a system that merges the Kinect and Leap together would be easier to use. This way the whole body can be detected, and the fingers precisely detected while allowing for the user to hold their hands in sight of the sensor, but in a comfortable position.

In the future, everyone could become designers, engineers, or sculptors with the use of these technologies. They can create without any restraints, and prototyping can be quick and extremely cheap if you never print it out (pay your electricity bill and that's it). If anyone ever wants to make their idea real though, they simply have to push a button and out pops their 3D in reality.

Baldwin, R. (2012, May 05). Why the leap is the best gesture-control system we’ve ever tested. Wired, Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/05/why-the-leap-is-the-best-gesture-control-system-weve-ever-tested/

Noessel, C. (2013, March 01). What sci-fi tells interaction designers about gestural interfaces. Smashing magazine, Retrieved from http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2013/03/01/sci-fi-interaction-designers-gestural-interfaces/

Pettis, B. (Producer) (2012). The makerbot replicator 2 - announcement [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o6pcbhylmQ

Augmented Reality

From the Merriam-Webster online dictionary the word augment means to make greater, stronger, or more intense and the word reality just means something real. Something that is a more intense version of reality seems to make the phrase augmented reality sound like an oxymoron. How could something be even greater and more intense than real life? Maybe the phrase should of have been coined assisted reality or digital overlay software or something else since much of AR is seen as a way to assist humans. Maybe in the future AR will simply be reality, and then we can talk about the intensity.

What is augmented reality? What augmented reality isn't is something like the Matrix, where reality is completely replaced by a digital world (Di-di-di Digimon).

Here's one possible example in the distant future:

http://youtu.be/i93_rRdnYvA?t=18m30s (please click the link since the whole episode is 23 minutes long, and if it doesn't jump straight to the 18:30 minute mark please try to navigate there)

A city that has no substance other than a rock base, the rest of the city was all digital and rendered to its inhabitants through their digital terminals. Some of the inhabitants were never actually ever in the city and only existed through proxy, because they could not move from life support. I will say that his show "Fractale" has some bias against AR and stars a main character who likes to live in the good old ways, in a real brick house and hoards real objects. (Spoilers: they also sort of destroy the AR system, and humans have a few years to relearn all their skills to return to reality). This is a very extreme example of augmented reality, where the whole entire world is covered by a digital overlay, but does give you and idea of what it's about and what it can become.

Augmented reality consists of using a computer to take in input from reality, processing it, enhancing it, and then outputting the enhanced version to the user. Enhancing is the most ambiguous part, as most AR is seen as enhancing the image (sight is our most dominant sense anyways), but can be used to enhance sound and possibly other inputs that we cannot even sense. There are digital sensors for radioactive substances, ultraviolet light, heat, and in a sense night vision glasses are a form of AR since their creation. Though night vision glasses completely blanket your vision with heat sensors, and is not so intuitive for normal people to understand how to use.

Nowadays AR is mainly used to supplement reality rather than replace it. Google glass is something that comes to mind when talking about augmented reality. It overlays extra information to supplement experiences in reality, such as information concerning buildings that you see in front of you. The good things about this is that it will be context sensitive, and also very powerful for education and maybe even advertising. It is also designed for a normal user, and tries to be as well hidden and immersive as possible; only pops up when you need it and disappears when you don't. UI designers for the Google glass project could learn a few things from UI designers of immersive games.

Augmented reality in gaming makes me think of the 3DS with their AR cards, and each card activates a mini game that the user can player. Rather than using AR to supplement the user with information, AR is simply a game overlaid in the foreground and reality acts are a background for it. The interaction with reality is kind of lack luster with AR games at the moment, as you need specific cards that are used to represent digital entities in the real world. These cards can be placed anywhere in reality, but the user is always constrained to using these cards to play the game. The next step would probably be to scan real life objects and simply make games out of those, allowing for all sorts of things to be augmented and turning anything into a game.

Merriam-Webster. (2013). Augment - definition and more from the free merriam-webster dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/augment

Merriam-Webster. (2013). Reality - definition and more from the free merriam-webster dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reality