#wallame

“Hide messages in the real world”

WallaMe is an app that lets you take a picture and sketch on it. Which you can then publish or share with your friends. Who, if they pass your sketch, can see the sketch you have hidden on that place. You can use it to have fun with friends but it’s also an alternative way to, for example, make a treasure hunt through a city as @endless-violet-horizon​ mused.

I was doing some googling and stumbled upon this really cool opportunity: there is a digital humanities conference in South Africa that is internationally renowned and is happening in January. It might be a bit (read: huge) reach, but it doesn’t hurt to see what other people might be doing outside of the US when it comes to DH ventures, so it might be a cool conference to follow online.

Wallame

Upon using it a bit more, I realized that there is a lot more merit than I first granted to it. Not simply a 2D image but literally having what feels like (or is I guess) a camera roam around a room without taking a photo but encountering these graphic overlays.

One problem I have with Wallame in particular is it may identify multiple walls within the vicinity but you cannot just graze the camera across the room and have the images pop up. Instead, it gives you the flat photo that someone had previously photographed and AR’d (my completely made up verb) and then you have to replicate it for every single graphic overlay that exists in the space. Not seamless to me.

Q: Is there a way to video record this exploration so when replicating it on a computer in particular, it doesn’t look like a compilation of photos—especially for presentation purposes?

Wikitude World Browser

I tried this app and I have a feeling it would only work on places outside of Amherst College. Like say even Walmart down the road or restaurants in town since it features a Wikipedia and Restaurants search option. Without being able to have these locations in my camera frame, the app only gives me a google map to locate the place.  

Augment

So far, I’ve tried Wallame and DAQRI.

Wallame definitely requires that I involve someone else so I know how effective it is at picking up images on other devices. One thing that I want to know is whether the graphics can be manipulated more because the overlays look very generic and 2D to me. But I know if I can, let’s say, blur an image or stretch it out or make it more transparent, it would work for the purpose of my thesis. If it does not work with content that I end up collecting, I will definitely try to search for a more developed app. (Might cost a little extra $$) But below you can find a little example of my first graphic overlay.  

Unlike Wallame, I’m convinced I’m using DAQRI wrong. I don’t know how to correctly capture images for them to become 4D so I would love if someone else could help me check that out. DAQRI app actually has a website but it also hasn't been as helpful.

Look up in the sky, It's a bird! It's a plane...

Wall by aztec09

Check out this #AugmentedReality Alien in #Mexico!