What is unique about AR Composer is that digital objects keep their original positions, creating persistent AR experiences shareable across several devices.

To position digital artefacts accurately, AR Composer comes with an easy-to-use 6-DOF (Degrees Of Freedom) Editor. 3D objects can be moved from left to right, up and down, forwards and backwards, including three rotation options. With this unique feature, objects can be placed accurately in any space, in no time.

Discover how to try AR Composer at the end of this post.

AR Composer also comes with 2 modes: Creator and Visitor mode. In Creator mode, the museum team can create as many persistent scenes as they want, placing and anchoring their objects wherever they like in the physical space. When this process is finished, the museum simply has to lock the scenes in Visitor mode to make them available on any device running AR Composer. Visitors can then use the devices provided by the venue or their personal device to enjoy the content.

Another perk of AR Composer is that there is no limit to the number of 3D assets that can be uploaded, which gives digital and education teams at museums the opportunity to design scenes with the creativity of a theatrical production. Objects can be animated, interactive and can display data to showcase digital storytelling or contextual information.

There are a number of creative ways to use the app. Examples include:

• Sharing works that are missing from a collection, whether they are in another museum, being restored, or on loan.
• Rebuilding archeological monuments – for example, making an entire temple appear where only an ancient column remains.
• Comparing works to previous versions, or to the artist’s preliminary sketches.
• Taking complex mechanisms apart and then putting them back together to see how they work. Examples include machines, the human body, the solar system, etc.
• Making digital characters move around in front of the visitor.
• Recreating the decor and atmosphere of an entire room in real size, by superimposing its former or future state on top of its current reality.
• Adding flesh and skin to the skeletons of extinct species, e.g. dinosaurs.
• Creating digital collaborative artwork.
• Creating a portal to access a virtual world.
• Creating a digital character guide to provide specialized tours for children, teens or other visitor groups.

AR Composer saves museums from having to build their own customized application and CMS (Content Management System) from scratch. That way, the majority of the budget can be allocated to creating content and designing compelling visitor experiences.

Try AR Composer now! We are offering AR Composer to museums and heritage sites in private Beta, with several demo assets included. If you are interested, please contact us.

With the addition of the full AR app, MUSE is offering visitors an experience that harmonizes perfectly with their innovative spirit – in total fluidity and transparency.

A Fascinating Content

The app has what it takes to please even the most directionally-challenged of us. The days of losing your way in exhibitions are over: with Go!Muse visitors can see their precise location on each of the six floors of the museum, and are guided in Augmented Reality toward the object of their interest.

As for the educational content, the app includes over one hundred AR hotspots that can be activated by the visitor to unlock multimedia content (text, videos and more) that provides additional context for the various attractions.

Last but not least, the app makes it possible to view realistic virtual portrayals of ten dinosaurs and a whale by adding life-size animated bodies to their skeletons in Augmented Reality, right in the middle of the museum.

An Emotional Experience

On the day of the launch, over one thousand visitors came with their families to check out the new app. It was the ideal opportunity to confirm that the app would be as magical as we had hoped. It was touching to see children, parents and grandparents equally surprised and enthralled by the illusion of a partially-digital reality. No matter their age, every visitor had the happy face of a child thrilled by an amusement park or magic show.

A Synergy of Multiple Talents

The obvious joy of the visitors made me proud of the work our team had accomplished. This project took no less than six months to complete and incorporated the work of at least a dozen individuals: an illustrator, a designer, a 3D animator, a game developer, front and back-end developers, a project lead and a program manager. The synergy of all these talents makes it clear that our field has changed. Cultural mediation is no longer about making a connection between historical and scientific facts, or simply coming up with a captivating narrative. It is also about creating an unforgettable emotional experience for every type of visitor.

To meet this objective, we collaborated with MUSE’s digital department. Fabio Manucci, the paleontologist of the museum, worked closely with Davide Bonadona, an illustrator celebrated for his work on dinosaurs, to create a scientifically accurate portrayal of each specimen.

From a scientific point of view, there is always a risk when you attempt to bring to life creatures that have been extinct for millions of years. But museums also have a responsibility to provide accurate representations of dinosaurs, in contrast to the fantastical portrayals in cinema and video games.

We then made it possible for these virtual animals to come to life inside the museum. Each 3D model was superimposed on its actual skeleton to within a centimeter of precision using GuidiGO AR Composer.

Seeing these dinosaurs in the flesh – and not just as bones – is impressive enough. But watching them move before your eyes makes the experience even more stunning. Since the skeletons themselves obviously remain static, we had to find a way to suspend disbelief when the animals are in motion. To do so, we added a Virtual Reality mode that hides the skeleton when the dinosaur begins to move.

A Large-Scale Experience

With the launch of Go!Muse, MUSE has become the first museum of Science in the world to offer an Augmented Reality experience at this scale, with ten animated dinosaurs and a whale as part of their permanent collection, and 80 AR-compatible tablets available to visitors.

MUSE official video trailer

While the app is designed for a wide range of users of all ages, it is sure to capture the imagination of young visitors most of all, due to their interest in novelties and interactivity.

Since they’ve been immersed in the digital world from birth, the younger generations are already used to learning and discovering outside of the traditional learning environments of libraries and museums. Touchscreens are already part of their daily lives. Virtual Reality headsets are soon to follow, and any museum planning for the future should be aware of that fact. It is essential for cultural institutions to pursue immersive, innovative technologies if they want to form lasting ties with the adults of tomorrow.

Experiences like this one will help young ones to discover the magic of museums and the joy of interacting with works of art and science along with other visitors.

What is occlusion?

Occlusion problems occur because virtual objects will always appear in front of the real world on the screen. For example, imagine that a virtual statue is placed in a gallery. If a person is standing behind the statue, the experience works because the virtual object appears in front of the person.

However, if the person is standing between the device and the virtual statue, the immersion is broken because the statue will cover the person on the screen.

Similarly, adding a virtual element inside a real object (such as adding a virtual apple inside a real bowl) can cause occlusion issues. The images below illustrate how the AR illusion works only for some angles. Again, the virtual object will always go in front of the real one.

So how can we solve occlusion problems?

Many occlusion problems for AR experiences in museums can be anticipated and avoided early on through design and forethought. Possible solutions to prevent occlusion issues include:

Create a designated space. A helpful way to control occlusion issues can be to contain where an AR experience will take place. For example, in the “Sites Eternels“ (Eternal Sites) application at the Grand Palais in Paris, the devices were physically tethered to a large table on which the AR experience appeared. This limited what could physically get between the device’s cameras and the table.

Another solution could be to physically mark the area where the AR experience will take place, so that other visitors know not to get in the way. Whether or not a museum employs this solution depends on the available space and whether the exhibition is temporary or permanent.

Utilize strategic positioning. The placement of virtual objects can help prevent occlusion problems, as some positions are more viable than others. For example, in the application we developed for the National Museum of Singapore, a 42-foot-long whale skeleton was positioned just under a high ceiling, well above visitors. In this case, because visitors point their devices up at the ceiling, the positioning of the whale ensures that there is nothing to cause occlusion issues.

Position your visitors in a specific place. In a recent project, we placed a virtual mark on the floor to encourage users to stand in a specific position before starting the experience. This way, we made sure nothing would get between the user and the AR scene.

Add masking effects. Environmental effects, such as clouds or mist, can help mask the real world elements that could cause occlusion problems.
For example, in another recent project, we animated a virtual spacecraft that lands on the surface of an asteroid. This experience took place in a small, crowded gallery, which caused occlusion issues. We added environmental effects to the virtual scene, and it helped to foster the sense of immersion in the experience.

Integrate real-world elements in the virtual world. In many cases, we can identify something called “planned occlusion”. For example, GuidiGO’s wayfinding capabilities display virtual blue dots on the floor that lead visitors to points of interest. In the case in the photo below, when the blue dots indicate to turn left, the rest of the path is not displayed until the visitor is in the doorway. This is possible because we integrate the pre-identified obstacles (walls, cases, etc) in our algorithm. The rendering happens in real-time and takes into account the physical world before displaying a digital object.

Position “occlusion masks”. Similarly, for a recent project, we wanted to display a virtual object along the length of a gallery wall. However, the room was filled with furniture that got between the visitor’s device and the wall, making the virtual object appear fake.
To work around this constraint, our programming team created “occlusion masks”. These were virtual 3D objects that were the exact same size and shape as the real-world objects, placed over the furniture using our AR Composer tool. In this way, we made it possible for the furniture to appear in front of the main virtual object.

Delineate museums into different sections. We can also separate museum spaces into unique galleries, so that when visitors are in a specific gallery, they only see the virtual objects on display in that gallery. This avoids the artworks of the galleries nearby being visible “through the walls” due to occlusion, as virtual objects will always appear in front of real objects on the screen. To read more about a project where we used this technique, check out our article about our work with the Clyfford Still Museum here.

Employ real-time programming solutions. Sometimes, occlusion problems cannot be avoided or planned for, such as visitors walking around inside the museum. There are programming solutions to these occlusion issues, in which the physical environment is reconstructed in real-time using device’s sensors and cameras to integrate the real world inside the virtual world.
The main downside of this option is that it requires a lot of processing power, however, this will certainly become a non-issue in the future.

Every AR experience requires custom solutions to specific occlusion problems. And the development of new sensors and more powerful devices will help facilitate new ways to work around these obstacles in the near future. Through creativity in design and programming, it is possible to find innovative solutions to make augmented reality even more real.

In practice, these solutions require an infrastructure that is often more cumbersome and more expensive than expected, and the results are sometimes disappointing (see our article on Tech Trends). Taking into account the limits of such technologies, GuidiGO decided to explore a different path by making our app compatible with Google Project Tango. This technology offers an incomparable advantage: it works without any infrastructure. Yes, you read that correctly: no infrastructure at all! No need for an internet connection, WiFi, sensors, or GPS. Museums have nothing to install and no equipment to maintain!

David Lerman, GuidiGO’s CEO, explains the magic behind it: “The tablet is loaded with sensors that detect motion, volume, and depth. A 3D map of the interior of the museum is created in advance by scanning the walls, partitions, installations, etc. The tablet later recognizes these elements and makes it possible for the visitor to remain continuously localized, with no need to connect to any signal.”

But that’s not all, not only do visitors know their exact position, they can also opt for a 3D view with an AR path superimposed on the floor…

… or choose a dual view with the 2D map:

Would you like to see a live demo? Take a look at our app running in this video shot at the beautiful Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, during the recent MWC 2016 (Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona. The GuidiGO app was presented to the press in the presence of teams from Google Project Tango, and Lenovo – the manufacturer of the tablet.

Besides being a game changer for indoor positioning, Project Tango’s ability to recognize the user’s environment opens the door to numerous AR applications. At the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, we were excited to present the interpretation of a painting in Augmented Reality. Above a 33-foot-long canvas (“The Battle of Tetuan” by Mariano Fortuny), AR 3D markers appear in the air, indicating that additional content is available to explain a detail in the piece.

 
And this is only the beginning… Stay tuned!

Learn more:

• Lenovo: “How Project Tango Will Change the Way You Use Your Phone”
• Tom’s Guide: “How Google’s Project Tango Won Me Over with AR and Art”
• Digital Trends: “Digital Trends Top Tech of MWC 2016 award winners” (Read: Lenovo’s Project Tango)
• Digital Trends: “Touring a museum with Project Tango is an empowering glimpse into the future”
• Slash Gear: “How Lenovo and Project Tango will reinvent your smartphone”
• CNET: “Project Tango could come to a museum near you”
• BGR: “Lenovo and Google are about to blow the lid off digital indoor mapping”
• The Verge: “Google just showed me the future of indoor navigation” (watch GuidiGO app at work in the video!)
• PC Mag: “A Night at the Museum With Project Tango”