Games Alfresco

Augmented Comedy

13 Responses

1. 

   Darkflame@gmail.com, on April 27, 2009 at 5:53 am said:

   ha :D fun.

   I did consider once doing a joke animation of the (CG) charecter from ReBoot playing with an AR marker and a live-action human appearing on it.
   But I dismissed it as taking too long to do.
2. 

   fbeeper, on April 27, 2009 at 12:02 pm said:

   The world’s first AR joke? xD

   I protest. AR isn’t only this kind of stuff…
3. 

   Mephysto, on April 27, 2009 at 1:29 pm said:

   hah! I know, right :D
   here’s who which markers to blame ^^:
   http://www.google.com/trends?q=augmented+reality&ctab=0&geo=all&date=ytd&sort=0
4. 

   Anatoly Zenkov, on April 28, 2009 at 2:20 am said:

   to fbeeper: I’m fully agree with you. My fav AR usage example: http://vimeo.com/4312616 (AR scratching)
5. 

   Darkflame@gmail.com, on April 28, 2009 at 6:04 am said:

   fbeeper – I dunno about the first joke, there was a good April fools one;
   http://www.int13.net/augmented-reality-real-time-world-interaction-algorithm-demo/en/
   And (more seriously but still funny) is Imersions AR demos;
   
6. 

   Joshua Falken, on April 28, 2009 at 4:31 pm said:

   Not so funny, unfortunately. The widespread usage of standard AR toolkits for non-science by self-proclaimed “AR researchers” is the root cause for the bad reputation that AR has now. If one mentions AR / MR as an area of interest to, e.g., computer graphics or computer vision researchers, one immediately is flagged as a mediocre me-too person. Unfortunately, these stereotypes are now applied to good and bad AR researchers alike. Therefore, a funny clip, but the topic, unfortunately, is very serious. Just ask all the people who have found it practically impossible to acquire research funding for AR topics for the past several years already.
7. 

   Darkflame@gmail.com, on April 28, 2009 at 11:29 pm said:

   Total Immersion are easily one of the biggest leaders in AR development in the world, responsible for a lot of the current commercial applications for the tech.
   If they can have fun with it as shown above, I don’t see why others cant.

   The importance is to get the public perception of AR into the mainstream, create demand for products. Research has its place, but telling people to stop “messing about” with AR is like telling people to stop messing about with the internet in its early days.
   Its precisely though “messing about” that things become mainstream.

   Not that research isn’t necessary, especially as regards to hardware development.
   But if research funding isnt being given because AR is too popular too play with online, its their own shortsitedness not the fault of those people that play with and develope AR online.
   Once AR starts hitting the mainstream big, research would suddenly start up again as if they only just thought of it.
   Being ahead of the curve is a hard life.
8. 

   fbeeper, on April 29, 2009 at 9:31 am said:

   Hi again! :D

   Joshua, this video is VERY funny for people on AR (real) research too! If you have been working for a while with your tracking algorithms, your models, your interaction methods… when you discover someone making fun about the PAINLESS and USLESS flartoolkit advertisements… sorry, but it’s REALLY funny… I cried laughing :D

   For a real researcher it is like a pain in ass… AR, for you, (as I previously noticed) isn’t only that foolish demos. Now I’m trying to do research on AR for medical interfaces, don’t you think that I hate that ads? :P

   BUT, don’t you think that this appearance on “mainstream” could revert on founding to serious AR research?

   As much as I hate them, I think that it could be a good idea… I follow on twitter a live search of the term “Augmented Reality” and about 10 times a day i can see that someone discovered the magic feeling of seeing Augmented Reality on his hands :) Without this ads, real people doesn’t even know the meaning of AR!

   See you at ISMAR 2009 :)
9. 

   Joshua Falken, on April 29, 2009 at 2:41 pm said:

   Yeah, I don’t think I’ll be at ISMAR 2009. After 7 years as an AR researcher, including industry experience, multiple universities, countless publications, Ph.D. with distinction…. I have to acknowledge that I just cannot find a job in the field. As I mentioned, in academia AR has meant “mediocre” for quite a while now. There are practically no positions in industry, and for the few “AR” positions which are posted, hiring managers actually do prefer computer vision or computer graphics researchers. A publication record at AR or VR venues is a turn-off rather than helpful. During a visit at an “AR research group” at a major, globally well-known player, people told me behind closed doors that the ISMAR community has “become a little weird”. The people working in this “AR research group” all have a SIGGRAPH or CVPR background rather than ISMAR experience, mind you. As far as other types of jobs are concerned, AR experience actually invalidates other skills. E.g., I have more than 10 years experience in OpenGL programming + multiple years GLSL etc. (In addition to more than 15 years C++, as well as about a dozen other languages.) However, movie (CGI) and game companies won’t even touch a weird “AR guy”. At best, an entry-level job with the responsibilities and payment of a 21-year old recent grad with 0 years experience and a fresh B.Sc. degree is attainable. Talk about throwing away 10 years of your life!

   I have literally written around 70 applications and interviewed countless times during the past 3 years, all to no avail. I cannot see at all how I could benefit from going to ISMAR once more. It is certainly not going to help my career. Even having a full technical paper there, which is definitely only possible if you know the right people on the committee (and believe me – I know what I am talking about), does not count at all outside of the core ISMAR community.

   The fact of the matter is that having technical experience and publications related to communities such as SIGGRAPH, Eurographics, EGSR, ACM I3D, CVPR, ICCV, ECCV and similar makes one a highly sought-after expert, with a virtual guarantee for a high-paying job. Being an “AR guy” or a “VR guy”, on the other hand, means practically certain unemployment. A single publication about, say, 3D reconstruction or physically-based animation, even at a minor graphics or vision workshop, is worth 10 times a multiple-year publication history at AR/VR conferences spanning dozens of papers. This is definitely true when it comes to applying for academic positions, and it is true for industry positions, as well.

   Anyway, have fun in Orlando. I am sure the scenery will be spectacular.
10. 

    fbeeper, on April 30, 2009 at 2:58 am said:

    Joshua… I’m impressed :O

    I’m sorry, but I’m only a newbie PhD student… So I’m only trying to understand your position because I’m not there. I’m so impressed with your speech but I can’t understand your “sea of eternal AR losers”, let me explain:

    I’m so young and I already have a lot of energy (and no experience at all :P). But forgetting this important axiom… I’m pretty sure that AR lived in a desert of problems (isn’t easy to make all AR stuff in real time with an standard machine, isn’t it?) and now it seems to be discovering the real world, the real implementations: real time, good quality, semi-low computational costs… Please tell me if I’m wrong with this! :P

    This difference have taken AR to another stage: AR have one leg on the tracking improving (or adaptation of it to different environments like in medical approaches or in truly markerless tracking) but it have already step on real interface developing (I already know that there are a lot of researchers in this area, but it is a really young area… the results aren’t as good as the public requests). Now AR (not young area but still unskilled) is showing to the real world his relevance and it could be so important for money income and reputation on research, isn’t it?

    It’s a real fact that VR have had bad luck in his long live, but its luck could be technologically justified… everybody have seen it unfeasible due the difficulties of wearing a heavy display or buying an expensive CAVE. But NOW, AR it’s in advantage in front of VR on this, it could run without a CAVE or a heavy display (because them aren’t as heavy as it had been or cause we are near the day where can use a mobile phone for truly realtime AR). Again, tell me if I’m wrong with this! :D

    I am too much hopeful????

    Nice to have spoken with you, and don’t see you in Orlando :(
11. 

    Games Alfresco, on April 30, 2009 at 5:20 am said:

    […] Posts Top 10 augmented reality demos that will revolutionize video gamesAugmented Comedy10 best augmented reality DEVICES that will reinvent mobile video gamesFeel Unease with Cloud […]
12. 

    darkflame, on April 30, 2009 at 2:06 pm said:

    What exactly is the source of this “not touching a weird AR guy” stuff?
    Because I’m extremely sceptical. What makes you think its AR meaning your rejected, as appossed too…well…a bazzilion and one reasons why qualified people dont get jobs.

    As for getting a job “in AR” is that not a case that there isnt jobs yet really?
    Like being a website developeer before most people even knew what the net was.
13. 

    Weekly Linkfest « Games Alfresco, on May 3, 2009 at 9:38 am said:

    […] of the week comes from Joshua Falken (is that a WarGames reference?), as a comment to the “Augmented Comedy” post: The widespread usage of standard AR toolkits for non-science by self-proclaimed “AR […]