Augmented Reality – AR
The technology featured above was not developed by the Georgia Institute of Technology, but evolved there in a way its creators did not imagine. The YouTube video above was created by GIT to explain their visualization process. Augmented reality refers to a mixed reality in which physical real-world environments are merged or augmented with virtual computer imagery. Although researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have now brought this technology and its possibilities to the forefront of visualization via Google Earth, augmented reality technology is perhaps more famous as seen in televised NFL Football games, through the creations of seemingly 3D instant replay and other virtual information like the line of scrimmage and the first down marker. This notion of an augmented reality has been implemented by some architects in a superficial manner. For instance Asymptote’s early works like the New York Stock Exchange (1999) look at combining virtual information with real world information. Although the NYSE by Asymptote is intellectually revolutionary, its execution will be looked at in the same light as NASA’s first computers, which were clumsy, bulky and as large as a single family residence.

What Does This Mean For Architecture? AR Revolution
I predict that in the next twenty years that the augmented reality revolution will be the catalyst necessary to lead the architectural community in a unified movement for the first time since modernism. Augmented reality as related to architecture has several possibilities. The first and most obvious possibility is that it will change the way architects communicate and research information regarding site forces, context and other orders that may influence the development of architecture. This is boring to me and I will let your imagination elaborate upon the visualization possibilities as it is related to architecture. Have you ever noticed that architects often become more obsessed with graphic possibilities of technology and software? Forgetting that process and creating great architecture should always be the focus of our profession.

A more interesting possibility, but foreshadowed by the dot-com architecture firms of the nineties is an architecture which truly blurs virtual and physical realities into an augmented reality. Learning how to create augmented realities that users can navigate without a computer will be the first hurdle that architects must leap before entering the augmented reality movement. How will architects do this? Similar to the NFL, buildings that exist in an augmented reality may have the ability to change texture, surface, or color. Architects need to figure out a way to create an environment that is the interface with which users navigate the augmented reality, rather than using a computer. There are already many examples of this type of an augmented reality. Kieran Timberlake is an architectural firm whom has already developed a unique product, SmartWrap, which executes many functions, also has OLEDs printed on the surface allowing the surface to change the information, color, texture or patterning displayed. There are other similar materials that have been developed for strictly visual purposes, which will soon be featured in another article. Our world is slowly developing the tools necessary for the creation of an augmented reality that users can navigate without a computer. Architects and users should examine the evolution of technology in terms of ethics and morals. What are the consequences of virtual sociopetal environments? What affects will an augmented reality have on culture and society? With the fast approach of the existence of an extensive augmented reality, when should the augmented reality stop evolving? Is an augmented reality a precursor to humans living in a complete virtual reality? Fulfilling the revelations of 1990s science fiction movies. Before we worry about the ethical and philosophical concerns of living in an augmented reality, a revolutionary development must first me made. A technology must be created that has not been foreshadowed in science fiction movies or novels. Technology must develop past the environments featured in movies like Minority Report and Back to the Future, but not as far as The Matrix, as this would bypass the augmented reality revolution and throw our culture into a complete shock, as if transforming from solid to gas, abruptly entering a complete virtual reality. The transition between physical and virtual has not been documented in film and text as much as the possibility of virtual worlds, because we simply do not know how to get there. This not knowing, rather than not having the technology is why it will be a revolution in the same way that the invention of the steam engine was the key component to the Industrial Revolution. What will be the steam engine of the Augmented Reality Revolution?

Lastly, the most interesting development from the researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology is their process. My mind has not rested since viewing the video  above, and the process that the researchers used to create the augmented reality. This process is applicable to the process of architecture, right now. A book that has been most influential in the development of my creative process is Contested Symmetries and Other Predicaments in Architecture by Preston Scott Cohen. Cohen uses the process of drawing to create complex architectural forms which are capable of solving even more complex problems. Cohen introduces his skillful process in a Forward written by Rafael Moneo titled Geometry and the Mediation of Architectural Conflicts: Comments on the Work of Scott Cohen. Cohen uses geometry and the process of drawing to mediate what Moneo calls architectural conflicts. Following the forward Cohen discusses examples of architectural conflicts resolved with complicated geometric gymnastics in such precedents as San Carlo ai Catinari and Villa Tauro, which he eventually builds upon in order to give the reader a fighting chance of understanding the precise and very complex process that Cohen must follow in order to produce beautiful architecture. The process developed by the researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology is adaptable to resolving architectural conflicts, in the same manner that Cohen has developed his process. It will be interesting to see how the augmented reality revolution plays out, or if this is just another tool that we are building for something bigger than any of us can imagine.

Related Photos

Click to view the second part of this tutorial.

Shortcuts & tools that are used in this tutorial:

(H) – Pan – Allows you to use the hand to pan across your drawing.

*(J) -  Healing Brush Tool – In this tutorial we use this tool for blending areas of varying tone and removing minor blemishes.  Remember to use the alt + left click to sample an area of your drawing in order to use the tool.  Your sample area should be close to the area you are blending, but not always necessary.

(S) – Clone Stamp Tool – In this tutorial we use this tool to recreate large areas of the drawing and then blend away areas that have high contrast with the Healing Brush Tool to make the image look natural. Remember to use the alt + left click to sample an area of your drawing in order to use the tool.  Your sample area should be close to the area you are blending, but not always necessary.

(CTRL +) – Zoom In Incrementally

(CTRL -) - Zoom Out Incrementally

*TIME SAVING TIP – Sometimes you need to hold the shift key while using a shortcut key to cycle through the different tools that are grouped together under the same pallette.  For instance the Spot Healing Brush Tool is the default tool selected when pressing J shortcut key.  In order to select the Healing Brush Tool, press Shift + J to cycle through different tools.

If you have any questions regarding the tutorial please post comments below.

Related Photos

Click to view the first part of this tutorial.

Shortcuts & tools that are used in this tutorial:

(H) – Pan – Allows you to use the hand to pan across your drawing.

*(J) – Healing Brush Tool – In this tutorial we use this tool for blending areas of varying tone and removing minor blemishes. Remember to use the alt + left click to sample an area of your drawing in order to use the tool. Your sample area should be close to the area you are blending, but not always necessary.

(S) – Clone Stamp Tool – In this tutorial we use this tool to recreate large areas of the drawing and then blend away areas that have high contrast with the Healing Brush Tool to make the image look natural. Remember to use the alt + left click to sample an area of your drawing in order to use the tool. Your sample area should be close to the area you are blending, but not always necessary.

(CTRL +) – Zoom In Incrementally

(CTRL -) - Zoom Out Incrementally

*TIME SAVING TIP – Sometimes you need to hold the shift key while using a shortcut key to cycle through the different tools that are grouped together under the same pallette. For instance the Spot Healing Brush Tool is the default tool selected when pressing J shortcut key. In order to select the Healing Brush Tool, press Shift + J to cycle through different tools.

If you have any questions regarding the tutorial please post comments below.

Related Photos

There are many pros to using Noiseware.  First, it is extremely easy to use Noiseware out of the box and see immediate results.  There are a number of presets that come with the software that handle most types of photographs.  My suggestion is to start with a preset and tweak from there.  Noiseware is also very fast, adjusting the settings reveals immediate results only after minutes.  My favorite feature about Noiseware is that if you click on the screen it shows the before image, when you release it shows the results.  This is a very nice feature when testing settings to see the results or simply to try and understand what each setting is doing.  Even though Noiseware IS very simple to use there is an endless array of dials and sliders to adjust in order to get your desired results.  If there is not a preset that does what you need it to do, go into manual mode and sample yourself.  The only negative to this software is that there are a lot of settings, but do not be intimidated by them. Noiseware does not require learning a new software or interface, as mentioned before it is a plugin for Adobe Photoshop, so if you are familiar with Photoshop using Noiseware will be no problem.

Let’s take a look at what Noiseware can do after only spending 15 minutes with the software. Below is a detail portion of one of the sky images that I created in the previous post. After only 15 minutes it is quite apparent that the noise and grain of the photo before Noiseware has been completely removed after its use. Noiseware is not just great for images without a lot of detail, but the structure of the software is built around detail and control.

The difference between the before and after images are truely remarkable, but how does Noiseware work?  Good question.  At first glance it appears that Noiseware is simply an advanced blur filter, this is partly true, but Noiseware is more advanced than that. Noiseware contains a feature called Detail Guard which is enables a series of sliders that allows noise to be quieted according to tonal and color ranges of the image.  This means that Noiseware understands that the frequency of tone and color generally when great, equates to detail.  Adjust the dials to protect the detailed features in your image.  There is an endless supply of Photoshop plugins that are available, but this is an essential plugin for any serious digital photographer, and the price is unbeatable.

If anyone from Imagenomic is reading you can borrow my catchphrase for your software if you want to sponsor the site ;)  Quiet Your Images with Noiseware.

Related Photos