Awesome Augmented Reality

An old school hack for painting murals and other large artworks is using a projector to trace images. Artist Airam Salomón Garza of Pint ARTE shows off a new way to achieve the same – by loading an image onto a Meta Quest 3 VR headset and using its augmented reality features to visualize virtual outlines on a coffee shop window.

If you think augmented reality is just another technology gimmick, this video might change your mind. This incredible technology from Medivis helps doctors overlay 3-dimensional MRI scans on patients to help visualize anatomy, helping to identify the exact location of tumors, blood vessels, and other structures before performing surgery.

The Meta Quest 3S has the same 120Hz 1832×1920 display as the Quest 2, but it has a newer processor, faster RAM, better controller tracking, and longer battery life. Connect it to the Meta Horizon app to enjoy a huge virtual screen, work in large floating windows, or stay fit and play with unique games and apps.

G1 glasses look and feel almost like traditional eyeglasses, but they’re lightweight smart glasses with an array of simple yet practical tools. A pair of tiny projectors display a monochrome interface to show navigation, live translation, note-taking, a teleprompter, and quick access to an AI assistant. Check out Jon Rettinger’s hands-on for more.

Wist uses your iPhone or Oculus Quest headset to capture live 3D models of memories and lets you play them back as an augmented reality experience in the same location. Because of technical limitations, the models and textures have a weird torn-edge look straight out of science fiction. Sign up to join the waitlist.

Software engineer Stephen Rogers aka TheCaptainSpain is developing CoasterMania, a virtual reality/augmented reality game that lets you build tiny roller coasters in your living room. This brief demo video shows off its Line Rider-style gameplay on a Meta Quest VR headset. Enjoy more fun gameplay footage here.

This augmented reality app from Signal-to-Noise lets you visualize the sounds that vinyl records produce. Aim your iOS device’s camera at a spinning record, and turn up the volume. Sonic analysis software generates a real-time graph of the waveforms overlaid on each disc as it turns.

This interactive educational system helps students learn about the physical properties of structures. It combines a set of beams, levers, pivot points, and other parts that attach to a backboard which work in concert with augmented reality projections to show the physics at play when forces are applied.

The Rainbow Road levels are some of the most memorable in the Mario Kart games. Mutch Games built a real-world replica of the SNES course with LED lighting and mechanized Thwomps. He combined the track with gameplay footage using the Switch AR game Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit. He’s built several other levels too.

Looking for something fun to do today? Why not visit with a giraffe, a zebra, or maybe a penguin? Thanks to Google, you can enjoy the company of 50 new animals using augmented reality tech on your phone. Using the Google mobile app, search for an animal, then tap “View in 3D” to invite these virtual pets into your world.

Firefighters need every advantage they can get. Sam Cossman of Qwake Technologies met with Adam Yamaguchi of The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation to show off the mask his company has developed which can overlay high-contrast outlines and heat signatures of objects even when they’re obscured by smoke or darkness.

Artist and programmer Cyril Diagne shows of a slick tech demo of an augmented reality app that can snap pictures of real world objects and drop then directly into Adobe Photoshop. Simply point, click, and aim your phone where you want to paste the object. Source code available here.

Watching live theatre can be challenging for deaf people. Sign interpreters and captioning boards help, but this new tech developed at the National Theatre in London gives people with hearing loss a much better experience – displaying captions that float right in front of their eyes. Freethink explains how it works.

This innovative headset gaming system turns a blank tabletop game board into a richly interactive 3D environment. Players wear special glasses which let them see holographic imagery, and control the game using a wireless wand. It looks legit, but it’s not a cheap setup for multiple players.

Celebrate your love for space exploration with this duo of official NASA goodies from Astro Reality. You’ll get a nifty mug inspired by the the abstract shapes of space, along with an embossed hardcover journal, each of which pair with an augmented reality application to display imagery and information about space travel.

Learning to weld can be a daunting task. But with this slick bit of technology from Miller Welders, students can practice using an augmented reality welding headset which lets them practice all they need, and get detailed feedback on their progress.