In recent months, much of the hype around virtual reality experiences has nearly drowned out some of the developments in augmented reality (AR), but a new demonstration video shows just how exciting AR still is.
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A site called Trixie Studios recently uploaded a short clip of test footage demonstrating what is currently possible using AR to interact with real world environments. In this case, the test footage is a Star Wars-inspired shooting game that includes stormtroopers, Boba Fett and the BB-8 droid from The Force Awakens.
According to the creators of the video, the footage was "captured live, and recorded directly on the Project Tango tablet device ... No post editing was later done to the video imagery."
Project Tango is Google's Android development kit geared toward allowing developers to give mobile devices 3D motion tracking. The dynamic lets tablets and smartphones detect their position relative to the real world around the device without using GPS tracking.
Armed with that kind of technology, the possibilities around creating rich AR games and interfaces are vast.
This small Star Wars-themed sampling, while not perfect, is nevertheless an exciting peek at what we can expect from other Project Tango-powered AR projects in the coming months.
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