SSTT Visualizer is a sample AR (Augmented Reality) program to demonstrate the capabilities of the SSTT library. The SSTT Visualizer is a cross platform 3D viewer that recognizes abstract symbols in the environment; it then calculates its pose and renders 3D content registered to it.

Download

Don't forget to download and print out the PDF file. It is best usable if you fold the blank part behind actual printout. Don't wrinkle the "Watch!" badge.

Printout for SSTT Visualizer

SSTT Visualizer 1.0.12 for Windows XP/Vista 5.5MB

SSTT Visualizer 1.0.11 for Mac OS X 10.5.x (Universal Binary) 22MB

How it works

It uses a simple computer vision algorithm to calculate the pose of these symbols and renders the respective 3D model on top of the video feed. The result is an Augmented Reality (AR) simulation.

Application areas for such tools are vast and not yet fully explored. This tool is also meant to spark some ideas me and other AR researchers haven't come up with.

You need

prerequisites for your computer are:

• Windows XP/Vista or Mac OS X 10.5.x (Intel/PPC)
• Webcam (or iSight)
• Printer (for printing out the marker)

The application has been tested on a vast number of machines including an msi U100 netbook, Quad Core Dell Precision, a MacBook Pro, Mac Pro and a late 2008 MacBook.

Machines with built-in graphics chipset might perform bad - sorry, but I can't do anything about this. Furthermore, the application is buggy still, expect crashes etc. pp.

How to install

The following steps are necessary for you to follow to run the SSTT Visualizer:

• Download, Unzip (Mac) or install (Windows) the respective application bundle
• Download and print the marker (unless you received it with and advertisement)
• Run it and enjoy!

For users without a builtin or external webcam: get a webcam and plug it in - it will not work and doesn't make sense without!

Now what?

When you see the camera view point the "Watch!" badge of your printout towards the camera, the application might stall for a few moments - be patient, this is bleeding edge and you might miss something.

What is it for?

There are a plethora of application domains where spatial data is important to understand. Motorbikes are not one of them - well, maybe they are.

Hacking

This demo is for you to play around with SSTT. There are no restrictions except you can't change the application, the logos etc. pp. However, you can change the 3D content at your will - have a look at the sstt/config.txt

Version History

1.0.12

• on Windows the application is build Visual Studio 2005 (instead of 2003 .NET) and uses DirectShow for videocapture

Known Problems

• The application runs fine but when I restart SSTT Visualizer, it hangs: This is due to a bug in the underlying video capture library and should only occur with a few specific USB webcams. In a later release a new capture library will be introduced - one I have full control over ;).

1.0.11

• This is the initial release of SSTT Visualizer

Known Problems

• The application flashes and then quits immediatly : unfortunately you have an incompatible or no capture device at all that can be used by SSTT Visualizer.

• The fans run constantly: this particularly applies to Mac OS X versions - it will capture in the highest possible resolution of your capture device, which is 1280x1024 for a MacBook Pro iSight. This will lead to high processing needs and also the texture upload is heavy. Nothing to worry about but its not exactly nice. Future version will be capable of changing the resolution.

• The video is utterly pixelated and slow - what a crap!: this is particular to Windows and due to the capture library I am using. I promise the next version will rock! fixed in Windows version 1.0.12

• Yikes, I hit the Fullscreen button and I can't go back: please use Alt-F (or Option-F on Mac) to toggle back.