APositive Augmented Reality

Amber’s top 10 good AR design principles

APositive Admin — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 22:35:53 +0000

In the world of product design, simple is in. Dieter Rams 10 Principles of good design is what drives Apple’s unmatched success. It worked for computers, so why not AR experience design.

1. Make it innovative

Isn’t AR already innovative? Challenging the status quo is what innovation is all about. Push AR’s boundaries both creatively and technically. We see a lot of cute bunnies and dinosaurs that’s great but what else can we make? There are billions of possibilities. If you are stuck for an idea ask an artist.

2. Make it valuable

Reward a minute of download time with 100 minutes of value. Give someone the ability to see what a new coffee table looks like in their lounge room without even leaving the house. Turn boring point-to-point travel into entertainment. Above all make it memorable.

3. Make it beautiful

Just because you can’t render 3D model as hyper realistic as a Xbox One doesn’t mean it can’t be beautiful. Take Mine Craft for instance – the whole game is just 15mb! Work creatively within the constraints. Make sure all the elements are beautiful – the sound, the typography and the interface.

4. Make it understood in seconds

Three steps, that’s all it should take to take part in the experience. Support the experience with superb human centred design; intuitive graphics build on existing standards of interaction.

5. Make it unobtrusive

The app should fade into the background and allow users immerse themselves in the experience. Let them be human, encourage sharing, interaction, exploration while making the tech as seamless as possible.

6. Make it honest

Never underestimate your user – does the experience deliver on what it promised? Does it live up to the hype? Does it add value? Or is it just a thinly veiled advertisement?

7. Make it long-lasting

If the app relies too heavily on the AR wow factor it will soon feel out-dated; those that strive toward the experience will last. Make it useful, make it relevant avoid the latest craze. Just because you can does not mean you should.

8. Make it thorough down to the last detail

Make a good first impression. Don’t forget the icon design, the screen shots, the app store description, the instructions – they are the first things your user encounters. Above all maintain consistency.

9. Make it environmentally friendly

Stop visual pollution! Overlaying ugly, dysfunctional AR content over a users environment will take its toll on the user. Use professional content makers who will design the content specifically for AR.

10. Use as little design as possible

Less, but better, remove features don’t add them. Back to purity, back to simplicity so the user can enjoy.

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APositive joint winner in Canberra Digital Challenge

APositive Admin — Wed, 27 May 2015 05:50:43 +0000

APositive is thrilled to announce they are joint winners in the Canberra Digital Challenge. Taking out 10k in prize money. We are meeting with the National Arboretum this week to look at rolling out ARboretum across their 100+ forests.

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Look out Canberra our new beta app for the National Arboretum is ready!

APositive Admin — Fri, 27 Mar 2015 01:08:53 +0000

ARboretum helps you enjoy the full wonders of National Arboretum forests through your ears as well as your eyes. Download the free augmented reality ARboretum app to your smartphone or tablet and stroll through the marked forests. ARboretum charts your forest location and merges what you see with wild sounds native to the forest’s country of origin. The artist-designed soundscapes change randomly, giving you a unique experience each time you visit.

With ARboretum you can also explore information on the trees that make up these forests. Scan surrounding landscapes and immediately access the Arboretum’s web content on the trees, their origins and their significance.

Bonus free augmented reality content gives you sneak peak at some of the animals that are native to these forests. Who will be the first to spot them?

Team members with iPads will be on hand this Sunday to help you get started. Take a walk on the wild sound with ARboretum.

12pm – 1pm – Visitor centre

2pm – 3:30pm – Cork Oak Forrest

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The next leap forward in architecture

APositive Admin — Fri, 31 Oct 2014 03:19:57 +0000

Although hyper-realistic computer-generated renders have been around for a long time in architectural circles, it is surprising that architects have yet to catch on to the next phase of interactive technology—augmented reality (AR)—to help in their design process.
Perceived barriers such as AR integration with popular design tools like CAD are rapidly being quashed by software that does link the two.
Customised AR apps can now allow architects to perform a range of functions beyond the abilities of the previous generation of computer-generated renders.
Using AR architects can look inside static architectural models; visualise external sun angles and shadows throughout a day; track and display how wind would flow around their designs; simulate events such as fire evacuations; or how people would move through or leave a building.
AR apps can allow architects to switch between day and night views of their building or gain a sense of how it sits in a dynamic environment, with trees, birds, passing cars and pedestrians (including sound effects).
‘Ghosted’ overlays can help clients or laypeople explore and understand an architect’s logic, colour design and sense of scale.
They can even be used to collaborate with builders to identify any problem areas in construction.
The beauty of all of this is that it can be done in real-time (no need to wait for a render) with AR versions that allow for real-time manipulation of 3D objects in the environment, and spatial alterations.
See an example of how AR is helping in a spatial planning here
If you’d like to talk about AR opportunities for your next project, contact APositive on 1800 787 564 or email us

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Giving big data a visual kick

APositive Admin — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 11:38:27 +0000

There’s a growing school of thought that humans’ ability to collect and generate data exceeds our ability to analyse it and share it (we’re talking zettabytes on the web … look it up and be astounded). So what mechanisms do we have that can help us understand big data and make it relevant? Augmented reality is one way that can provide a real-time data visualisation possibility. APositive is working behind the scenes on an exciting new project that will have far-reaching ramifications for our building industry and workforce. We can’t say too much yet, but we will get more information out the further we get into development. In the meantime, read what one expert has to say about Fortune 100 companies working with augmented reality.

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Skipping all the way to Melbourne ARt Fair

APositive Admin — Fri, 22 Aug 2014 01:02:01 +0000

Last week at the Melbourne Art Fair we gave an extra layer of animation to a painting of Victoria’s iconic Skipping Girl Vinegar sign—the nation’s first animated neon sign—for the Melbourne Art Fair. We worked with sound designer George Vlad to create an ambient soundscape including a faulty neon sign buzzing, distant traffic and swinging rusty gate. These, as well as subtle visual effects, are digitally overlayed on artist Jim Thalassoudis’s work Little Audrey: the skipping girl. The patrons at the fair access the effects by downloading our ‘APositive’ augmented reality application and scanning Thalassoudis’s painting or our gorgeous postcard representation of the painting.

We really wanted to enhance, but preserve the artistic merit of Jim Thalassoudis’s work which already possessed amazing visuals. To meet this endeavour, We chose sound as the principal augment. We created a program that randomly generates chosen soundbites allowing each viewer to experience a unique soundscape while viewing at the artwork through our AR app. The library of sounds can be continuously changed and expanded to ensure it remains fresh, and continually provide a new and different level of immersion for our audiences.

#AugmentedReality #ThroughGlass

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