Augmented Reality

Augmented reality is the technology that expands our physical world, adding layers of digital information onto it. Unlike Virtual Reality (VR), AR does not create the whole artificial environments to replace real with a virtual one. AR appears in direct view of an existing environment and adds sounds, videos, graphics to it.

A view of the physical real-world environment with superimposed computer-generated images, thus changing the perception of reality, is the AR.

The term itself was coined back in 1990, and one of the first commercial uses were in television and military. With the rise of the Internet and smartphones, AR rolled out its second wave and nowadays is mostly related to the interactive concept. 3D models are directly projected onto physical things or fused together in real-time, various augmented reality apps impact our habits, social life, and the entertainment industry.
AR apps typically connect digital animation to a special ‘marker’, or with the help of GPS in phones pinpoint the location. Augmentation is happening in real time and within the context of the environment, for example, overlaying scores to a live feed sport events.

There are 4 types of augmented reality today:

• markerless AR
• marker-based AR
• projection-based AR
• superimposition-based AR