transmote speaks…

Hello again. For your augmenting pleasure, here’s the first major-ish update since v1.0.

As Papervision is pretty much a dead project, I’ve been asked increasingly often to update the parts of FLARManager that use other frameworks. That’s the major focus of this release, but there are some other changes too.

FLARManager v1.1 can now stabilize tracking based on the user scenario you’re targeting. FLARManager.markerMode and FLARManager.patternMode allow more control over the amount of markers and patterns your application will track, and FLARCameraSource.activityThreshold is better integrated into FLARManager’s core to allow performance gains for stationary markers.

Of course, all of this is reflected in updated ASDoc-style documentation, and is documented here as well. And if you don’t want to take the time to understand what I’m talking about, just roll with the defaults and everything will be peachy.

As usual, you can get it via svn/download. Instructions here.

If you like what you see here, please consider flipping a penny or two my way:
donate to FLARManager

Also, in case you missed the news — ARToolworks is now hosting a FLARManager forum here. Please post support questions there for better tracking and archival. And in other communication news, I’m now on the twitters…look out for quickies about FLARManager, Flash, and all good things tech and design.

More on v1.1 after the jump…
Read on… »

Quick updates on code and on support:

Thanks to Makc, FLARManager now supports the latest (free) version of Alternativa3D. As of the time of writing, this means Alternativa3D version 7.6.0. The latest source in my SVN /trunk can be checked out as described here.

Also, I mentioned to ARToolworks that it’s not ideal for FLARManager users to have to wade through comments on previous posts to get support, and they offered to set up a forum specifically for FLARManager. I’m going to start forwarding questions posted on this site to the ARToolworks/FLARManager forum from now on. You can find the new forum here.

Of course, the FLARToolkit forum still exists as well, and I’ll keep my eye on both. Where should you post? Well, if your question is FLARManager-specific, better to post on the ARToolworks forum, as their staff will be helping me answer questions. If your question is more about FLARToolkit, stick with the FLARToolkit forum. Either way, your questions will be heard.

Another minor update, this time focused on Away3D.

v1.0.4 mainly just updates Away3D from 3.3.4 to 3.6.0, which uses the native flash.geom.Matrix3D instead of MatrixAway3D. This update also includes a new Away3D SWC.

As usual, you can get it via svn/download. Instructions here.

If you like what you see here, please consider flipping a penny or two my way:
donate to FLARManager

Note: Away3D v3.3.4 is no longer supported by FLARManager; if you need support for it, use FLARManager v1.0.3 or earlier.

So, I have to apologize for the CLibInit errors people have been running into when trying to compile the latest version. I left a reference to FlareTracker in FLARManagerProfiler.as when testing, and did not notice this caused Flash Builder to attempt to compile FlareTracker.as even though the default application is FLARManagerExampleLauncher.as.

This minor release, v1.0.3, fixes that problem. There’s not much else new here, except a couple minor bug fixes. As always, you can download via SVN or via the download link on the FLARManager page. You no longer have to get the flare* libraries to compile FLARManager; hope this helps all of you who’ve been struggling with CLibInit.

Oh! And. HAPPY HALLOWEEN

After learning today about a very clever trick by Deepanjan Das, I decided to implement it in FLARManager.

The trick, in short:
only send the camera source to FLARToolkit while there is noticeable motion.
The result:
less jitter when the marker is held still in front of the camera.

To implement in FLARManager:
Download the latest from svn, particularly FLARManager.as, FLARConfigLoader.as, and FLARCameraSource.as. the changes will automatically take effect.

To tweak the value, set activityThreshold within the <flarSourceSettings> element in flarConfig.xml. Set higher to further reduce jitter in stationary markers, and set lower to allow more freedom of motion with stationary markers.

Enjoy!

Minor update to FLARManager v1.0. Imagination has requested that I not distribute their libraries, so I’ve removed them from the FLARManager distro. This will make it easier for us to ensure both FLARManager and the flare* products are as up-to-date as possible, as well as smoothing out some other potential distribution issues.

However, this means that getting flare*tracker and flare*NFT projects running requires a bit more work. As such, I’ve reverted the examples and tutorials to use FLARToolkit, which I can distribute along with FLARManager, and also created this page to describe, in-depth, how to implement the various tracking engines that FLARManager supports.

Please take a moment to download the latest version of FLARManager and the current evaluation SDKs for flare*tracker and flare*NFT to ensure you’re up-to-date. And feel free to pester me with questions (as comments, below) about setting up your projects — I need your help to get the documentation as clear as possible.

Hello folks. I’m happy to announce that FLARManager is finally all growed-up!

FLARManager v1.0 has been quite a while in the making, especially the movement from v0.7. This is due to a number of factors; one of these has been working out the final details, between ARToolworks and Imagination, of flare*tracker and flare*NFT integration, which i first previewed in this blog post. But the major factor is the amount of restructuring that has gone into FLARManager.

Why restructure? FLARManager is now able to work with any tracking library, just as it’s able to work with any 3D framework. And switching between tracking libraries is as simple as this:

 
FLARToolkit:
new FLARManager("flarConfig.xml", new FlarToolkitManager(), this.stage);
flare*tracker:
new FLARManager("flarConfig.xml", new FlareManager(), this.stage);
flare*NFT:
new FLARManager("flarConfig.xml", new FlareNFTManager(), this.stage);

 
Obviously, the freedom given to application developers, creatives, and agencies by natural feature-tracking is the biggest element of this release to be excited about. But the restructuring goes deeper — FLARManager can now function as a link between *any* tracking library and *any* 3D framework. Developers are no longer bound to decisions based on limited availability or documentation; they are free to choose the tools that work best for them. (Some Californian CEOs would do well to pursue similar goals.)

You can get FLARManager version 1.0 here.

So what else is new about v1.0? A quick rundown beyond the jump…
Read on… »

i first announced this at FITC Toronto a few weeks ago, but was waiting to tie up some loose ends before i announced it here.

the newest version of FLARManager, which will be released shortly, abstracts the marker-tracking library out from the marker management framework (FLARManager’s core).

what does this mean?

in short, it means that FLARManager can now easily be updated to support any flash-based marker-tracking library. FLARToolkit (currently at v2.5.3) is the most obvious player, and FLARManager continues to support FLARToolkit. additionally, the newest version FLARManager will support flare*tracker and flare*NFT.

what are flare*tracker and flare*NFT?

[flare*tracker]
flare*tracker is a marker tracking engine much like FLARToolkit, and applies many of the same concepts. however, it is written completely from scratch in Alchemy, so it can achieve framerates up to 45+ fps. also, it supports six different marker types, including BCH ID-markers (with marker id encoded directly into the marker pattern, so no need to load pattern files and no speed penalty for many different patterns) and Data Matrix markers (with a url encoded into the marker pattern).

[flare*NFT]
flare*NFT is a ‘natural feature tracking’ engine, which means that it can track any printed image. not just square markers with black borders. any 2D image, from a magazine cover to a product box to a photograph, can be tracked. and since flare*NFT is also based on ARToolkitPlus, and written in Alchemy, it also shows great performance, generally around 30+ fps.

check out the following videos to see the difference between the three engines. and stay tuned for the release…
 
 

FLARManager – FLARToolkit 2.5.2. the FLARManager we all know and love.
 
 

FLARManager – flare. note the ID-marker, and framerates averaging in the 35-40fps range.
 
 

FLARManager – flareNFT. natural feature tracking made easy. blur? occlusion? glare? no problem.

version 0.7 has been a long time coming; a lot of the changes in this update have been in SVN for months. just been too busy too wrap them up into an update.

download here:
http://words.transmote.com/wp/flarmanager/

also! you know i do it all for the love. but love don’t pay the bills. please consider dropping a dime my way to help me continue working on FLARManager so i can put food in my cat’s bowl.

what is this?

FLARManager is a lightweight framework that makes it easier to build FLARToolkit augmented reality applications for Flash. it is compatible with a variety of 3D engines, and provides a more robust event-based system for managing marker addition, update, and removal. it supports detection and management of multiple patterns, and multiple markers of a given pattern.

what’s new this time around?

[marker motion analysis]
FLARManager now executes some simple analysis of the motion of each tracked marker. this information is used to improve tracking of fast-moving markers by extrapolating their position after they are lost by FLARToolkit, and is used to reduce model jitter by varying the amount of smoothing applied depending on marker speed. it could also be used, for example, to create simple gestural marker-based interfaces.
 
[FLARToolkit update and SVN restructure]
version 0.7 brings FLARManager more in line with the current state of the FLARToolkit repository, with branches for FTK 1.0.0 and FTK 2.5.1. the zipped distro for FLARManager 0.7 contains FLARToolkit 2.5.1; if you’re checking out via SVN and want the latest stable build, i recommend you use the FTK 2.5.1 branch.
Read on… »

i will (most likely) be speaking at the first Augmented Reality Development Camp this saturday, december 5, @ Hacker Dojo in mountain view, CA.

http://www.ardevcamp.org/

my session will address the web component of AR, and will tie in with discussions on mobile AR, standards, experience design, and more. i believe (free!) registration is still open, on the site above. stop by!