Inglobe Technologies

Category: Inglobe Technologies

Marketing and Metaverse: a chance for brands?

The most searched word of the moment? “Metaverse”: with 677,000 results on Google, the hashtag #Metaverse is used extensively on Instagram, with over 60,000 posts and tweeted more than 500 times per hour.

By now it seems clear that the world of the Internet is changing and that we are watching the advent of the next big breakthrough in the world of innovation.

The Metaverse will be the Internet of the Future: it will change the way we perceive the world and interact with others, it will modify the way we enjoy experiences, it will create new ways of marketing and communicating, and it will make new immersive experiences with high emotional impact for its customers, thanks to the use of augmented and virtual reality.

The opportunities and advantages offered by the Metaverse for the world of marketing are many, offering new tools, new spaces to sell and buy products, new shop windows and new worlds, placing the user at the center of this new technological ecosystem based on the creation and enjoyment of experiences.

When and how will one of the most innovative sectors like marketing change in the Metaverse?

During the pandemic, digital has become the main place where many marketing processes such as collaboration, training, communication, but also sales, meetings and events have moved to, building, in a very short time, its own rules.

To be digital and to keep up with the new “Metaverse” world is no longer a choice. For brands, a new frontier is opening up in which to find new ways of building relationships with their target audience, existing and potential consumers. Today, marketing processes and strategies must be adapted to a more immersive experience: multichannel, new generation and performance, customer journey.

But that’s not all: brands are also trying to increase brand awareness in the Metaverse, by starting to study its potential. It is not just about recreating the physical world, but about expressing and sharing brand values “somewhere else” and in another way. For companies, marketing will mean designing increasingly immersive and engaging ideas and experiences for their customers. In fact, the key word that describes and characterizes the Metaverse is: user experience. The goal is to improve the quality of time spent on mobile devices, building new unique adventures that are closer to the real world.

Thanks to the Metaverse, marketing experts will be able to develop a perfect marketing strategy for their target audience, as they will be able to simulate the effectiveness of a point of sale or a promotional campaign, verify the interest of the public towards a product, create a contest, implement a hybrid creative staff between the real and the virtual world. The Metaverse allows for answers and verifications, eliminating surveys or questionnaires, which users sometimes consider boring and repetitive.

What can we expect from the world of marketing in the future?

Marketers will have to broaden their horizons and will have to think in “3D” and imagine not only the user’s in-store experience, but also a safe and efficient experience that can be enjoyed directly from the couch at home, through a VR.

The Metaverse, with its innovations, radically revolutionizes advertising and marketing techniques, such as the ‘day one’ for the launch of a new product on the market by a brand: promotional events could take place in virtual mode with unlimited access, within a specially constructed digital space, providing participants with some exclusive benefits linked to this experience.

In particular, these are going to be the main changes:

– As narrative techniques become 3D, marketing and advertising methods are also transformed: advertisers will have to respect and not interrupt the immersive and shared experience of users in the Metaverse. In order to engage and retain users, therefore, new advertising methods designed to blend fluidly into the Metaverse’s spatial dimension will be needed – completely eliminating methods such as interstitial pages that interrupt the digital experience, distracting and unnerving users. Examples of innovative forms of advertising are Nike’s virtual launch of its latest Air Jordan in Fortnite, or Gillette Venus offering different skins in Animal Crossing New Horizons.

– SEO will also be present in the Metaverse: just as we optimize content to be indexed in search engines, it is time to start positioning ourselves in the world of the Metaverse as well.

– Gamification will become an essential element of communication: interacting in a virtual three-dimensional space where users can have experiences enriched by the perception of their own and others’ presence in the shared space. The feeling of being together with other people in a digital space expands the palette of actions, reactions and ideas that can arise from interaction with others, perceived in a digital proximity implemented in the 3D space of the Metaverse.

Metaverse for e-commerce?

The answer is obviously yes. According to the report “Social Media Trends 2022” the Metaverse in e-commerce could even become a “trend” as early as next year; the growth of e-commerce in the Metaverse is a trend that will see strong growth in the coming years. The Metaverse for e-commerce could meet the needs of sellers and end consumers, allowing a virtual contact similar to the real one you can experience in the typical retail space. Above all, it responds perfectly to the needs of the new generation Z, the key target for the next 20 years, who do not perceive the barrier between offline and online. More and more brands are ready to adopt the Metaverse for ecommerce, introducing increasingly revolutionary features that will allow offline and online shopping to become a symbiosis.

The Metaverse will allow brands to offer shoppers a highly personalized digital experience that focuses on a seamless solution that makes it easier for customers to find exactly what they want and when they want it. It will be possible, thanks to virtual reality, to recover the concept of spatiality by being able to walk through shopping centers with the convenience of not even having to leave the house. A remotely controlled avatar will make every move for the user with the freedom to shop.

What can companies do to get the most out of the Metaverse in Marketing?

Many brands are giving their marketing space in the metaverse:

– Coca-Cola celebrated International Friendship Day on 30 July with the launch of its first collectibles in the virtual world, through a three-day auction. A friendship box containing some of the brand’s most iconic “objects”, but reinvented for the metaverse. For the occasion, Coca Cola also held an event in the decentraland metaverse;

– For the launch of its new model, the Nissan Juke car manufacturer decided to use customer engagement to engage and guide its users in their choice of product through various games and immersive realities. Stimulating conversion thanks to the emotional power of the video game;

– Microsoft, presented Mesh for Teams that allows users to participate in video calls as avatars, providing a sense of shared presence in a meeting. You can connect from any device, without necessarily needing VR/AR viewers.

The Metaverse in the marketing sector enables the merging of the physical and virtual worlds to significantly enrich consumers’ everyday experiences.

March 23, 2022
How the fashion world is moving into the Metaverse

The concept of Metaverse, especially in the fashion world, became particularly popular during the Pandemic, when people could not go out and shop. But what is the Metaverse? “A three-dimensional space within which individuals can move, share and interact through personalised avatars”.

What can we expect in the future from this?

Balenciaga, Gucci, Moncler, Ray-Ban and Nike are just some of the fashion brands that have given in to the charms of the Metaverse. The fashion & luxury world sees great opportunities to collaborate with consumers in the Metaverse, a collective and “persistent” virtual reality that some experts believe will radically transform the way people shop.

Morgan Stanley’s forecasts show that the Metaverse and NFT will make up 10% of the luxury goods market by 2030, with a profit opportunity of ?50 billion, confirming the new trend that sees consumers increasingly involved in entertainment that combines digital experience-gaming-purchasing. The shopping experience can be personalised, offering the customer the possibility to interact with their favourite designer or physically attend fashion shows.

The growth rate of the Metaverse in the fashion world motivates the emergence of new specialised professions. Vogue India, for example, points to a new phenomenon: the emergence of agencies that enable them to digitise collections, to prepare everything needed to debut in the Metaverse.

How could the Metaverse revolutionise the fashion industry?

Fashion has always been a spokesperson for the social changes taking place and the role of the fashion designer is to present the market with the new contents and the transformations taking place, using an aesthetic language, made up of shapes and materials and now also of “immaterial” goods, that go straight to people’s emotional sphere.

For some brands in the fashion world, the Metaverse represents more than just a marketing opportunity, it is a greater possibility to express their creativity fully and without limits, and above all a good opportunity to reduce the environmental impact of fashion.

The development of these technologies, in fact, could allow the production of digital fashion shows, where guests feel like they are attending in person, and offer personal shopping appointments where customers meet remotely with the designer to ‘wear’ the latest collections without getting on a plane.

For example, Fashion Week takes place in several cities around the world, twice a year, with a significant environmental impact, as demonstrated by a 2020 Research Project, which measured the carbon emissions of the journey undertaken by shoppers and designers to attend just the four major fashion weeks (New York, London, Paris and Milan). The study found that total emissions amounted to 241,000 tonnes of CO2e, equivalent to 51,000 cars on the road or lighting the Eiffel Tower for 3,060 years.

What kind of advantages can fashion brands seize from the metaverse?

The Metaverse, in the fashion world, is an excellent opportunity to translate one’s value system into an even more universal form: this interconnected reality offers the possibility of making the brand known, of transmitting the values, principles and above all the products of a brand to an enormous and almost unlimited universe, giving the brand a contemporary and technological mood.This new reality is also a chance to connect with the future luxury audience, Generation Z, which has a sectoral language that traditional fashion brands struggle to understand.

Another advantage is the possibility of becoming an open, accessible and democratic space, where anyone can express their creativity. Even young designers could make their work known, without having to enter the armoured calendars of the official Fashion Weeks. This is the case of the designer who won the British Fashion Award for Metaverse Design, cSapphire, who as well as creating personalised outfits for the platform’s players, has a store that has sold over 2.5 million items, making only digital clothes.

Is gaming the future of fashion?

What is now closest to the Metaverse are gaming platforms, such as Fortnite. An example of this is the collaboration between Balenciaga and Fortnite, which has made it possible to buy clothes inspired by various Balenciaga designs, within the game. Most of these joint ventures offer buyers the chance to get their hands on a limited edition physical garment, such as the one featured in the game.

The combination of the video game and fashion industries offers unlimited opportunities for creativity that will go beyond the physical constraints of the fashion industry, avatars being of any shape you wish.

Roblox is another platform where several maisons have experimented their entry into this interconnected future. Consumers can create their own virtual user (customising their avatar in terms of style and accessories), socialise with other users and buy goods and products with the platform’s currency. Many brands, such as Louis Vuitton, have used these spaces to find new forms of promotion. Louis Vuitton collaborated with Riot Games and created original skins for League of Legends and even created a fashion collection from the game.?

Gucci launched a digital version of its Dyonisus bag on Roblox, which was made available on the platform for 48 hours in limited quantities. The result was explosive: the price of the bag far exceeded the initial price, reaching 350 thousand Roblux, translated into 4 thousand dollars.

On the same platform, Stella McCartney sold sunglasses, duvets and tote bags, while Vans created a skatepark, and a virtual shop in which to buy and customise their trainers. Valentino and Marc Jacobs customised Animal Crossing wardrobes.

Maison Dior has also partnered with the Ready Player Me platform to work on the launch of an interactive experience that its customers can only enjoy in the metaverse: each user can create their own digital avatar and bring it to life in brand-inspired environments, buy Dior fragrances and connect to video games and apps integrated into the platform.

How will fashion be perceived in the Metaverse?

United Colors of Benetton completely revolutionised its Corso Vittorio Emanuele shop during Milan Fashion Week, adapting it to the new store in the Metaverse that will open at the same time with the same experiential look and feel. The metaverse signifies a new generation of virtual reality, in which new technologies will make online interaction increasingly similar to the real thing. Visitors will not buy clothes but participate in gaming experiences that will allow them to accumulate QR codes to make purchases in the physical store. A choice that creates a further touchpoint with the consumer in the brand’s omnichannel strategy.

From the 24th to the 27th of March, the first Metaverse Fashion Week will take place through “Decentraland”. Participation in the fashion week is free of charge and does not require an invitation. During the days of the event, you will be able to take part in shows, presentations, concerts and after parties organised by the participating brands, as well as buy special outfits for your avatar and real items with Mana cryptocurrency.

Digital fashion is not an alternative to real fashion, but another face of it. The Metaverse is opening up endless possibilities for brands, who are aware that they have to interact with consumers in both virtual and physical reality, building a single reality.

March 8, 2022
2022: the rise or the fall of NFTs?

In the past year, NFTs became one of the most talked-about topics in the crypto-world, marking their biggest rise since their creation in 2014. So, if 2021 marked an incredible increase of NFT, what can we expect from NFTs in 2022? Will 2022 be the rise or the fall of NFTs?

Well, before making any predictions about the future, let us take a step back and analise what we are really talking about. What is an NFT?

What is an NFT?

Before discovering wether 2022 will be the rise or the fall of NFTs, let’s start understanding what they really are. NFT is the acronym of “Non-fungible-token”. It is “fungible” anything that can be exchanged or replaced with something identical, whereas “non-fungible” is everything that cannot be replaced, something unique. For example, it is possible to change/exchange any kind of banknote, that means that it is “fungible”, but it is impossible to change an NFT with another since it is not interchangeable. Each NFT has unique properties and is not worth the same amount as another one.

The biggest characteristic of the NFT is its “digital exclusive”, in the sense that an NFT can only be anything digital: a drawing, music, game-item, a video… everything that can be put in the digital world (so basically everything) and that can be traded with cryptocurrency (the most used in this field is Ethereum, but there are many more). Anyone has probably heard about the NFT of the first tweet in history, created by the Founder of Twitter Jack Dorsey, sold for over $2.9 million. Curious to know more about it, now?

Create and sell an NFT

Non-Fungible-Tokens can be bought and sold, exactly like other cryptocurrencies, on specialised platforms. One of the biggest NFTs platforms is OpenSea. OpenSea is a marketplace specialised in the buying-and-selling of crypto currencies and digital assets. It’s based on the Ethereum Blockchain (one of the most known cryptocurrency at the moment after BitCoin). The reason why OpenSea is gaining popularity day by day is its extreme simplicity. In fact, it is very intuitive and easy to use. All you have to do is create an account on the platform, connect an Ethereum wallet and upload the digital contents you want to sell.

How NFTs can change the art market

Needless to say, the art market, above all the others, is the one that, maybe, compose the biggest part of the NFTs, indeed, one of the most appreciated aspects of the NFTs is exactly its use for the digital art market. Until now, digital artists have always struggled with the economic and recognition part of their work since this idea of “an easy-to-replicate” kind of art and therefore the tendency of being less considered. With the “non-fungible” aspect, NFTs can totally reverse this factor and digital art creations, making every NFT unique. In this way, finally, the digital art world might have the recognition it deserves and be “treated” exactly like any other tangible artistic work. Apparently, the rise of the NFT in the art field is due not only to the possibility of seeing your artwork recognised, but also to the possible and appealing amount of money that an artist could do with its art, because of the tendency of taking as example some of the “ones who made it”, for example the Digital artist Beeple who sold “Everydays — the First 5000 Days” for $69.3 million or the famous CryptoPunk NFT sold for $1.8 million.

NFTs are not just related to art…

It must be said that Non-fungible-tokens are not only applicable in the Art area. As said, everything that can be digital can be transformed into an NFT, thus, you can now have access to certain events only by buying a special NFT ticket. The ultimate news makes it known to the world that in 2023 we will also be able to see the first NFT Restaurant directly from New York, where, by owning a Restaurant NFT you will somehow receive a membership that allows you to enter and hopefully dine in the Restaurant.

AR NFTs, the new frontier

2021 was the year of NFTs. Well, they actually existed since 2014, but this past year they experienced a real massive explosion and, whether you are an expert in the subject or not, you have probably heard this word at least once by now.

Thus, for 2022, the NFT world is beginning to speak about AR NFTs (Augmented Reality Non-Fungible-Tokens) as the new frontier of the NFTs. For the first time, NFTs which have always been restricted in the bidimensional world, could now have access to the three dimensional world. In other words, including the AR element in the creation of an NFT you add the ability to visualise it in your physical surroundings by using a specific app or a website.

Moreover, the use of AR NFTs could add the “scarcity aspect” even more. Indeed, especially for the tourism sector, it could be interesting adding some AR content only available with NFTs, such as a particular AR guide in a museum, 3D access to exclusive parts of the gallery or even the chance to see a work of art such as a paint or a sculpture in a deeper and more accurate way.

As we have seen so far, creating an NFT is quite simple and intuitive (especially using well known platforms). What could seem a little bit more challenging is creating an AR NFT, since it might require the addition of tools and platforms that allow the visualisation in the environment. The biggest advantage, though, is exactly this one: in a world where NFTs are created with an extreme simplicity, having the possibility to create a different work could make the creator stand out among the others, creating immersive and outstanding experiences.

Why NFTs could fall

According to a large part of the web, though, Non-Fungible-Tokens are going towards a slow fall, especially due to the several damages that they might be responsible for. Thus, it would be irresponsible to not mention the risks and disadvantages that occur in selling and buying NFTs.

Owning an NFT does not mean you can use it

The first incomprehension that seems to appear all the time is actually around the very definition of NFTs. Indeed, buying and “owning” a specific NFT does not mean being able to do everything you want with it, like copy it or using it for other purposes. You just own it. That might generate concerning thoughts about the very reason why you should buy an NFT in the first place, if basically it might be something that can be seen/listened/viewed anytime from any screen.

“Different” points of view about NFT art really is

Another concerning aspect of NFTs involves the art market. Apparently, the large amount of “artistic creations” in the NFT world may actually damage the NFT art market, because of the speculative aims that non-artists can have. That is why considering art something like code-made lions or monkeys for many users can appear difficult and people start asking if creations that do not seem very “artistic” (maybe because of a lack of emotions, soul and passion put into the creation of them) might not be worth buying and therefore create mistrust.

The risk of getting scammed

Despite its large popularity, NFTs world does not have legal guarantees yet that protect buyers and sellers, thus the chance of being scammed seem to be quite high. The buyer can never really know if the NFT bought refers to something created by the seller or if it is something taken from other parts. Something even worse could occur, like selling NFTs that are not even present in the digital world.

The negative impact on the environment

Another aspect that needs to be discussed is the environmental one. The super strong computers that generate NFTs consume an enormous amount of energy. These computers need very high capacity in order to work with the Ethereum Blockchain and guarantee proof-of-work (sort of security system that oversees transactions in the cryptocurrency world). In fact, when selling and buying an NFT, there is the so-called “gas fee” which is exactly a fee that needs to be paid for having used a large amount of energy. There are websites, such as cryptoart.wtf where it is possible to see the amount of emission that NFTs are making. According to cryptoart, the footprint of the NFT Space Cat seems to be not so far from the electricity usage for two months of an EU citizen.

At the end, it is quite impossibile to declare wether 2022 will be the rise or the fall of NFTs. What we can say is that despite all the risks and the disadvantages of selling/buying NFTs, it must be said that the predictions are quite positive. Apparently, the NFT market is going to change, improve and surely become bigger. There are already movements towards an NFT market greener replacing proof-of-work with proof-of-stake. According to the crypto experts, something about the safety of buying/selling NFTs will be made soon. About NFTs creators, instead, it appears that Augmented Reality will play a very significant role in the renewal of the 2022NFTs.

March 2, 2022
Art Galleries meet Augmented Reality

Art galleries with Augmented Reality are changing considerably, moving more and more towards the world of digitalisation, promoting a new contemporary way of experiencing and looking at art.??

Art galleries are making room for the world of optical illusion and 360-degree augmented reality, experimenting with new ways of making and communicating art. AR adds new elements to the real world of art galleries and is a simpler and more mature technology because it manages not to distort the history and elements of that place, but instead adds more engaging ways of enjoying it and spreading its beauty.

New technologies, such as AR, have strengthened the relationship between artists and viewers, improving their ability to understand and evaluate the work of art despite the increase in distances and the relative division caused by the physical detachment that has affected this historical interval. This is precisely where Augmented Reality is making its appearance, a digital technology that is increasingly being used in the art world not only to provide the audience with new experiences, but also to find new ways of bringing art to the public, becoming more immersive and improving the experience inside galleries.?

Augmented reality for art

If until now we thought of Augmented Reality as a tool used only and exclusively in the world of games, today it is increasingly expanding its horizons by positively affecting the world of art, adding elements of entertainment and surprise, thus increasing visitors? engagement. AR offers the possibility of living original and highly personalized experiences.

Through the use of electronic devices, such as smartphones, tablets and wearables, it is possible for visitors to see, in addition to physical artworks, additional virtual artworks in the surrounding space of the art galleries and museums. Such pieces of art can be visualized in their real size, can be moved and manipulated freely (zooming, rotating, etc?). Augmented reality is destined to be increasingly exploited in the art world, not only as an alternative to a physical exhibition, but also in support of it.

By the end of 2022, according to Gartner’s The Future of Immersive Experiences research, 70% of art galleries will have experimented with immersive technologies to make the visitor experience unique.?

Augmented reality painting

With AR, even paintings come to life, acquiring three-dimensionality, becoming interactive with the user?s touch, transforming and moving, finally developing new surprises for the viewer with unseen and engaging virtual visual effects. Digital technology is opening up a new dimension of art and new ways of enjoying it, bringing the secrets of artistic language closer to an increasingly wide audience. Touching works of art, an action that is definitely not permitted in museums, has become the dominant experience of viewing paintings. It is indeed very common to find displays of varying sizes in museums and art galleries, however they often provide a very limited interactivity, that is also physically disconnected from the artwork itself.

AR glasses allow several works to be viewed at the same time and to move them freely through space. The use of AR in art galleries brings numerous advantages both in setting up an exhibition and in a museum, let?s explore the most relevant ones.

Create art galleries with augmented reality: what are the advantages?

The advantages, in addition to return on investment (ROI), are many: augmented reality allows younger generations such as Millennials & Generation Z to be involved, and offers the possibility of retargeting operations, that is, personalized ads that intercept users based on their online behavior, as well as the attention of the public, conveying a sense of freshness and innovation and thus increasing perceived value.

https://www.inglobetechnologies.com/ar-media/

A cultural visit that is different, alternative and/or complementary to the traditional one, allowing the user to live a totally immersive experience and the art gallery to increase profits and earnings.

In addition, augmented reality allows for greater usability by reaching geographically dispersed audiences. It is an ideal tool where there is no possibility to visit a live art gallery.

All these different advantages allow the art gallery to attract an increasingly diverse audience, thus increasing engagement and interaction. Augmented reality is coming to generate a hybrid of dream and creation. An artist can decide to let us enter directly into his mind, into the way he perceives the world, involving us at 360 degrees.

Examples of art exhibitions in augmented reality:

Augmented reality in the form of multimedia storytelling is becoming increasingly popular. Art galleries are offering visitors special glasses or inviting them to download an app on their smartphones that allows them to see additional virtual content such as images, videos, 3D models and listen to audio files in real time while simultaneously observing what they see.

– In Italy, more precisely in Palermo. 30 young creatives, including artists, designers, architects and graphic designers, during a Public Imagination Workshop “Call for (AR)tist”, hosted by Palermo’s Gallery of Modern Art, adopted 20 works of street art scattered throughout Palermo’s historic center and based on them created new digital animations usable in augmented reality.

– The initiative launched by the Art Gallery of Ontario was also very successful. The Toronto gallery used digital technology to animate the paintings in its rooms. Thanks to the support of their electronic devices, visitors were able to interact directly with the subjects depicted in the paintings. For each painting, there was not only an explanation, but also a character who came to life telling stories to the visitors.

– Lisson Gallery, with exhibition spaces in London, New York and Shanghai, has launched an augmented reality app that allows you to view the works inside your home, an online exhibition by artist Rodney Graham. The effect of augmented reality comes close to the real thing and can be viewed and edited.

– The Looking Glass aims to transform some outdoor spaces into a large open-air museum, to be explored with your smartphone. To admire the works of art, all you have to do is download the appropriate app and place the device in front of the various QR codes scattered around the city. Once the simple operation has been completed, the seventeen works of art by KAWS, Olafur Eliasson, Tom?s Saraceno and the winner of the Frieze Artist Award 2021, Precious Okoyomon, will magically appear in the urban space. A myriad of impalpable and ephemeral “sculptures” to be visualized thanks to technology.

February 24, 2022
Inglobe wins NPO 3FM Challenge to transform the radio studio into a virtual set

Last February 10th 2022 Inglobe Technologies was declared winner of the NPO 3FM Challenge, winning the chance to develop a pilot project for the Dutch radio with the goal to transform the live box used for live music performance, into a virtual set with the characteristics of being expandable and immersive.

In November 2021 MediaMatters announced this new innovation challenge involving NPO Innovation (the innovation department of the Dutch public broadcasting organization NPO) and NPO 3FM, a public radio station in The Netherlands.

After the initial proposals received from 34 companies, only the best 5 were invited to pitch in Hilversum, where the radio station is located. The winner has been awarded € 35.000 to do a pilot at the radio station.

NPO 3FM was looking for innovative and creative solutions, including those that use AR, to enable new ways of visualization in the field of live music performances. They asked that the submitted solution should make performances feel dynamic, authentic and attractive for performers and audience, and appealing to share.

According to NPO Innovation, “The quality of the challenge entries was very high. Inglobe’s solution came closest to the objective of the challenge: how to make the performances in the 3FM Livebox more dynamic and therefore more attractive for both audience and artists.”

Inglobe presented a solution based on its brand new Metastudio platform, a system designed to take advantage of the radio/TV studio space without the need of adding green screens or other expensive solutions like LED Walls.

Metastudio leverages Augmented Reality and Real Time tracking in order to create a hybrid environment where physical performances can be integrated into a virtual set extension with potentially infinite settings.

Thanks to Metastudio, NPO 3FM will be able to create virtual set extensions around the performers as well as to include virtual characters into the stage that may impersonate hosts, guests or even DJs. Other than just enhancing live music performances, Metastudio will provide tools and presets to manage a wide variety of use cases, including interviews, DJ sets and even Quizzes.

Inglobe’s Virtual Production division is working hard to deliver solutions that will allow broadcasting companies to bring the Metaverse into broadcasting, in order to provide a superior experience to the audience.

February 23, 2022
AR in Educational Books: how to use it?

Augmented Reality in education is considered today as an indispensable tool of the whole educational system, from the primary school to university.

The use of Augmented Reality in education allows the transition from the so-called “teaching-listening” to an active and participative method of study, in which children, class and teachers are involved in the learning process. They are no longer just observers, but protagonists. We talk about ‘augmented learning‘, which aims to stimulate students’ creative and communicative abilities.

Augmented reality applied to education actively involves students of all ages, giving them real learning experiences that improve their understanding of what they are studying and that foster interaction with the content, thus improving not only learning but also the level of attention, thanks to the effect of surprise and wonder.

AR in education is also an inclusive tool that allows teachers to integrate communication and to simplify it: from primary schools to higher education or university, extended realities can help teachers to explain complex concepts and visualise physical objects that are difficult to understand presented by the flattened and unrealistic images of books; thus allowing to study all subjects in an engaging way: from biology to art, from physics to chemistry up to computer science and languages.

Interactive content with Augmented Reality in Educational Books

Is it really essential to make use of Augmented Reality in school books and teaching materials? The answer is yes. Numerous studies on the brain provide evidence that the best way to learn and therefore remember what you are studying for longer is to “do”. Studies have shown that, after two weeks, students remember only 10% of what they have read, but as much as 90% of what they have actively done.

Augmented reality makes the learning experience immersive and therefore exciting, the more the material to be learned is linked to emotions the longer the memory retention will be, because it is designed to be relevant to the brain.

What are the benefits of Augmented Reality for Education in school books?

– Making connections and stimulating curiosity: augmented reality (AR) allows students and teachers to superimpose information, images and other content onto real-world scenes. This creates new contexts and effective connections that enhance learning and promote understanding. Teachers can use augmented reality apps in the classroom to turn it into a planetarium, making a science lesson more relevant;

– Stimulate engagement through realistic explorations in motion; visualise and experiment during science or physics lessons;

– Delving into hidden levels and systems based not only on theory but also on pratice part to become more familiar with the teaching material by allowing students to move and explore;

– Enriching existing programmes with extra content in the form of video, audio, animation and immersive storytelling;

– Carrying out large-scale projects and proposing challenges, the student will also stimulate problem solving skills and teamwork through the use of AR.

New Ideas for STEM Subjects Lessons

You can imagine how many things can be done during STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) lessons from the primary school to the university. During math lessons students can move between 3D shapes and graphs.

In science classes, students can see the life cycle of an animal they are studying, study a live specimen in AR and explore its organs, systems and vocabulary as if they were looking at the animal in the flesh.

AR is used for learning during physics lessons, allowing students to experiment with atomic nuclei and the reactions in which they are involved.

Use cases of Augmented Reality in education

We have analysed some use cases where we believe augmented reality can have a strong impact on school books.

Use case 1: Getting in touch with the studied content

A software platform was designed to let students immerse themselves in the ecosystem of a river and explore how water interacts with animals, plants and human habitats. They could also discover what happens when the balance is altered. The learners came into contact with animals, discovered rivers, dams and ecosystems in other parts of the world.

Case study 2: The development of an educational video game.

A video game platform was developed to engage its students and assign them ‘alternative’ tasks.

By modifying even just the form of classic mathematical problems and inserting invented characters or simple stories, the students worked more enthusiastically and with better results. To find out how the story ended and what happened to the main characters, students had to solve the maths and physics problems they encounter each time.

The Liquid Book. Updating existing materials with AR.

In the effort of offering up to date and fresh educational content, most publishers release annual updates of their books and student, in turn, have to buy them even if they owned an older edition of the very same title. This need of continuously updating educational books may not be percieved positively from families that can’t pass the books of their first born to their second child.

AR actually offers a solution to this problem by providing the updates, and even selling them, through a mobile app, in association with the book. Publishers can monetise on the updates only, without needing to produce a new edition altogether (with all its relevant costs) and the book enjoys an extended lifespan.

No longer an enemy to fight, the second hand market becomes in fact an indirect ally for the circulation of the “cornerstone-book” upon which to build a new way of enjoying contents (with even vertical integration opportunities). Families attain significant savings. Think of a case where, instead of 50 euro for a brand new book, one can pay 25 euro for its second hand version plus 7 euro for the relevant updates: savings in the region of 35/40% are not unreasonable to imagine.

This hypothesis of “liquid book” would then resolve the false trade-off between publishers’ profits and unwarranted costs out the families’ pockets, while allowing a plunge in the digital era without leaving the reassuring presence of the physical book.

But there is more. Employing augmented reality would open endless possibilities in terms of innovative contents, as well as offer a helpful tool for students with special needs – all stemming from the very same cornerstone: the good old schoolbook.

Finally, there is a significant environment-related consideration to make: not only would the liquid book model reduce the waste of quickly dismissed books, but also the Co2 emissions linked to the production and distribution of the final product.

A win for all, then? Well, not really, as it would appear. In the depicted scenario, the actual manufacturers of the books, that is, the printing companies, seem to be the ones losing out.

Not so fast, though. This proposal does not threaten the book: it saves it.

The most likely alternative scenario, in fact, is not the indefinite conservation of the status quo – clearly unrealistic – but a radical online shift instead: augmented reality can give paper a new life.

In a such re-designed value chain, printing companies should in fact consider to include augmented reality within their products’ portfolio: by using ad-hoc platforms they can do so without developing in-house technical competences – hence without shifting their focus away from their core business – thus innovate in a planned and strategic manner, not in a panicky response to a sudden threat.

February 4, 2022
Give new life to your Newspaper using AR

You can give new life to your Newspapers with AR. Since we all saw the first film of Harry Potter, back in 2001, we all imagined how it could have been to have the first page of our favorite newspaper moving, having life and maybe showing you exactly what you want to see. Well, thanks to the “magic” of Augmented Reality, this is now finally possible.

Of course, the AR “magic” can be activated only using a digital “wand” such as our everyday smartphone or tablet. The process itself is quite easy: using a mobile device, the AR app recognises the target image and lets you see the “magic” appear, watching the photo or the article coming to life through your device.

Why you should give new life to your Newspaper using AR

To increase the engagement and therefore sales

New generations tend to use printed products less, especially newspapers, since they now grow up surrounded by technology tools in every step of their lives. Younger generations, indeed, may find printed products slower, less updated and less engaging, simply because of a lack of interactivity that digital products instead offer constantly. It is known, now, that digital is taking over print more and more every year. Using AR, though, the interactivity aspect is fully filled, giving to the readers an enhanced engagement with the content.

To have an updated Newspaper with open information

If printed products are well known for their static nature, the use of AR can mutate this aspect too. When a newspaper is published, the information on it cannot be changed or updated and sometimes, when published, the news is already old. AR can resolve (or evolve) this feature by adding, for example, a link to the news to make the readers be able to stay updated about the developments of that particular news.

The article in the newspaper could also be only a fragment of the news and by using AR, the reader could have the chance to see more about that news, with deeper investigations by way of videos, updated articles, more photos and so on…

To make readers “hear” the Article

Everyone happens to be so busy that there is no time to read a full article, so think: “what if I could listen to it on my way to work?”. Well, with AR this is possible. Connecting the reader’s smartphone to the newspaper, the reader might be able to listen to the article or every other content present in the newspaper. Moreover, it is important to say that not only it is something that can help busy or lazy people, but also the ones who have sight problems and find it difficult to read a normal newspaper article.

To share a deeper knowledge thanks to the Three-dimensionality

The AR Three-dimensionality is definitely one of the main aspects that give new life to your Newspaper. The adoption of AR in newspapers can also help the reader to better understand specific graphic content thanks to the transformation of those in 3D models, perfectly seen in the mobile device. For instance, it is possible to have a full 3D view of a photo or an object present in the newspaper, by simply scanning it on the mobile device and looking at it from every angle.

To create active readers

Using AR in the newspaper might also mean being an active reader and making real contributions in the collection of the news. It might be possible, indeed, for the readers to add their own information, creating a sort of open source newspaper where everyone can add comments, integrate information and maybe share footage of what happened in that article. That could even help the journalists who are looking for deeper information and make the reader feel like an active helper in the newspaper and raise in him the willingness to read the next page, the next day and the day after and the day after that…

The worlds of information and publishing are more and more going through a digitalization path and the adoption of AR could integrate the print product with the digital, creative a more tangible, immersive and innovative way of making information.

February 2, 2022
City Tours with AR & VR: travel beyond the limits
City Tours with AR & VR offer tourism unlimited possibilities to engage the consumer, tourist visits could become more interesting and particularly attractive for all types of visitors, including the youngest. Virtual reality involves the use of a headset, which helps to bring a user into a digital environment. Through the use of images and sounds, the user is placed in a virtual world, in which she can move around and interact with the environment. Augmented reality city guides can create a fun, interactive and flexible way of visiting the city.

Immersive City Tours create an interesting new way to explore a new and unfamiliar city as well as cultural heritage sites. Using dedicated AR & VR applications for mobile or wearable devices, pieces of useful information can appear at certain locations, for example playing videos of major attractions, displaying tourist itineraries and also offering the possibility for users to set a destination and create a customized route according to their needs and tastes.

AR & VR City Tours combine new advances in Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality technologies to provide travellers with more exciting and smart tour guiding experiences. Wherever they are, users can take advantage of these technologies to experience their next travel adventure. The use of 3D and other multimedia content can help capture users’ attention through sensory experiences, stimulate or recreate certain moods and feelings, create stimuli and invite action.

Let AR & VR apps become your personal City Guide

Every city has a wonderful history, hidden around every corner of it, through City Tours you can discover lesser known places, bring historical buildings back to life exactly where they were, linking the past with the present and learning every detail of the city’s history.

City Tours with AR & VR also allow access to those tourist attractions that, due to certain characteristics such as fragility or danger, are not normally accessible to all, thus eliminating the ecological impact of mass tourism or safety risks. Thanks to these new technologies, it is possible to touch a stalactite that has taken thousands of years to form without running the risk of blocking its normal growth process.

Moreover, transforming and converting stressful travel planning into a fun experience such as searching for accommodation, transport, restaurants or reviews can become an adventure in itself with 3D animations.

Exploring accommodations with AR & VR before booking

For example, in the Hotel industry, Augmented Reality travel apps offer unlimited opportunities to engage guests and increase the chances of bookings. Information content visualized in an immersive way, also with the support of gamification techniques, can motivate guests to check out 360° room tours and interact with all the available services. You can impress your guests with indoor AR navigations that show a full range of hotel services in an engaging yet intuitive way.
Adding a layer of digital guidance, visual content and even 3D characters for entertainment, to the exact physical location, makes travel guides more specific, more informative and interactive for tourists. AR applications convert your mobile phone into your own personal virtual travel guide. AR allows you to receive captivating information as you walk. AR content can also be shared on social media in real time, helping foster word of mouth processes.

Try before you buy

Through a “Try before you buy” approach, Augmented and virtual reality can offer hotels, travel agents and other tourism businesses the opportunity to let potential customers experience travel locations virtually. This means that users will be able to experience attractions they are likely to visit, take a dip in the sea or a walk in the mountains, from the comfort of their sofa at home. The actual destination experience. Using a VR visor, people can discover the beauty of the desired destination, with the aim of stimulating in them the desire to visit it live. The user is transported to unique places, feeling like the protagonist of a story that unfolds around him.

Benefits of using City tours with AR & VR

The Japanese call it the ‘Paris syndrome’, or the disappointment of those who arrive at their destination, during a long planned and desired trip, to discover that the place they are visiting does not meet their expectations. In some cases, the disappointment is so strong that the tourist is forced to cut the trip short. Virtual reality allows for a complete revolution in the concept of ‘information material’, transcending even multimedia and allowing the traveller to immerse himself entirely in the experience of the place he is going to visit.

Augmented and virtual reality applied to the travel sector makes experiences richer, safer, more accessible and increasingly exciting as users explore through city tours, visit cities by virtually walking through their interiors, view main attractions and information through a new modality that creates curiosity in users. The aim is to create interactive content that accompanies the visitor throughout the experience and builds loyalty. 75% of customers say that the use of city tours has had a critical impact on their travel booking decisions.

Numerous studies demonstrated that users spend 5-10 times more time on websites that offer the possibility to travel directly from the couch at home, connecting people with often distant physical spaces. In addition, integrating a Virtual Tour on your website will result in 30% more interactions and contacts and a 20% increase in visitors.

AR & VR can offer experiences and information in different languages. Tourists travelling through foreign cities can get informational and content, translations of signs and much more by simply framing a QR code or framing the work itself with their smartphone to get the information and details in their preferred language.

Taking a trip through augmented reality allows you to organise it better. The journey will be original, attractive and fun. The power of augmented reality lies in immersion, seeing reality virtually and then touching it.
January 26, 2022
6 ways VR & AR help you fight Climate Change

If someone is still concerned whether the use of technology in our daily lives could be right or wrong, it needs to chill immediately. It has been revealed now that, not only technology does exactly what it has been created for, which is helping humans in their everyday tasks, but especially new technologies like VR and AR play an important role in fighting climate change. It’s true there is no Planet B, but there is Planet A(R).

Augmented reality has been revealed to be a relevant hi-tech tool in the environmental sector, thanks to its ability both to raise awareness about the topic and to make concrete acts that allow people to have a lower impact on the environment. The contributions that come from the use of AR in the environmental sector are numerous and very effective, let’s observe some of them.

Raising awareness with Augmented and Virtual Reality to fight Climate change

The power of the “sense of presence”

One of the biggest powers of Augmented Reality is its immersive experience that generates in people what psychologists call “the sense of presence”. In fact, with the ability to recreate objects, people and entire environments around a person, Augmented reality can easily create experiences that make the user feel like she is “living the moment”. This sense of presence can be used also when talking about Climate Change, for example with the creation of projects like “This is Climate Change”, by the MIT, where users experience the effects of climate change in most affected areas of the world by visualizing a series of short 360° VR films titled Fire, Famine, Feast, and Melting Ice. Studies revealed that, once one experiences an event on its very hand, she would be more likely to understand the effects and thus, become more sensitive to it.

The chance to see the unseen

What if you could reach the most unreachable parts of the world, like the deepest waters of the ocean or the coldest lands of the Antarctic and see what actually is going on there? Well, professor Jeremy Bailenson, from Stanford University, made it possible with his VR game that takes you to the heart of the oceans, letting you see the whole ocean acidification process.

Other projects where VR and AR play an important role in fighting Climate change could be transporting the user in the merge of plastic present in the oceans and making him see how difficult it is to live in those situations for fishes and marine ecosystems. Seeing what is actually happening in certain lands that otherwise would be impossible to see, makes the observer understand the reality and the gravity of the situation, creating a higher probability of generating awareness and the willingness to act differently.

Changing the world while having fun

VR and AR play an important role in fighting Climate change starting from schools too. School is the principal way through which the new generation’s minds are shaped, that is why raising awareness among the younger is such an important mission. The Italian project “Immaginaria 360°” knows it well. A VR project created for schools that takes the students to the most polluted area of the world, showing them how the hand of man can destroy our beloved world. The purpose of this project is not only to show the effect of the pollution in some areas of the world, but mostly to teach the right actions we need to take in order to minimize their effects and improve the sustainability in our daily lives.

Augmented & Virtual Reality examples to fight Climate change

Planting a tree in the real world by planting it in the virtual one

In 2017, WWF in collaboration with Lenovo and Google gave life to an amazing project that combines virtual and real world with the aims of both raising awareness and pushing people to do concrete actions. With its VR game “Into the Wild”, in fact, WWF gave the chance to the gamers to take real actions also outside the game: gamers for example can plant trees in the game and for every tree planted, a real one can be planted in the real world.

Controlling our impact with Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality can be used also to see the impact we are making in a specific moment. By using, for instance, an app, it could be easy to have access to a series of information that could allow users to be instantly aware of their carbon footprint, the amount of pollution in the environment and what they could do to reduce it. They could also have access to information about air quality in determined cities with designated detectors connected with specific apps that could show real-time pollution data in those specific areas of the city. In this way users can both me aware of the pollution levels in their area and take better decisions to protect their health (e.g. not exercising outdoors when the air quality is too bad).

Reducing the need of moving with transports

Augmented Reality can also contribute to minimizing transport gas emissions. During the pandemic we have seen how much we can actually do without going out of our house especially in terms of entertainment experiences, such as going to the cinema or theatres. Augmented reality could not only avoid the need of getting in the car/bus and going to the theatre, but also boost the viewer experience by using new appetizing technologies. The same argument can be used for some kinds of travel experiences, simulating trips and places and, last but not least, in the working field.

New technologies such as VR and AR play an important role in fighting Climate change. As seen, they can help us to take the right actions and make the right decisions in order to make our part in making the world a better place to live in.

January 19, 2022
Aumented Reality for Architecture – Use Cases in 2022

Since the advent of Augmented Reality, one of the categories to most embrace this new technology has been that of architects and designers. The reason is quite simple, these professionals were already accustomed to design 3D projects and to deal with 3D models, so they have always had a lot of material to be fed to Augmented Reality software.

Even tough 3D models have been at the base of almost any architectural and civil engineering project in the last two decades, for a long time many professionals have continued working with renderings, a bidimensional representation of the project made using the 3D models, basically pictures from a few different points of view of the 3D representation.

Over time, this way of presenting the project has begun to hold out against professionals in the sector and their clients, essentially for two reasons. The first is that with the renderings many details and many sensations related to the visualization of the project are lost; the second is that with the renderings one renounces to fully exploit the potential of a 3D model, especially since BIM has begun to establish itself.

Why is Augmented Reality so important in Architecture?

With the Building Information Modeling (BIM) market valued at $5,205 million in 2019, and projected to reach $15,892 million by 2027 (Source: Allied Market Research), the use of digital content and the digitalization of assets management are strongly pushing nearly any mid-sized to large project towards a massive use of 3D, not only for design purposes, but also for visualization and building management.

Source: Allied Research Marketing

In addition, the use of photogrammetry in relation to construction sites and the management of existing sites is also increasing, with an increasing use of drones for photogrammetric reconstructions. Even on everyday devices, including smartphones, tools such as Lidar are starting to arrive that will make photogrammetry and the ability to process accurate 3D reconstructions at low cost more and more accessible.

This abundance of 3D assets, with a lot of information embedded, play a vital role in the adoption of Augmented Reality for Architecture.

Augmented Reality Use Cases in Architecture

We analyzed a few use cases where we believe Augmented Reality can have a strong impact on the way AEC professionals approach their Architectural projects.

Use Case 1 – Project Design and Collaboration

Architects nowadays mostly work with 3D modeling software during the design stage of a project. While working with the model they may be able to check how they are progressing by viewing their project in Augmented Reality mode. This kind of view gives them better hints for the parts of the model to be improved and the AR visualization may even be done at a 1:1 scale.

Architectural visualization using AR in the design stage is also very useful when there is some degree of collaboration involved. The viewers may see the same 3D model, in real-time and discuss together what must be changed.

Use Case 2 – Project Visualization

Project visualization works very similarly to project design, the main difference is that now the project is complete and the client wants to see it even before the construction site is open.

Augmented Reality visualization allows the Architect to show the client how the project looks like in a very realistic manner.

The 3D model can be used for AR visualization on an image, like a planimetry, or in the space, including the construction site where the model can be viewed at its actual size, including the interiors, allowing the user to walk inside the 3D model as if it were a real building. The use of stereoscopy would make the entire visualization experience more immersive.

Use Case 3 – Marketing and Real Estate for Architectural Projects

For the purpose of selling or promoting a real estate property, Augmented Reality comes really handy because it allows the sales force to easily build a more immersive representation of a project that may exist just on paper because its construction has not yet begun.

That is when AR brochures prove to be very effective. The prospect can point their device to some marketing materials and explore the 3D models of the project. These models may even have some interest points that the prospect may touch to enable additional information, such as 360? views of the interiors, videos and audio explanations.

Another marketing application in the real estate field concerns the use of immersive VR home tour, allowing the potential buyers to get an idea of a property even before visiting it, helping them to shortlist for the real visit, only the properties that they liked the most.

Use Case 4 – Site Management and Maintenance

A last set of use cases for Augmented Reality in Architecture is related to all the activities that must be carried out while the construction process is ongoing and when the building is finally built.

During the construction stage AR offers advanced tools to assess if structural clashes may arise and to assess if the construction process is progressing according to the schedule.

When the construction stage is over, AR can be used to support workers in a set of tasks including operations and maintenance, like repairing pipelines, fixing air conditioners, replacing parts of the boiler and so on.

How to easily use Augmented Reality for Architecture

Augmented Reality can support Architects and BIM Managers in a very wide array of activities, from project design to assets management.

The wide availability of 3D models and BIM models makes the adoption of Augmented Reality tools easier today than it was a few years ago. Also mobile devices are becoming more and more powerful and they come now with embedded hardware that can be useful to create photogrammetric reconstructions, like the Lidar.

In this scenario AR-media is the ideal tool to build and publish Augmented Reality projects for Architecture, as it requires no coding skills and allows the user to create AR content with a visual, simple workflow. Get a free AR-media account and start creating, you can rely on detailed tutorials and documentation available in the support section.

January 4, 2022
AR & VR for education helps students to learn more and better

Learning through AR & VR technologies can be a very effective educational methodology, able to engage the students and make content more attractive to them. The entire process can become more interactive and fun. In the field of education and training there are application tools that can help to improve the teaching-learning process by making it more connected with the surrounding environment; learning can become a more collaborative journey through the creation of interactive spaces that can encourage greater student involvement.

Through augmented reality, teachers can engage students by capturing their attention, making them have a great time: they will be able to remember the proposed topics more easily, even the most difficult ones will be more understandable. We believe that AR & VR for learning can become an essential component of the educational process, helping schools and teachers to meet the needs and habits of the new generations.

For those who have kids in school age, the last couple of months have been quite a revelation.
Used to kiss them goodbye in the morning and see them again only many hours later, whatever happened all day long inside the classroom was largely a guessing game, with the sole prop of clues that were either sporadic (the interaction with the teachers) or outright poor (the recounts of the usually reticent pupils).

But when suddenly home-schooling became the new normal, it was as if the fourth wall collapsed, allowing us to take a glimpse at what happens routinely behind the scenes.
A somewhat displacing experience, the one thing it did was giving us a better understanding of both the benefits and the limitations of digital and traditional means to deliver education.

There is no doubt that a physical interaction with teachers and peers is crucial, not only for learning purposes, but also for a healthy social development; on the other hand, the increased adoption of communication technologies that are already part of the youngsters’ lives plays a role in engaging them more and better in the learning process.

As such, we suddenly found ourselves at a crossroads where we must solve the dilemma and obtain the best of both worlds: by blending real world and digitally constructed contents, immersive technologies can be the answer.
Let’s be clear about this: the pandemic did not raise the question from nowhere; it simply put it right at the top of the agenda. The case for mixed reality was already there well before the outbreak, and it rests on a set of reasons that we can schematically summarise as follows.

The Benefits of Augmented Reality for Education

Improve students’ engagement

This is arguably the most powerful driver, as the interactive nature of AR & VR for learning helps raise attention’s levels on any subject.
Think about a maths lesson where pupils learn proportions by designing a building and then seeing it digitally erected: if their calculations are wrong, the result will be evidently disastrous! Not only that, but they will be extra-motivated to understand the theory better in order to improve the outcome. In addition, AR &VR enable students to study and learn more effectively, without distractions, they can improve their understanding of topics and have a better information retention over time.

Increase knowledge retention

Research on the topic is extensive and unequivocal: by pulling contents through their own discovery, users recollect more memories – and more vividly – than they do when they are at the receiving end of a “passive” teaching approach.

Augmented Reality is the perfect vehicle at this respect: one thing is to learn chemistry on a book; a totally different experience is to so by conducting experiments virtually, thus – by the way – without the need to equip an expensive lab. Augmented and virtual reality are kinaesthetic learning, a system that helps students learn things better through direct practice instead of listening to lectures orally.

Gamification of Learning with AR & VR

How to apply the dynamics of video games to stimulate learning in schools?

Gamification is the use of game elements in contexts other than gaming, such as in education. Through challenges, exciting quizzes, based on the video games model, students are able to obtain a higher motivation as well as increased interest and creativity.

Learners will be more motivated and will eventually achieve better results. It is also motivating for teachers to be able to use innovative teaching strategies and tools in order to connect better with the new generations.

Seek cost-effectiveness in Education

The “virtual lab” example has introduced the idea, but there is more to add in respect to costs saving.

Sure, immersive technologies entail upfront investments that, especially in the case of public institutions, might initially be seen as a stumbling block.
A couple of things however must be taken into account: first of all, applications of this kind increasingly run on hardware that is already in the students’ hands (their own mobile devices); and in the mid-run, the flexibility and the ease in updating the contents reduces the costs for designing and renewing the lessons.
In short: while acquisition costs are decreasing, cost savings are getting more and more conspicuous.

AR-Media included in the i-pear toolkit of educational AR & VR platforms

The AR-Media platform has been selected to be featured on the iPear network (Inclusive Peer Learning with Augmented Reality Apps) project by the AETMA Lab of IHU University, Greece. The iPEAR project brings together the expertise of technology-enhanced learning researchers, computer scientists and educators to build a strategic partnership to optimize the adoption of Augmented Reality (AR) technology in education. The project will create innovative, accessible training resources for teachers that help implement and integrate active and collaborative learning pedagogical approaches supported by AR.

Technological advances have influenced every aspect of our lifestyle: from communication, to the world of work, to social life. The school and educational context has also opened up to technology and digital teaching innovations to ensure that schools keep up with the times.

AR-media believes in the importance of integrating education with Augmented and Virtual Reality by providing its users with diversified plans created to meet different needs. Recently we made available dedicated educations plans for Students, Teachers, Classrooms, Schools and even a custom Academy plan with more personalization options.

We aim to offer the most competitive prices on the market, to let everyone work and study with Augmented Reality tools. AR-media for Education offers exclusive features such as the possibility to create tests and quizzes, send assignments to the Students and give them a feedback/mark and much more.

December 30, 2021
How to create Blender 3D models for Augmented Reality apps
Blender is the most popular 3D modeling software as of 2021. According to the official Blender Foundation data, only in 2020 it was downloaded 14 million times from the official website.

Being a high quality free alternative to other popular solutions, it is far more widespread than 3ds Max, Maya, Cinema 4D and Sketchup.

The purpose of this tutorial is to guide you through the process of preparing 3D models properly on Blender, in order to use them inside AR-media Player, the reference Augmented Reality app of the AR-media Studio web application.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Why Blender for Augmented Reality

Any 3D modeling software provides the tools to properly design and export 3D models to be used inside Augmented Reality experiences for mobile applications. Blender is one of them and being a free software makes it a popular option also for creatives that don?t want to invest on more expensive alternatives.

With Blender users can work on their 3D model, be it static or animated, and correctly set all the parameters that make a model suitable for mobiles, that typically include appropriate polygon count, textures optimization and specific file formats.

By following the guidelines in this article you?ll be able to design and export a 3D model that can be used smoothly in an AR app, both for iOS and Android.

Which 3D File Format for Augmented Reality

To start with, the supported 3D assets should comply with the following requirements:
- File types: FBX, ZIP
- File size (MB): < 50
You can decide to use a single FBX file or ZIP file containing a the FBX model and a folder with the textures. FBX file format was created by Autodesk and is available, as an export option, in the most popular 3D content creation software like Autodesk 3ds Max, Autodesk Maya, Maxon Cinema4D, Trimble SketchUp, Blender and more. Using FBX 3D models provides a few advantages since:
- You can embed the Textures into the geometry and get a single file
- It supports animations
When exporting your FBX 3D model from Blender make sure to respect the following parameters:
- Choose the BINARY format
- Choose to embed the textures into the 3D model
- Choose to embed animations (in case of animated models)
- Use the latest version of the FBX exporter among the ones available
- Verify the up axis option, possible values are typically Y-up or Z-up, if your model looks rotated on its side then try the other option and export again
How to manage Polygons in Blender for smooth AR experiences

You should try to keep the 3D model size below 10MB especially when dealing with projects that include more than just a single 3D experience.

When dealing with projects that only have one model inside, the file size can even be larger, but remember that a 3D model file size is directly proportional to the number of vertices and to the number and size of textures of the model itself.

Talking about the number of vertices, try to keep the complexity low, so that your contents will play smoothly even on mid-range mobile devices.

Managing Textures, Materials and colors of your 3D

The displays of mobile devices have usually a side of 2000 pixels and the 3D models you are going to visualize will only take a portion of that space, so remember, it is perfectly fine to use textures with the largest side as small as 512 pixels (or even smaller) to still get a very good result in terms of visualization.

Furthermore, when the 3D surfaces are very small we strongly suggest you to use smaller texture size, from 32×32 up to 256×256. For larger surfaces, try no to go over resolutions such as 1024×1024 or 2048×2048.

Finally, regarding textures file formats, it’s better to rely on compressed formats like JPG or PNG.

How to import your 3D model from Blender to AR-media Studio

Once your 3D model has been properly set on Blender, following all the 3D optimization guidelines, you can finally import it into AR-media Studio and upload it in the assets manager area, as a regular 3D model.

You?ll be able to add optional metadata and tags to the 3D model and generate a thumbnail for preview. Moreover, according to how you want the 3D model to look on the app, you can experiment with the visualization modes.

Create a project and visualize your 3D model into the AR app

The following step is to create an Augmented Reality project with AR-media Studio, using the 3D model you exported from Blender.

Refer to the Documentation in order to learn how to create a simple AR project and how to visualize it on the AR-media app.
December 29, 2021
Augmented Reality is changing the furniture Industry

Apparently Augmented Reality is changing the furniture industry. Because of the pandemic and lockdowns that forced people to stay inside their homes, consumers finally started to get more into online sales, almost preferring them offline ones. With the online selling process, comes the need for consumers to experience it in a more accurate way, gaining more awareness on the product they are going to buy.

That is why Augmented Reality has become the first ally to the re-rise of the furniture industry and apparently, more than 40% of consumers would prefer spending more money and having the chance to try the product in AR rather than just trust the photos. Indeed, even though we might think that Augmented Reality is used notably for games, technological stuff and maybe clothing, things have changed by now. Research shows that more than 60% of AR items belong to the furniture category, followed by clothing and groceries, making it the most popular AR user.

Is Augmented Reality giving new life to the furniture industry?

The answer is definitely yes! Thanks to the use of AR technology, while scrolling our favorite furniture app on our smartphones, we can now have a taste of how an item looks in our home, simply by “placing” a realistic 3D version of the item in the space with our smartphone. This gives an amazing try-before-you-buy shopping experience. We can try any kind of item: a chair, a bed, a lamp, even tile and parquet, comfortably sitting on our (very material) sofa. This is for sure the first reason why Augmented Reality is giving new life to the furniture industry.

Why using an AR App in Furniture

1) To try before you buy

As said, one of the biggest advantages of the Apps using AR in furniture is that you don’t need to buy first and then see how your item fits in your space, but you can try any item from your smartphone and decide whether it is worth buying it or not. Furniture stores like IKEA know it well. With its app “IKEA Place” it has been one of the pioneers of using this immersive technology to enhance the consumer experience.

Moreover, it has now released an update where it is possible to try not just one, but several items all together. In fact, it has been studied that the use of AR technology helps retailers too, because the consumer has the chance to try a large number of items and she might be persuaded to buy more than one. Besides, this significantly reduces returns. The opportunity to try the product, without actually buying it, makes the selling process easier and turns the app into a great marketing tool.

2) To reach more people than the physical store

Another reason why Augmented Reality is changing the furniture industry is that people can turn their smartphones into an extension of the furniture stores. Indeed, it allows the store to be known from a larger number of people also far from the physical store. Potential customers can try the products from far away without having to visit the stores in person and that can create a new fidelization process, where even people who live on the other side of the country can buy from the store and become regular customers.

Obviously, there are furniture stores who solely choose to be present online. It is the case of Westwing, where dozens of items are available to be tried in AR mode. The process is quite simple: you need to choose an item, click on “virtual visualisation” and open your smartphone’s camera. Then, you need to point your smartphone on a surface (even your floor will be fine, especially if it is a table or a chair) and move it until your item appears.

3) To speed up the furniture selling process thanks to the customization

Big brands like Amazon, for instance, know that buying online is the new way of buying and they understand the power of AR to help the consumer experience. In fact, Amazon introduced on its existing app the “visualise it in your room” button. Then, you must accept its access to your smartphone’s camera and click on the green square. It is also possible to take photos and screenshots of the moment so that you can share it with everyone you want. Moreover, Amazon gives you the ability to save them, to try more than one together and it also gives you style advice and recommendations for your designs.

The use of tools such AR views creates a more personalised experience for the customer. The ways a product can be customized are numerous. Indeed, it is possible to change colors, textures, materials and much more, taking the consumer to have a major trusted sensation about buying the product, speeding up the whole selling process.

4) To have fun

Yes, Augmented Reality is changing to the furniture industry, but it is worth saying that it is not only about selling. The customer, in fact, while trying the items with the app, gets a sense of amusement, as if it was a game in which she can play. Hence, the customers are attracted to use this immersive technology and to play with it. For the most creative ones, it is also a way to enhance their creativity and find themselves becoming interior designers (at least for a while!).

The AR-media furniture’s experiences

Among the categories available in our AR-media App there is the one related to the furniture experiences, where you can try items that other creators made. Moreover, with AR-media, you can create your own furniture experience, elaborating and creating an item, bringing it to life and watching it with the App. If you want to try one of the already existing items in the AR-media App, you just need to go to the furniture section, click on the one you want to try and open it. Then, you need to move your smartphone allowing the App to map the environment and then click to see the experience. Here is a demo video of how it looks like.

With its easy, creative and different approach, AR in the furniture industry is really giving new life to the way we have always thought about furniture sales. With its opportunity to boost sales, create more engagement and make sensational experiences, we can definitely say that Augmented Reality is changing the Furniture Industry.

December 29, 2021
AR and VR can make your museum a memorable experience
AR,VR and museums may seem two distant concepts, but they are perfectly synergistic since, if used in combination, can create profound and memorable experiences.

The digital evolution that is affecting many areas of the economy also concerns museums. More and more visitors demand for emotional, engaging and more informative experiences.

Augmented and Virtual Reality can be the perfect tools to provide a real immersive visit experience, since that can enrich the existing environment with new elements and help the visitors retain their memories for longer. Moreover, such an increased engagement makes them want to share their experiences with other potential visitors, both by word or month or by sharing their thoughts on social media.

AR technologies support museums to reach a new level of interaction with visitors and offer them a unique opportunity to look at the world around them from a different perspective. Augmented reality gives traditional museums the possibility to incorporate elements of dynamism and movement into their interiors, catching the attention of the public and engaging new visitors.

The relationship between Augmented Reality and museums aims to enhance the artistic and cultural heritage and to offer a memorable journey, fully involving the visitor, making her feel an integral part of the experience, enriching the enjoyment of works of art with extra information and interactive content. By connecting with some kind of devices, for example a smartphone or a tablet, offered by the museum itself, the visitor becomes more involved and active. In some cases Museums may also release some kind of mobile app that visitors can download and experience on their own devices.

In order to engage visitors through Augmented and Virtual Reality, museums must integrate innovative but also functional technologies. No visitor would be attracted by applications or devices that are too difficult or cumbersome to use. The visitor experience must be easy and intuitive, and the solutions adopted must be almost invisible and non-invasive.

What are the benefits and advantages of AR in museums?

The choice of integrating Augmented Reality in museums gives the possibility to expand the target audience. Experiences can be created with customised thematic paths for children, combining the experience of learning and knowledge with play. Gamification, for example, is an experience that is enriched by the addition of fun challenges, quizzes, puzzles and much more. The more fun it is, the more little visitors will learn and remember. With gamification, visitors can be taken on a journey that includes small mysteries to be solved in order to discover curiosities and include fun and engaging elements into the journey.

AR technologies help museums to reach a new level of interaction with visitors and offer them a unique opportunity to look at the world around them from a different perspective.

The decision to offer visitors an emotional as well as informative and experiential path of knowledge transmission is effective and attractive especially for the younger generations.

Augmented reality technologies can also help visitors interact with different touchpoints, online and offline, from the website, social media, brochures to multimedia guides, increasing engagement.

Summing it up, AR and VR have many important advantages for museums such as:
- Engaging and expanding the target audience
- Creating increasingly personalised experiences
- Offering visitors a new, fun and memorable way of learning
- Creating additional revenue streams through Premium tickets
What are the most common AR and VR use cases for a museum?

Depending on the nature and typology of Musemus, Augmented and Virtual Reality can enable a number of different use cases, let?s explore them together.

A new way to look at paintings with AR and VR

With the use of Augmented Reality, the visitor pointing the phone?s camera towards a work of art can experience additional content. The user can listen to the description and the story of a work directly from the artist; they can hear ancient songs, street noises, chattering, bringing back to the present the typical environment of the time when the work was created. Extinct animals may come back to life, interacting with the little ones.

The various ancient wars and battles could be relieved at first hand, scientific demonstrations would be explained with concrete examples. Frescos could be seen by the visitor as new or retrace with the artist the creation of the artwork; paintings could be brought to life and interact with the visitor.

Sculptures and buildings can be brought back to life

The same is true for sculptures or other tridimensional objects exhibited in museums. Immersive technologies can help focus the visitors? attention on specific elements of a work of art, with the help of 3D highlights superimposed on the real object.

AR and VR have proven to be very useful especially when the goal is to show a visitor how certain pieces of art or ruines used to look like in their former glory.

Discover museums through a virtual tour guide

When guide tours are not available AR and VR come in support by providing 3D avatars or holograms that can guide the visitors through a predefined path and help them get the best out of the Museum, helping them to discover and experience even the most hidden gems.

Preview the museum experience at home

Who said Augmented and Virtual Reality can only be used inside a museum? In order to tempt and intrigue potential visitors, Museums may release public AR/VR mobile apps that let users get some anticipation of what they can find inside the museum, something very similar to what happens with movie trailers.

A visitors? journey can start comfortably from the sofa, at home, and continue with the real visit in the museum. App in this case may even provide a way to buy the tickets at a special discount.
December 21, 2021
The transformative power of AR in Real Estate: the take of an industry expert

A new AR product has been recently released in collaboration with Bruce Kulpaca, principal broker at Commercial Venture Group (CVG). Bruce felt the need of enhancing the selling experience in his industry, transforming it into something more efficient for both the seller and the buyer by using AR in Real Estate.

His will to explore the transformative power of AR in Real Estate led him to us, and we worked together to develop a pilot project and to launch the Ding Dang app about a Real Estate property located in Springville (Utah), named Springpointe. Once again, a new project where the Real Estate Industry and AR-media converged together to create a magnified and transformative experience.

Keep discovering this project by reading the whole interview with Bruce Kulpaca below.

Interviewing Bruce Kulpaca on how Ding Dang uses Augmented Reality in Real Estate

Q: Hello Bruce, you started your Real Estate career in 1996, tell us something about the beginnings.

A. Well, as you noted, I started my career in commercial real estate in 1996. At that time, I worked in commercial development; primarily retail in Florida. I was based out of Tampa. It was an exciting time. Drug stores were moving out out in-line space and pushing hard for stand alone sites and grocery anchored projects featuring local space; outparcels were very much in demand. The commercial real estate was redefining retail in the context of intersections and population centers.

Q. The advent of the Internet in the 1990s was a great revolution for its impact on commercial real estate. What kind of practical impact did it have on you and your clients?

A. It was evolutionary. The Internet changed how real estate is marketed. If you go back in time and think of how commercial real estate was marketed before the internet, it was very much of an “in market” approach. That is, a tenant or developer spent a great deal of time in the market…driving the streets, going on-site to look at locations, taking pictures from different angles, drawing rings on paper maps and annotating with sticky notes.

During the pre-internet era even taking aerial pictures required a great effort. Once I rented a plane, since I had my private pilot’s license, and my colleague snapped photos. It may seem ridiculous now, using a drone in 20 minutes, for pennies, you can do the same job and even more. Today property ownership information is readily available, zoning is readily available. Also, the reach of our market has really expanded.

Q. What do you mean the market reach has expanded?

A. I used to spend a great deal of time putting together marketing packages that were then physically mailed out. It was a really slow process and depended on a somewhat limited mailing list. Now, we can quickly approach our market through websites and email campaigns. Not only that but social media allows others seeking our product to find us. It’s a significant change; a lot of market inefficiencies have been removed.

Q. Market inefficiencies… How does that relate to commercial real estate?

A. In my view, market inefficiencies are removed as more buyers and sellers become aware of each other. It’s my job to seek out as many buyers and sellers; through this process the best price discovery is achieved for my client or project. I want to take every opportunity to make sure buyers and sellers are given the best information that technology can provide. You never really know what little piece of information will turn a prospect into a buyer.

Even today, much of the marketing is limited to photographs, flyers and renderings. These tools leave a lot to the imagination and can be subject to a whole range of subjective influences….maybe the rendering is not quite as good as another project, maybe the site plan is unclear, maybe the flyer is unclear. If our goal is to eliminate market inefficiencies, then the tools we use should be aboutpresenting the project with minimal subjective influences.

Q. After the Internet revolution, the next one in real estate will be related to 3D and Augmented Reality. You recently founded a real estate app called Ding Dang. Can you explain your vision with respect to these technologies?

A. Well, it’s part of the evolutionary process we discussed. It is the next step in making projects real for our customers and removing subjective influences. For example, we are beginning to see more and more use of 3D technology in commercial real estate. This is a big step beyond renderings and site plans. The goal of Ding Dang is to take the evolutionary step even further with augmented reality. Ding and Dang are Utah slot canyons. The name reflects my love of the outdoors and experiencing, in my view, the sublime power of nature. Hopefully, I can express through the app a sublime experience of architecture. In my view, augmented reality is the next step past 3D. Like 3D, it operates on multiple perspectives or planes.

Augmented reality takes the next step by placing the project in your environment. You are not looking at a movie which is how 3D tends to be presented. Rather, you have an image in front of you in your environment and this image can be engaged with by the viewer. The audience can actively participate. I think anytime you can engage the audience, challenge the audience to participate, the project has a better chance of avoiding the subjective pitfalls of that are prone with non-participating marketing tools like flyers, movies and renderings.

Q. The Ding Dang app has three visualization modes: On-Site; Site Plan and Anywhere Anytime. Can you explain how they differ?

A. Sure. Let’s take the first approach: On-site. Here were are dealing with basically an onsite experience. We can project the proposed building onto the site via an iPhone. The site is viewed on a 1:1 scale. The advantage of this approach over a site project sign is obvious. When you can walk around the site and actually see how it will be sited, the customer is an active participant and is able to view the building as it will actually be built. It is even possible to create an experience where the customer can walk up to the building and even go inside. With community projects, this opens the possibility of having the community give its input on a project before it is ever built.

With site plan, we can project the architecture onto a flat site plan. This approach allows the viewer to experience the project in multiple dimension and how the architecture relates to the site. The last approach, Anywhere Anytime, allows the project to be projected onto any flat surface and can then be viewed from any angle. The viewer can walk around the project or the viewer can remain stationary and use the viewer tools to move the project.

Q. You say project…what does that mean? How is the architecture projected?

A. There needs to a means to view the projection. Currently, the architecture viewed either through the screen on the iPhone or the user can enable the viewer tool and use an inexpensive viewing device such as the Homido Grab for a more immersive experience.

Q. Why did you choose to use an App for this technology?

A. In my opinion, the smartphone is the one device we all carry with us at all times. The app is superior because it is easily accessible. One only needs to open the app, click on the appropriate project and the experience can begin. If the experience is downloaded onto the phone, there isn’t any need for internet. I was demonstrating this technology to a seat mate on a flight recently, We were flying so my phone was on airplane mode. However, I was able to call up the project on my phone and show my seat mate the project.

Q. Where do you see this technology going?

A. As companies develop smart glass, the experience will become more and more immersive. I think within the next 5 years we will be able to put on a pair of smart glasses, call up any project through the app and not only experience the architecture but have access to a host of other important marketing materials such as spread sheets, rent rolls, permitting schedules etc. All of this accessible via the same app and tied together on a project by project basis. As this develops, those that are part of the technology will be part of an ever more efficient marketplace.

Well, thank you Bruce and we certainly look forward to finding out how this technology develops…

December 9, 2021
This Roman colony comes to life through Virtual & Augmented Reality
Enjoy the ancient Roman colony experience with augmented reality

The ancient Roman colony Fregellae was an important Roman colony located on the Via Latina near the left branch of the Liri river. The city was probably founded by the Oscans and then occupied by the Volsci, before the destruction by the Samnites in 330 BC. In that year the people of Fabrateria Vetus (modern Ceccano) sought the help of Rome against the Samnites. In 328 BC a Latin colony was established near the site of the Volscian Fregellae. Not everybody knows that Fregellae faced the advance of Hannibal in 212 BC by destroying the bridge over the Liri river. During its existence Fregellae was a flourishing center in southern Lazio.

The Fregellae experience with augmented reality offers an immersive and interactive reconstruction of the area of the archaeological excavations. It provides information about its history and meaning. Thanks to the 360° experience, users can navigate and interact with 3D reconstructions of the colony.

Download the app and experience the ancient Roman colony with augmented reality for free

Starting from a spatial visualization of the map, users can select the points of interest and enable an immersive visualization of 3D reconstructions based on the use of device sensors (gyroscope and accelerometer).

How to experience Roman colony with augmented reality thanks to the AR-media Player app

Created by AR-media “the Fregellae experience” is an immersive experience in the area of the archaeological excavations with the aim of innovating cultural heritage experiences through the power of emotions, opening the way to new audience segments with dynamism and interactivity to increase their involvement. Users see the life of the important Roman colony “Fregellae” flowing before their eyes through a more complete and varied view of history. They travel new roads, immerse themselves in the city’s lesser-known spaces and discover colonies, sanctuaries, underground passages and side streets.

You can try this experience by downloading the free AR-media App for iOS or Android. Download the app and frame the QR Code using the button at the top right of the app. Click on the “save” button and then the “open” button, project the camera of your phone/tablet on the floor and begin to immerse yourself in this experience.

Thanks to reconstructions made with attention, even to the smallest details, you go back to the past and get in touch with the architecture as it was; through the application the user can move freely by touching on specific arrows and travel in this virtual 360° world.

To make this experience more immersive and evocative, it is possible to go inside each construction, giving the illusion of being physically where you are not. By pointing the phone at a building and tapping on the “i” button, the user can listen to audio explanations, information and other useful data.

In this way the ancient Roman colony “Fregellae” comes back to life, upgrading and showcasing its beauty. The visitor is invited to perform a series of actions that will further engage the perceptual channels for a memorable experience.

Build AR and VR experiences for archaeological areas with AR-media

The relationship between AR-media and the archaeological sector represents a long process of digital evolution that is taking place in different archaeological areas. The choice of AR-media is to be able to give users a journey that is not only informative but also emotional. The AR -media application transforms the visit into a multisensory experience, involving the visitor, transforming her into a participating and active actor and expanding the journey with interactive content. By connecting from a smartphone or tablet the user is immersed in a unique virtual context with a high emotional impact.

AR-media’s augmented reality helps to connect history with the new digital reality and is particularly suited for:
- Virtual tours both indoors and outdoors
- Augmentation of ruins, helping the visitor to visualize the ancient beauty of the sites
- Sites with visitors from many countries, thanks to the support for multi language projects
- Increasing the sites’ revenues by providing a premium immersive experience alongside the more traditional visit experience
Augmented and Virtual Reality make the cultural experience immersive and engages users before, during and after the visit.
December 1, 2021
Augmented Reality in Marketing and AR use cases
Industry experts have long known that Augmented Reality is a powerful marketing tool, while in more recent times the Pokémon Go boom has made everyone understand the huge business impact of the technology.

There have been many businesses that have ridden the wave exploiting PokeStop and Pokémon gyms in order to attract a greater number of customers, and getting some success.

Pokémon Go, to be honest, is not the world’s most powerful implementation of Augmented Reality, although in its simplicity it was able to achieve unprecedented success.

Application scenarios of Augmented Reality in marketing are numerous and require a dedicated study.
AR for print products

Although the digital revolution has dramatically changed the way we use information, still a relevant piece of information is conveyed through paper, such as newspapers, magazines, catalogs, flyers, books, etc …

Despite having lost ground to digital, paper products are still a powerful means of communication and this is confirmed by the McKinsey Global Media Report 2015 which basically highlights two trends: the first concerns the maturity of the print media (+ 1.7% growth from 2014 to 2019); the second a steady growth of the digital (+ 9.5% in the same period).

This suggests that these two seemingly distant worlds, can live well together, and indeed they can also cooperate. In fact, according to research by Digimarc, 75% of consumers think that digital media is a complement to paper, rather than a replacement.

Marketers from all sectors can think of innovative ways for presenting their products and services, combining greater clarity of the offer to a greater customer engagement. It has been demonstrated, according to the claim made by Lisa Hu, that using Augmented Reality you can get a dwell time 2.5 times higher than that of traditional media (TV, radio and newspapers).

To date, cases of successful Augmented Reality implementations in the publishing area relate to, among others, the creation of immersive catalogs, magazines and books with AR.
Augmented Reality for events and trade shows

The promotional environment for excellence, for many companies, is that of fairs and events in general. These are special occasions for companies to show off theirs strengths and to try to engage visitors in order to convert them into customers or at least into leads.

In this context, companies focus a lot on entertainment, giving visitors the opportunity to try the products and to make the time spent at the stands a memorable experience.

The use cases of marketing actions with the support of Augmented Reality in this area are diverse, ranging from brochures and catalogs with immersive 3D visualization of the product, to the organization of contests and gaming experiences to engage and amaze visitors giving them a concrete idea of the real potential of the product.

AR for packaging

A sub-set of paper products, to which more and more companies turn their attention to design marketing actions with Augmented Reality, is packaging.

What better time to engage the customer and to provide additional information on the product except when she is face to face with the package?

There are interesting use cases of interactive packaging that put people in a position to activate additional content or mini-games that come to life from a bottle of a soft drink, rather than from the foil of the chips of a fast food and so on.

The result is an increase in brand reputation and customer loyalty, because when customers are faced with a similar product, they tend to pick the more exciting purchase experience.
Augmented Reality for in-store experiences

The natural ability of Augmented Reality to expand people’s vision makes it particularly suited to design in-store marketing experiences, allowing retail companies to offer additional layers of information to the visitors.

This category of use cases includes indoor navigation to guide people in a particular area of the store, maybe to locate special deals; the display of products and information that is not physically present in the stores because of space limitations; the possibility to sort or read the data on the origin, understand the production process, watch a promotional video, etc …

These experiences can be enriched by the gamification of the buying process with premium and retention mechanisms.
November 25, 2021
AR beauty filters and their (not so beauty) reality

“In a world full of Kardashians be… yourself” says one of the popular ‘memes’ on the internet. What does it actually mean? Well, all you need to do is scrolling your Instagram/Facebook/Snapchat/Tik Tok feed for about five minutes to figure it out: in no time, you will be overwhelmed by the distorted-almost-unrecognisable faces of your friends, changed by the ultimate face or AR beauty filters found on a Social Media.

What is a face filter? An AR face filter is a sort of mask created with Augmented Reality that can add virtual objects, images, sounds and any kind of make-up to your face by simply framing it with your smartphone camera, whereas an AR beauty filter, besides adding make-up and changing the color of your hair, can also distort (or beautify) your entire face and body, making your eyes look bigger, your lips fuller, your nose thinner, your waist smaller than Dita Von Tees’s and so on… causing a large number of critics, psychological issues, especially among younger people, and self-esteem doubts!

The pioneer of the face filters is Snapchat, when years ago it had the idea of putting facial filters to its stories in order to add amusement and fun to the regular photos. The response was huge! Within months all the other Social Platforms had to update and add different kinds of filters to keep up with it. Nowadays, more than 600 million people use AR filters to their stories and posts across Instagram and Facebook and more than 75% of Snapchat users create content using filters everyday.

AR beauty filters are not just trouble-maker

It is fair to say, though, that thanks to the introduction of AR beauty filters on Social Media, especially during these past two years of pandemic, both people and companies had the opportunity to “live their lives” in a more standard environment. Considering the Beauty Industry, for instance, Augmented Reality is changing the way some brands approach their customers, creating a more personalised experience for them. Hence, the women and men who wanted to try on new products or see how they look like with different hair were able to have a taste of how they could look like without leaving the house and the companies which encouraged the realisation of such filters, on their side, were more than glad to offer the tool and help them finding their favourite product that they would buy right after.

This is a considerable improvement in the beauty industry, allowing the companies to predict which product can have more success, facilitating the visual merchandising and also the inventory. Moreover, it has been studied that people who use AR beauty filters help the companies to improve the quality of their products and set higher standards thanks to the availability of monitoring a million different kinds of facial features.

In addition, it is necessary to say that augmented reality AR beauty filters can also be a new digital tool for all the make-up artists that want to share their art with the world. They can create their digital make-up and make users try it and if they like it, they will be (obviously) more keen to reproduce it on their very face!

But the reality is way more complicated

As Spiderman once said: “with great power comes great responsibility” and the impact of augmented reality AR beauty filters in terms of psychology and education on people’s minds is far from being optimistic. Studies revealed that the spasmodic use of AR beauty filters especially in young girls may cause a significant increase of negative self-perceptions, encouraging young girls towards the use of cosmetic surgery, with the aim of becoming exactly like the beauty filter they use everyday. Apparently, though, this is only the tip of the iceberg. In fact, it is not only about cosmetic surgery, but it is the whole way in which a person sees herself or himself that is concerning.

The Augmented Reality sector put these filters under the category of “deformations” and “face distortion” and if it is not enough to make us think about the disturbing effect that this may cause us, it seems that the “deformation” happens even beyond the physical aspect, going straight to the psychological one, “deforming” our way of thinking about ourselves and how we should look like. Hence, some women now refuse to be seen without AR beauty filters as if they somewhat think they look that way, so now it is common to see photos where girls wear inhumanely long lashes artistically designed and an amazing silk skin beautifully coloured, forgetting how they looked in the first place.

There are plenty of these filters and you can recognise them just by their name. On Instagram, for instance, in the story filters section, you just need to choose the “selfie” category and you will find dozens of AR beauty filters usually named something like: SilkLashes, BeautyFace, CuteFace, FoxyEyes, PrettyFace, PerfectEyes etc…

Finally some changes are being made in the AR beauty filters sector

Seeing the concerning amount of anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts among girls, apparently caused by the negative way they perceive themselves outside the “filtered reality”, some companies and countries decided to do something about it: Facebook banned face-distortion filters in 2019 (reintroducing them again after a few months), countries like Norway and UK forbad AR beauty filters and photos where the image of the body appeared too far from reality, unless clearly declared in the caption and lots of influencers campaigns touch the topic too, encouraging people to post their natural face by using referred hashtags like #filterdrop and #naturalbeauty.

Undoubtedly, this is only one first small step towards a better awareness on the subject and a lot of work still needs to be done. Especially among the young people, educational awareness on how some technological tools work and their impact on their mental behaviours are necessary. The world of Augmented Reality and new technologies is still a mix of wonder and mystery and it is our duty to recognise the real beauty of it and use it to improve our daily reality.

November 24, 2021
The hype around the Metaverse explained
Why has the Metaverse all of a sudden become the main discussion topic in the high tech industry and in the field of immersive technologies?

The main reason is the strong interest of some Tech Giants like Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft that have been heavily investing in this field in the last few years.

Facebook in particular, since the acquisition of Oculus, has been moving along a clear path, with the intent to create an ecosystem of hardware and software that will provide an immersive environment that mixes and integrates in one place tools that are already separately available, i.e. social networks, private messaging, 3D avatars and remote meetings.

The recent Facebook announcement about the company changing its name to Meta, provides further evidence of how much Mark Zuckerberg is interested in investing in this new paradigm.

What is the Metaverse?

The term Metaverse was coined in 1992 by the author Neal Stephenson in his Sci-Fi novel Snow Crash. In this book the Metaverse is described as some sort of virtual reality on the internet where individuals could interact using their respective avatars. This novel is a dystopia and therefore, besides the origin of the term, there are not many similarities with the idea of Metaverse that is discussed today.

The first experiments open to any user that come to our minds are represented by several projects that came to life starting from the 2000s onward and that include video games and simulators like The Sims, Second Life, IMVU and a few others.

So the Metaverse is a concept that has been around for quite some time and that has evolved alongside the evolution of contiguous technologies like the internet, 3D, hardware processing power and wearable devices.

“There’s a whole other definition, which is the really broad one, which is the Metaverse is just the future internet”
Avi Bar-Zeev for Forbes

Not just Avatars and Holograms

When the pandemic outbreak began, one of the biggest needs that immediately emerged was to find appropriate alternatives to physical meetings, including school lessons. This need pushed companies in the video conferencing sector to further improve their products by releasing new features.

One of the most discussed experimental features is the introduction of 3D avatars in video conferencing tools in order to provide a more immersive meeting experience, closer to a physical one.

Avatars are a virtual representation of an individual and can have different shapes and characteristics, they can be bidimensional or tridimensional, cartoonish or photorealistic, and in any case their purpose is to represent the user’s presence within a certain environment, virtual, real or mixed.

This is exactly what happened with Second Life first and with Facebook VR, Roblox, Fortnite and many more later. We are destined to have an Avatar alter ego in the Metaverse in order to explore this world and to interact with other people. One day they’ll further evolve into holograms, almost indistinguishable from real people, but it still takes some time to get there.

Of course the idea of a Metaverse should not be restricted to Avatars and Holograms interacting with other avatars or real people. This is just an aspect of an extended concept of collaboration that the Metaverse would be capable of realizing. Other aspects would be important, if not to say more relevant, as well.

The Metaverse belongs to everyone, not to a single company

What may not be actually clear to everybody is that the Metaverse is not a brand or a product owned and controlled by one or more companies, but it is rather a virtual environment open to everybody and open to host information and content from the entire internet community.

Big Tech companies surely have the financial resources it takes to shape the Metaverse according to their vision and this may raise concerns regarding how open this space would be and how much power would users have to contribute to it in an active way.

Even if large IT companies will offer their services using proprietary technologies, we strongly support the idea that the Metaverse will be a viable concept, as long as it will guarantee open interoperability standards to successfully integrate everyone’s content, just like the internet has done up to now.

The Metaverse: from a questionable idea to an actionable concept

According to a narrow but radical standpoint, the Metaverse would ideally be a parallel digital replica of the real world where people, thanks to Technology, will spend most of their lives while buying, consuming, playing, interacting with others for both entertainment and business purposes.

Much emphasis is placed on the power of virtual and augmented reality to realize such a potential. On the other hand, this concept of a Metaverse is quite reductive as it does not take into account the complexity and richness of human interactions and experience, even when it comes to the simplest forms of social interactions and for most of our real life purposes.

According to such a narrow meaning, the Metaverse would end up in a surrogate of the real world that, if not properly treated, would limit human potential rather than fully realizing it.

In other words, the idea that everything we do in our real lives would have a correspondent in the Metaverse is questionable, as the consequences of squeezing our real world human experience into a digital format might end up in a form of extremely simplified experience and a socially distorted human interaction. This would entail consequences that would be better to explore right at the beginning with an appropriate ethical framework.

Luckily enough, the Metaverse in a wider meaning is nothing like that. As long as it will help people realize their potential while helping them solve problems in their real lives, the concept of a Metaverse will be viable and rich with positive consequences. On the other hand, emerging technologies like AI, Robotics and Mixed Reality have a huge impact on our lives and must be considered as forces that will profoundly transform our society on a global scale.

The pervasiveness and ubiquity of technology in our lives is blurring the distinction between real and virtual as well as the distinctions between human, machine and nature. Understanding and governing such an epochal transformation requires new concepts that cannot be borrowed from the past. And it is here that categories such as those introduced by the “Onlife Manifesto” by Luciano Floridi and others come into play.

For the first time ever, JUSTIN BIEBER will perform an entire live show as an avatar in his own virtual universe

The Metaverse we would like to live in

If what we have said above is true, the concept of a Metaverse does not add any new element to the transformative process our global society is undergoing. Besides the marketing hype, we really see the Metaverse as the natural evolution of the internet, with a high amount of user-generated content and open protocols, with just a shift from 2D to 3D and improved interactions between real and digital. In the field of immersive technologies this kind of infrastructure has often been referred to as the AR Cloud. But that is just another way to name this transformation.

As the global tech ecosystem is growing full of companies that compete to win the race to the Metaverse, there will be many declinations of the Metaverse in real life. Some of the areas of application where we see more potential include the following:
- WORK & COLLABORATION
  - Remote meetings and Collaboration tools will be developed further in the effort to make the interaction among the participants much more realistic and immersive compared to how they work today. In this transition 3D avatars will have a central role.
- PRIVATE LIFE & GAMING
  - Private entertainment has changed a lot in the last decade, in particular because on-demand streaming content and gaming platforms have witnessed a massive adoption with a consequent shift of the places where entertainment is consumed, from physical places (e.g. cinemas) to private and virtual places.
- BUSINESS
  - There are so many industries that can take advantage of the Metaverse, intended as an expanded ability to access contextual information related to products and services. Especially if the adoption of wearable devices will take off, we expect to see a change of paradigm in how retailers, museums, restaurants and many other businesses communicate with their potential customers.
Being Inglobe Technologies a developer of products that give users the ability to create and publish immersive content, we really look forward to enabling AR-media and HyperIndustry users to eventually share their projects within a larger network.

In conclusion, if the Metaverse will evolve in an open and participative direction, whoever in the community will be able to enrich this new world with her contributions.

The pace at which this change will happen is largely dependent on the adoption rate of immersive devices, in particular AR and VR headsets. Since some of the large IT companies promoting the Metaverse are also manufacturers of such devices, it is plausible to expect that they will work hard to promote the switch from smartphones to headsets, or at least to promote an integration between the two.

The transition from a 2D Internet to a 3D Internet has just begun and we are excited to be part of this transformation, looking to improve and expand what we already do everyday with over 50.000 creators around the world.
November 11, 2021
e-Frame: A Modular Prefabricated Construction System in Augmented Reality

Innovating construction with modular systems and?. digital technologies

Designing and constructing new buildings with conventional design and construction methods can be time consuming and costly. Moreover, traditional methods are less efficient both in terms of energy consumption and maintenance, making it more difficult to fully realize the potential of Smart Cities and Communities in the context of a globally sustainable society. For this reason, in the wake of a vibrant design tradition that dates back to the Bauhaus movement, new methods have been introduced in the construction industry, mainly based on modular and prefabricated systems, to address the design challenges of our society. No doubt, they have started to give rise to a variety of new exciting developments and visions both at the urban and societal levels.

On the one hand, Modular Prefabricated Construction systems are gaining momentum today because they improve productivity, efficiency, and workplace safety along with reducing the time and cost associated with building activities. Indeed, it is estimated that modular construction accounts for 30% to 50% time savings over their traditional counterparts. Similarly, industries outside construction, such as gaming, are also seeing innovations that prioritize efficiency and user satisfaction. For example, best uitbetalende casino’s are emerging as a popular choice among players, offering transparent payout systems and high returns that build trust and engagement. On the other hand, modular construction systems, coupled with advanced digital tools, have the potential to enhance human creativity thus enabling architects, designers, construction companies, developers and people to collaborate in the realization of innovative, socially compatible, more sustainable and energy-efficient buildings and infrastructures.

This is the case of e-FRAME, a new Modular prefabricated system, designed by Italian architect Aristide Terenzi, already winner of architectural competitions, and advocate of a systemic approach to Architecture. Inglobe has partnered with Arch. Terenzi by helping him visualize a simple demonstrative housing typology based on e-FRAME with VR and AR technologies.?

The idea of e-FRAME

e-FRAME is based on the very simple idea of an innovative structural node and rods that can be combined together at will to create buildings of varied complexity. The system is assembled with dry construction techniques, thus making it suitable for very quick and effective setup of buildings under different climatic conditions and at different latitudes.

The solution is designed to easily host all the technological systems that make the resulting building a Smart Building. All the systems including, the electrical, informational, heating, power production and hydraulic systems can be easily integrated into the backbone of the structure of the building.

Special attention is paid to the energy efficiency of the building. Both passive and active energy systems, including photovoltaic panels can be easily installed on the structure and plug into its electric grid, thus providing for the energy consumption of occupants.

The system is suitable for creating a variety of flexible and robust architectural typologies that span from residential to commercial, industrial, healthcare and infrastructures.?

Informed by the spirit of the Bauhaus movement, the solution intends to support the development of original and unique buildings based on modular and flexible components while supporting the self-organization processes of our modern societies as opposed to the standardized top-down approaches of traditional urban planning and design.

e-FRAME as Sustainable Architecture

e-FRAME is designed to implement sustainable solutions in Architecture at different scales, from single housing units to large urban infrastructures and sectors. The solution is suitable to host both passive and active energy efficient systems, including leaning greenhouses and solar power. This confers to e-FRAME based solutions a high level of energy efficiency thus reducing the carbon footprint of the building itself and improving its cost-effectiveness.

e-FRAME as a structurally Smart Building

It is well understood that IoT and digital solutions will improve overall building performance over the years, thus reducing cost across the whole building life cycle. e-FRAME is designed to include sensors and actuators to both monitor and modify the state of the building parameters in order to maximize living comfort and building efficiency. Sensors can be used to monitor the structural integrity of the building.?

e-FRAME is suitable both for Relocatable and Permanent Buildings

Permanent modular construction has emerged as an alternative to traditional building methods over the past decade. In 2018, the permanent modular segment held the largest share of 64.4% on account of the growing demand for permanent housing, commercial, and industrial structures. The increasing financial outlay for the development of affordable housing structures coupled with the rapid growth of the industrial sector in developing economies is expected to augment the market growth. Relocatable modular structures are utilized to provide temporary accommodations for workers at the worksite. Relocatable modular structures are also utilized by a variety of end-users including local governments, industrial corporations, school boards, healthcare providers as makeshift offices, healthcare clinics, temporary hotels, and schools. Healthcare applications of modular structures is a need that strongly emerged during the pandemic in 2020, which highlighted the importance of having quick and cost-effective solutions to build infrastructures under a state of emergency. e-FRAME is specifically designed with this need in mind.

e-FRAME VR and AR Experience

We have built an immersive experience to let users explore a simple prefabricated housing unit typology in 1:1 scale. The immersive experience has both a VR and an AR component. The VR experience is accessed via a standalone application for Oculus Rift S and allows users to virtually explore the building as a virtual environment (see video).

The AR experience is accessed via the AR-media mobile app and allows users to explore the building in 1:1 scale anywhere in the world by using either iOS or Android devices. Thanks to AR-media, the smartphones can be coupled with a mobile VR headset to enable an immersive AR experience which makes the content much more enjoyable.

Thanks to AR-media, it is possible to explore endless design possibilities based on the same modular prefabricated system. Customers can participate in the design process and decide over the most relevant design choices in terms of both the interior and exterior organization of the space.

Nothing short of amazing, you can freely experience the e-FRAME housing unit with AR-media. Download the app on the stores and search for the e-FRAME experience in the Featured projects area of the app to start the experience.

October 12, 2021