Talking Dog AR

Happy Hallowe'en!

2011-10-28T08:02:00.000-06:00

A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeDNdBl6PV4

Here's a little augmented reality gag for your iPhone or Android phone from the fun-loving gang here at Talking Dog. Go to www.talkingdogstudios.com/ar/halloween and use your phone to scan the QR tag there to get started. Happy Hallowe'en!

"Create Your Mayo Clinic Health Experience"

2011-09-15T07:05:00.001-06:00

A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z7jDY3sbrs

When US company GoConvergence was hired by The Mayo Clinic to supervise the creation of a new permanent installation at the Mall of America, they knew one of the elements they wanted to add was Augmented Reality (AR). They put out a call for proposals to the major players in this exciting new industry, and who did they hire? Talking Dog Studios, from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

What is AR? Talking Dog president Rob Bryanton explains: “If you’ve ever watched a football game and seen that yellow down line superimposed on the field, then you’ve seen a form of Augmented Reality. That down line isn’t really there, but sophisticated technology superimposes it on the video to make it seem as if it’s real. Any time you see real-time information or graphics superimposed in a way that connects them to the world of what the camera or the user is seeing, that’s AR”.

Create Your Mayo Clinic Health Experience is a permanent installation now open at The Mall of America. Amongst the various interactive displays throughout the installation encouraging healthy living, there are three kiosks which feature software designed by Talking Dog Studios in collaboration with Regina's Asmoteknologies Ltd. These kiosks invite visitors to interact with highly detailed animated 3D models of the heart, the head, and various joints. Users can rotate the models to see them from any side they choose, and labels identifying various parts of the model or providing interesting facts fly in and out as the models rotate.

The 3D models were developed in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic’s team of illustrators, and are both medically accurate and photo-realistic. Optimizing our software and these models so they would display at their full resolution and frame rate within the display was a unique challenge, and is one of the things that people find most exciting when they first experience these remarkable kiosks. This level of realism represents a major leap forward in Augmented Reality, and many hours of hard work by the Talking Dog team of programmers and designers, which include Rene Dufour-Contreras, Ryan Hill, plus Tony Mountjoy and Aaron Thompson of Asmotek.com.

For more information please contact Rob Bryanton at Talking Dog Studios, 306-790-4008.

47 Countries Playing Our New Game Within a Week!

2011-04-21T16:06:00.001-06:00

SMPIA Announces Augmented Reality Game Results

SMPIA, in partnership with Saskatchewan's Talking Dog Studios is happy to announce that Trilight Entertainment is the winner of Multi-PlatFORUM - The Game, an augmented reality mobile experience launched at the Multi-PlatFORUM conference on April 14th in Regina. Playable on either Android phones or the iPhone, the game superimposed a constantly changing random selection of the logos of all the companies and associations participating in the Multi-PlatFORUM event onto the phone's camera view so that it appeared as if the logos are really floating in space around the player. Within 6 hours of launch the game was being played in 26 countries. To date, over 10,000 logos have been displayed in 47 countries around the world.

The contest finished at 8 am (CST) this morning. While players will continue to be able to play for fun, Trilight Entertainment of Regina, SK had collected 615 logos by contest close to claim the first prize Augmented Reality package worth $500 from Talking Dog Studios.

Talking Dog Studios president Rob Bryanton had this to say about the game: "When we saw that people all over the world were playing, it really opened up the possibility that the winner was going to be from the other side of the planet! But Trilight took the bull by the horns, they grabbed the lead early and managed to outwit their competition all week. Way to go Trilight, we're looking forward to seeing how you want to use your prize."

"We are excited to explore the potential of using Augmented Reality and Digital Media to compliment the Film projects we have in development, "said Trilight Entertainment's Shayne Putzlocher upon learning of his win, "and we had a lot of fun participating in the game".

SMPIA Digital Media Initiative Manager Nova Alberts was thrilled with the response to the game. "This was a wonderful way to demonstrate the speed and reach of digital media when you engage your audience. And I love that we were able to put Saskatchewan and Canadian logos in front of so many international players."

Just a reminder, the game can still be played by using the browser on your iPhone or Android phone to go to this link: http://www.bit.ly/multiplatforum. An added feature is that all companies and sponsors participating in the event will now have a fixed logo floating at their business location.

Find the Love in ScavengAR Hunt

2011-02-07T08:25:00.012-06:00

It's almost that time of year again where we show the people we love just how much they mean to us. Here comes Valentine's Day!! And it looks like little winged cupid has aimed an arrow straight at our developers' behinds because they are so overflowing with love and appreciation for our ScavengARs that they couldn't resist giving them the best gift of all....AR CHOCOLATE!!!

However, these just aren't any chocolates like the kind you buy last minute at the gas station on your way home because you forgot it was Valentine's Day. No, no, no, these are chocolates filled with love...and points! Up until midnight on Valentine's Day, you'll be able to find individual chocolates worth 5 points each. How's that for love?

What? You want more? Because we love you THAT MUCH, we're also including an elusive Box o' Chocolate worth MEGA points. Not only do you get mucho amor when you find this pretty box, but look inside and BOOM! More chocolate!! And you guessed it, more points.

See, we really really do love you! So much so, that we're trying to help you make it to the top of the Leader Board.

So get scavenging and find that sweet, sweet chocolate! If you're new to our game, go to scavengarhunt.com to learn how to start playing!

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Talking Dog AR Team

Pirate Attack: Talking Dog takes ScavengAR Hunt to the next level

2011-02-04T17:11:00.001-06:00

Avast ye land lubbers! There be rotten, no good pirates in these here waters! Arrrrrrr!

The scurvey scallywags here at Talking Dog Studios have stirred up trouble and this time we have engaged the wrath of the feisty pirates from ScavengAR Hunt!

Ok not really, but what we have done is develop a little interactive demo with Unity 3D (a game development environment) using a few pirate themed objects from our ScavengAR Hunt game. We have been curious about Unity for some time and thought now was a great time to get in and try something fun with it. Also, it seemed like a logical next step to take some of the things we made for ScavengAR and put it into more rounded out game scenario.

In our Pirates demo, you try to sink the pirate ship by pointing the cannon and firing at it. You have to hit that ship 10 times in order to sink it and we've provided a limited number of cannon balls to take it out. The demo is nice simple example of gaming 101 just to get our feet wet in this area a bit more. There is still some room for improvement, but if you think this type of game could work into one of your projects please contact us for a quote.

Be sure to check out the demo here - http://www.talkingdogstudios.com/unity/pirates

So put on your eye patch and grab a cup o' grog. It's time to send these bilge rats to Davy Jones' locker!

The Talking Dog ARrrrrrrrrr Team

Hey We Made the Top 10 AR Projects by the Music Industry!

2011-02-03T09:53:00.009-06:00

Thank you! You shouldn't have, no really...ok, ok we accept! First of all, we'd like to thank our mothers without whom this wouldn't have been possible...

Ori Inbar at Games Alfresco put together a list of the top 10 Augmented Reality projects created by the music industry...and lo and behold, we made the list! He names the top projects that he feels best showcase the combination of Augmented Reality and the music industry. Collaborations with artists like John Mayer, Rhianna, and Eminem all made the list, so we're stoked to be amongst such superstars (both in the music industry and AR development)! The top spot on the list went to Black Eyed Peas 360, which is a truly awesome AR project and well-deserved leader of the pack.

Our project, 10th Dimension Music Video for Rob Bryanton's Imagining the Tenth Dimension project, landed us at #5 on Ori's list.

You can create your own AR interactive music video in real time using two of the songs from the 10th Dimension project. Go to www.talkingdogstudios.com/10thdim to check it out!

This was actually one of our first AR projects that we attempted to create back in early 2009. Glad to see that it still is generating some interest! We enjoyed exploring the combination of music, user-controlled animation, and particle effects and would love to delve deeper into this area in the future. So if you have any projects in mind please contact us at ar@talkingdogstudios.com and we'll see what cool AR stuff we can imagine for you.

So thanks to Ori for the recognition of our project! Here's hoping me make some other top 10 lists (maybe top 10 AR companies with attractive developers....we can wish right?)

The Talking Dog AR Team

Welcome 2011!

2011-01-20T11:38:00.016-06:00

Well it's a new year here at Talking Dog Studios and it looks like our devious developers aren't slowing down. It's all guns blazing for 2011 and we're excited to create some really cool AR experiences, not to mention seeing what other wacky stuff developers are coming up with. 2011 is going to be a big year for AR folks...BIG YEAR!!

Speaking of cool AR experiences, we've just launched a project with the Telly Awards. In an awesome partnership with these cool cats, we created mytellyaward.com. Wanna know what it could feel like to win a Telly Award? Go check it out!

In the wonderful world of ScavengAR Hunt, we now have over 10,000 players! What? Pardon me, but did you say over 10,000? Yeah, you heard me. Over 10,000 players world wide baby! Are we excited? Uhhh, yeah we are! This is great news and we hope to keep the numbers growing with new objects to find and extra twists to the game.

Thanks for playing y'all and keep up the Scavenging! Oh, by the way, did you notice what is happening on the leader board! It's a battle for World Domination!! Muahahahahahaha

Haven't checked out our game yet? What are you waiting for? We're currently being featured on the Layar downloads page, click here to check us out for iPhone or here if you only have love for Android! And while you're there, check our some of the other great apps that are available on Layar. There is some cool stuff out there people, so have a look around!

As always, we'd like to thank all the people playing our game and we look forward to bringing you lots of more cool AR stuff in 2011!

The Talking Dog AR Team

ScavengAR Christmas

2010-12-24T10:25:00.000-06:00

The holidays are all about giving and here at Talking Dog we couldn't agree more. So we're giving our little ScavengARs a Christmas present. For a limited time, until the end of 2010 to be specific, there will be Shiny Ballz waiting to be collected for mucho points in ScavengAR Hunt!

Shiny Ballz sound familiar? Well it should, since it was the super awesome AR decorating project we developed to have a little holiday fun. We were so inspired by our magical Shiny Ballz that we decided to let you search for them in ScavengAR Hunt. Tis the season of sharing and we are more than happy to share our Shiny Ballz with you!

And it seems that you are enjoying playing our little game. We are pleased to see that our numbers are continuing to increase. The last few weeks have shown a burst of gaming in the US, UK, Australia, and France, which has got us tickled pink! So we'd like to take a moment and thank all the ScavengARs out there. Whether you are just trying it out or you've been playing since the start, we appreciate you checking out our game and we are striving to bring you new objects and tricky twists to make the hunt more fun.

On that note, thanks for the love ScavengARs and we hope you enjoy hunting for our Shiny Ballz this Christmas!

It seems like this year has brought some really awesome AR projects and apps. We'd like to give a shout out to all AR developers out there who continue to raise the bar and delve deep into the endless possibilities of AR. Some of our favourites from the year are: Star Wars Tie-Fighters, AR.Drone and most definitely Word Lens! Truly awesome and really showing the world what AR can do!

What else happened this year?

We had the pleasure of meeting Robert Rice at the 2010 Saskatchewan Interactive Summit.
Microsoft Kinect came out and the hacker community went to strange new lands of augmented hackery.
Our Godzilla AR t-shirt created some blogger buzz at comic-con.
Apple introduced more access to the iPhone camera for exciting new possibilities of augmentation.
Google introduced us to Google Goggles and whole new way to search the web
We got into mobile AR with Layar and our ScavengAR Hunt game

We have also frequently tweeted our many numerous other findings over on our Twitter.

As always we are excited to see where this technology goes.

The gang here at Talking Dog wishes you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Happy Holiday Scavenging!

The Talking Dog AR Team

Go Orna-Mental for the Holidays!

2010-12-06T11:07:00.008-06:00

With the holiday season right around the corner, we thought we'd give everyone an early present... Shiny Ballz!!!! I know, best present ever!!! And we didn't even see your Wishlist.

Back in the depths of our workshop, the little elves at Talking Dog have developed Shiny Ballz, a fun way for you to decorate AR Christmas ornaments and share pictures of them with your friends on Facebook. Not only can you color these shiny ornaments of awesomeness any way you like, but you can add a special holiday message for your friends and family. Think of it as a cool, new way to thank Nana for those knitted socks she keeps sending every year.

So how does it work? First, make sure your webcam is hooked up, then go to the website. Print off the black & white marker and fold it according to the instructions. Next, click "allow" to activate your webcam and faster than you can say "Pass the Nog" you are ready to start creating some personalized shiny ballz.

Here's a little video to show you how it's done. Notice what's unusual about this: you can create your designs by drawing in the square underneath the various tool buttons. Or you can paint directly onto your Augmented Reality ornament, just like in your old arts and crafts class!

Don't forget to try it out at www.talkingdogstudios.com/ar/shinyballz

Don't the Holidays just make you feel all warm and fuzzy?

Happy DecembAR!

The Talking Dog AR Team

Fight Off Pirates in ScavengAR Hunt!

2010-11-15T15:22:00.017-06:00

Ahoy ye ScavengARs! There be pirates in our waters!!

To help ward off the scurvy scalliwags and protect your precious booty, the clever cabin boys at Talking Dog have made you a weapon. Now when you play ScavengAR Hunt you can find a Cannon which will be an excellent defense from pirates who are trying to steal your treasure. However, it will be useless to you until you find a Cannon Ball...Luckily enough, we've made one of those too! So victory can be yours!!

And to help increase the size of your booty (hehe), we've also added a Treasure Chest. But be warned mateys, all that glitters is not gold...a treasure can sometimes be a curse! But what will it be for you?

So enjoy collecting the new objects in ScavengARrrrrrrrrrr Hunt!

Happy Pirate Hunting!

The Talking Dog ARrrrrrrrrrr Team

ScavengAR Hunt Halloween!

2010-10-27T14:29:00.013-06:00

Zombies are everywhere! Run for your lives! RUN!!!! Or better yet, get them before they get you!

OK, well maybe they aren't everywhere, but they certainly are in Augmented Reality! As an added treat to trick out your Halloween, our Franken-developers have created a Zombie Head for you ScavengARs to collect for MEGA points when you play our fun mobile game.

Thanks to the major points you get when you find this rotting braincase, you'll be able to mount your attack of the leader board and potentially RULE THE WORLD! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...ahem...well you'll be the top scorer anyway.

This undead cranium will only be floating around until midnight on Halloween. After that, it's dead and gone...for real this time. So get out there and hunt some Zombies!

Happy Halloween!!

The Talking Dog AR Team

New Objects in ScavengAR Hunt!

2010-10-21T11:40:00.018-06:00

In order to keep things interesting for our ScavengARs out there, the brainiacs at Talking Dog have developed some new objects to find. We wouldn't want you guys to get bored now, would we?

To keep track of all those random pickles floating around your neighbourhood, we've created the Pickle Jar! Genuis, I know! However remember ScavengARs, not all pickles are created equal. Have you heard of the expression, "one bad egg rots the whole barrel"? Swap out the egg for a pickle and I think you know where we're going with this.

Also to satisfy the alien head that seems to be hanging around the produce section at the grocery store, we've made a Moon! Oooooh ahhhhhh! ET go home! Now maybe it'll stop trying to invade our planet...or at the very least stop reading our thoughts (adjusts tinfoil helmet)!

We hope you enjoy these objects and stay tuned for more coming soon...like a Cannon! Those pirates don't stand a chance!

Happy Scavenging!

The Talking Dog AR Team

ScavengAR Hunt Insights

2010-10-12T15:37:00.016-06:00

Hey there ScavengARs!

Let's talk a bit about game mechanics. As you probably already know, whenever you open up the ScavengAR Hunt application on your IPhone or Android phone 3D objects are randomly scattered around you. For the most part, it's as simple as collecting objects to gain points. However, things aren't as simple as they may seem, friends. There are some hidden twists and turns in our game, built especially to keep you on your toes. Some objects will only be able to be collected if you have other objects. And in some cases, if you haven't collected objects in the right order, you could lose other objects in your collection and their associated points! Tricky, huh? And the cheeky rascals that we are here at Talking Dog, we're not going to tell you what those objects are and what you need to collect them either. Where would the fun be in that?

As a bonus for our loyal Regina scavengARs, we have included some fantastic coupons from K Family Kitchen and The Copper Kettle. Not only do you get points for collecting these items, but you can actually redeem them at the businesses for great deals on food. Now doesn't that make up for not telling you about those objects? No? Oh, well...ummm awkward...maybe you'll feel better after you eat some pizza.

Anyway, we're working hard to keep the game interesting and will be developing new objects and more tricks to keep things fun and exciting. So keep checking in with our blog, twitter, or follow us on Facebook! And thanks so much to the people giving us feedback about our AR mobile game, keep those cards and letters coming.

Keep it augmented!

The Talking Dog AR Team

ScavengAR Hunt in the News!!!

2010-10-07T17:18:00.002-06:00

The gang at Talking Dog have had their tails wagging in delight the last couple days thanks to our ScavengAR Hunt mobile game getting some press! We were on CTV Regina News at 6pm on Tuesday, October 5th and had an article in the Leader-Post on Wednesday, October 6th.

We wanted to let the people know that there are treasures (well maybe not everyone thinks a pickle is a treasure :p) waiting to be collected all around them in augmented reality. With every object they add to their collection, they can move up the leader board inching closer and closer to ruling the world of ScavengAR Hunt!

You would think that would be enough incentive to play, but we made it even better. For the good folks of Regina, we've talked before about the framed picture featuring Ron Lancaster and George Reed that you'll be able to see downtown and high above Mosaic Stadium while you're playing the game. In addition, right now there are coupons waiting to be discovered around town, from The Copper Kettle and K Family Kitchen. Once you find these coupons (which are also worth points, by the way) you can then show the coupon you collected on your iPhone or Android phone when you place your order and get a deal at the corresponding establishment. What? Did we just say you can get deals on food by playing ScavengAR Hunt? Yes, yes we did.

So thanks to CTV Regina and the Leader-Post for the shout out! We hope that people start racking up the points on ScavengAR Hunt or, at the very least, go out and get a deal on some delicious pizza!

Get Scavenging Regina!

The Talking Dog AR Team

Check Out ScavengAR Hunt's Website

2010-09-30T17:26:00.002-06:00

Thanks to the popularity of our Augmented Reality mobile game, ScavengAR Hunt, being played all over the world in places like Great Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United States (to name a few), we've been receiving lots of feedback and comments about how fun it is. However, something has been missing...a website!! So the technology geniuses at Talking Dog Studios "got off their duffs" and created one. To check it out, go to www.scavengarhunt.com and see what it's all about!

The website gives instructions on how to start playing, how to check your stats to see how you compare to players all over the globe, and how to contact us should you want to tell us how awesome you are (or if you have any questions or comments)!

But wait, there's more! We've also created a ScavengAR Hunt Facebook Fan site! We'll be frequently posting updates and videos, so that our fans will know what's new, what's changed, or just what's really cool!

And speaking of cool (nice segue!), check out the video below to see a glimpse of what ScavengAR Hunt is all about.

So what are you waiting for? Get off your duff and collect some stuff!!

The Talking Dog AR Team

Augmented Reality comes to the Interactive 2010!

2010-09-27T14:31:00.003-06:00

On Friday, September 24th a few members of the Talking Dog Studios gang took a short jaunt up to Saskatoon to attend Interacitve 2010!, an interactive media event put on by the Saskatchewan Motion Picture Industry Association and the SaskInteractive Media Association Inc. It was a day of schmoozing and rubbing elbows, but also informative sessions on what’s going on in the interactive media industry in Saskatchewan.

One of the highlights for our crew was the opportunity to speak with Robert Rice, the founder of AR Consortium, and hear his session on Augmented Reality: Evolution of Media and Convergence. Considering all the exciting projects we have been working on with augmented reality recently, our tails were really wagging. All of the speakers were great though and it simply underscored how much talent and innovation Saskatchewan has to offer.

However, the icing on the cake came later that evening when they presented the SaskInteractive Media Awards. Surrounded by representatives from various businesses in the interactive media industry and with the smooth beats of DJ Albert from zu swirling around the room, we proudly accepted two awards: “How Big is Baby” - Education/Learning/Training Visualization and “Where the Buffalo Roam” - Mobile Entertainment. We were also nominated for two other awards: “ExpandAR” - eGaming/Interactive Entertainment and “Gojira” - Interactive Advertising/Online Ads. It was great to receive recognition for the hard work we do here at Talking Dog Studios with augmented reality and we intend to keep the ball rolling! So keep checking our website www.talkingdogstudios.com/ar and let’s keep the future augmented!

The Talking Dog AR Team

ScavengAR Hunt

2010-09-08T15:46:00.007-06:00

Here at Talking Dog Studios over the past little while we've been exploring the "Layar Reality Browser" app for iPhone and Android phones. We put up a layer for the service a month ago called "Where the Buffalo Roam" which lets you visualize the huge herds of buffalo that used to be found in North America. To further our curiosity about this amazing new world of possibilities we have now released a game called "ScavengAR Hunt" (search for it in Layar).

This is a scavenger hunt, but in Augmented Reality! Once you're logged in to the app, you'll find a random collection of unusual and humorous objects that have been scattered around you. Some are near enough to collect right away, for others you will have to walk closer to be able to grab them. Should we be advertising this as "the Augmented Reality game that promotes physical fitness"? Get off your duff and collect some stuff!

Remember: you don't have to be right on top of the object to collect it, so if there's one out in the middle of the street or on private property you should still be able to collect it, as long as you're within 30 meters (100 feet) or so. Stay safe, stay legal, and have fun.

There are a number of objects that we have created for you to find all over the world, and we'll be adding more and more items in the months to come. Each item you find has a specific number of points associated with it, and occasionally you'll come across rarities worth BIG POINTS!

Go Riders!
In support of our local football team we have also placed a gigantic floating picture frame in our downtown to showcase two of the greats from our "Saskatchewan Roughriders": Ron Lancaster and George Reed (everyone will have to visit here if they want to collect this one). As part of this year's 100th anniversary celebrations for the team, we have also placed this frame over top of our football stadium.

But Wait, There's More...
This game can be played anywhere in the world. Right now, people here in the Regina area will also find coupons they can take in to local businesses. This is a new (and paperless!) way to attract customers: coupons can be placed anywhere in the world, within a radius as large or narrow as you choose: if your business would like to participate in this exciting new promotional opportunity, contact us (ar [at] talkingdogstudios [dot] com) to learn more.

Now Get Scavenging!
We hope you all enjoy this game. Will you be the first person to find the golden egg? Will you become the number one ScavengAR Hunt collector in the world? Follow us on twitter for updates about this and other interesting AR things we find.

The Talking Dog AR Team

Talking Dog makes Hollywood Connection

2010-07-22T12:22:00.010-06:00

(Edit - Talking Dog President Rob Bryanton has posted some responses to questions about this project over at his Imagining the Tenth Dimension blog at this link: "Gojira".)

When Warner Brothers affiliate Legendary Pictures – responsible for such critically acclaimed films as Inception, Where the Wild Things Are, The Dark Knight, 300, and Watchmen – wanted to use Augmented Reality to announce their latest film, they turned to Saskatchewan’s Talking Dog Studios to provide them with the technology to do so.

This week, Legendary Pictures is at San Diego’s Comic-Con International, the world’s biggest comics and pop culture convention, celebrating the beginning of production on their next film: “Godzilla”. Persons attending the conference will receive a t-shirt with an image of the new Godzilla, and when they look at themselves in a webcam at the Legendary Pictures tradeshow booth, they’ll see a superimposed animation of Godzilla’s “atomic breath” shooting out into the air in front of them from Godzilla’s mouth, complete with black smoke rising from the flames and the ground-shaking bellow of Godzilla’s instantly recognizable roar.

This immersive experience was designed by Talking Dog Studios, of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, and was supervised by Larry Monte of California’s Corporate Images. Talking Dog have been developing various AR applications for the past year, but owner Rob Bryanton sees this as a major step forward: “Augmented Reality is very open-ended, which is great because the possibilities are so wide, but it’s something that is best experienced rather than described,” says Bryanton. “With the Godzilla installation, we were able to quickly create something that our clients were immediately happy with, so we see this as a great recognition of the skillset that we’ve now developed”.

Another Augmented Reality project just launched by Talking Dog this week works with Android phones and the iPhone – it’s called “Where the Buffalo Roam”. Talking Dog comes from a city formerly known as “Pile of Bones”, which resulted from the huge herds of bison which used to roam the prairies. This free app allows users to look through their phone’s camera and be transported back in time, as they look at a huge herd of 3D buffalo being generated around them. If you have Layar installed you can go directly to our project here http://m.layar.com/open/buffaloroam

For more information about Talking Dog’s AR work, go to “www.talkingdogstudios.com/ar”.

Where the Buffalo Roam

2010-07-19T11:27:00.010-06:00

If you saw our blog post about using historical re-creations you may be wanting to try our "Where the Buffalo Roam" layer we've created for the mobile phone augmented reality browser Layar. Today we published our project for everyone to enjoy.

To check out our new augmented reality buffalo herd make sure you have Layar installed on your iPhone / Android phone. Go to the "search" tab and look for "buffalo roam". When our layer appears click on the blue arrow button to launch, and be whisked away to a field of AR buffalo. You will also have the option to listen to some buffalo roaming which can be selected or ignored.

Currently our herd of buffalo should surround you wherever you are. We will be publishing more place specific layers in the future. Stay tuned.

On a distantly related note, did you know this is a grammatically correct sentence in the English language?

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

Click here to read about this very curious looking sentence.

And enjoy the buffalo!

The Talking Dog AR team.

Augmented Reality Ventriloquism

2010-06-16T16:09:00.000-06:00

Here we are with some more Faceball experiments! If you've been following along with our AR demos so far, then you've seen that Talking Dog Studios has been working on a series of web pages that use both marker-tracking and face-tracking technologies to grab the real-time image of your face and map it in various creative ways.

Starting with expandar.com (pictured at left) and Alice in AR Land (at right), we showed you some of the startling effects that can be achieved with just face-tracking. Then, with Faceball 1, we added in the marker, which let you map your own face to a sphere. And with Faceball 2, we showed you how this could allow you to hold your head in your hands.

If you were wondering where we would take this next, take a look at Faceball demo 3:

This one shows you how it's possible to become other characters, like in our Alice in Wonderland page, except that the character is more convincingly part of the real world.

Where, you might be wondering, will we go next? No need to wonder any longer, because we've gone ahead and created a finished application from these demos. The culmination of all our hard work and experimentation has come down to this one point:

AR ventriloquism.

That's right, you can create dialogues between yourself and your virtual self in much the same way that real ventriloquists do. Check out our coder Rene Dufour-Contreras, who wrote and performed this strangely existential piece about a guy realizing he's just a virtual head:

Notice that Rene's mouth is covered with a still image of his mouth when the dummy is talking and the dummy's mouth does not move when Rene is speaking. You can try this, and all the other faceball demos out at www.talkingdogstudios.com/ar/faceball

This is just one application for this technology. By mapping a person's face in real time to a character in a game they are playing, or in a movie they are watching, you are creating a much more personal and engaging experience for them. Could your next project use this new innovation? Give it some thought and give us a call!

Augmentedly,

The Talking Dog AR team

AR and Historical Re-creations

2010-05-17T11:43:00.018-06:00

The above picture comes from the wikipedia article on Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. The picture is entitled "young man poses with huge pile of buffalo bones ready to be shipped".

Here at Talking Dog Studios in our on-going exploration of augmented reality, we've started investigating the world of mobile AR. The Layar app for iPhone and Google Android phones seemed to be the most obvious place to start. We have been thinking about AR, tourism and places of historical interest ever since we made our AR project for Saskatchewan Tourism so it seemed logical to take that a little further.

We started out by trying to put simple "Points of Interest" (POI) in our parking lot here at Talking Dog. We thought it would also be interesting to explore Saskatchewan's history of buffalo herds: the original name for the city we live in was "Pile of Bones", and it got its name from the huge piles of bones that were left behind by the buffalo hunters in the area.

So, through a little tinkering we built ourselves a herd of buffalo taking up all of our parking spots. This picture is of 100 virtual buffalo as seen from google maps (currently this is not publicly visible).

(Incidentally, bison is the more correct term for these animals, but buffalo still tends to be what people around here say in conversation).

At Talking Dog we understand the importance of sound to create a believable experience. To add to the realism we also allowed for the sound of a herd to be triggered when you get within a certain distance.

Next, we placed our herd of 3d buffalo models we had created in a field adjacent to Regina's Royal Saskatchewan Museum.

We're very excited by the possibilities of historical re-creations using mobile devices, and this seems like a good start. At present our herd of buffalo can only be seen if you come to the open space south east of the Royal Saskatchewan Museum here in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

This project should be published relatively soon, and we'll be sure to spread the word when we have it up. As always, follow us on twitter for more up to the minute updates on what's going on in AR.

Here's to our augmented future!

The Talking Dog AR team.

Faceball Demo 2

2010-04-15T13:11:00.000-06:00

With the past few entries we've showed you our Expandar and Alice in Wonderland pages which use face tracking, for a form of Augmented Reality that doesn't require you to print out a marker. Then we showed you our Faceball page, which you can visit here if you want to try it out yourself. The first version mapped the viewer's face to a ball. Now here's a demo that shows what happens when you map the person's face to a 3D mesh representing a human head. Check it out!

A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKIv3Pt6zjI

Pretty unusual looking, wouldn't you say? Again, this is just an experiment, but we see some good opportunities coming up for where this idea could take us: imagine watching a 3D CGI movie where no matter where you as a viewer are sitting, and no matter how close or far you are from your webcam, you see yourself as the face of one of the characters in the show. Talk about immersive entertainment!

Just to review, here's what our first "Faceball" demo looked like:

A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSGmlmtFmt0

Each day we move another step towards our augmented reality future. And we can't wait to get there!

The Talking Dog AR team.

Faceball Demo 1

2010-04-09T23:34:00.007-06:00

Here's a little experiment we thought we would put up in its beginning stages. It's a followup to our Expandar and Alice in Wonderland pages using face tracking, for a form of Augmented Reality that doesn't require you to print out a marker. You can find the faceball page here .

A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSGmlmtFmt0

We're calling this video "Faceball Demo 1" because we see this as just the beginning for where this could lead. We're imagining all the fun characters that could be created using this technique, and possibilities for interactive story telling or gaming. Please comment on the video over at youtube or here on this blog and let us know what you think. The augmented reality division of Talking Dog Studios is constantly trying to hone its tool box and your feedback really helps us as we decide what avenues to pursue next.

May all your days be augmented ones!

The Talking Dog AR team

How Big Is the TV?

2010-03-24T13:05:00.004-06:00

Our newest project "How Big Is the TV?" allows you to try out TVs of different sizes in your own home. We've selected a number of flat screen TVs for users to test and we plan to expand the selection over time. Be sure to print out the marker and try it out. Once you decide on which TV suits you best, clicking on the "Buy Now" button takes you to a popular page which compares the prices of that particular model from various retailers. And don't forget the "take a picture" button which lets you share the picture of the TV you're interested in with others on facebook, or you can save the picture to your computer.

Here's our demo video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaGPpgDDrjM

This project is a more practical follow up to our two other projects "How Big Is The Baby?" and "How Big Is A Planet?", we hope you take a look at these other projects and spread the word.

We have been playing with the ideas of scale in augmented reality for some time now, keep an eye out for more projects like this to come.

And as always, if you think we could be of service to you and your company, please contact us at "ar [at] talkingdogstudios [dot] com". And please go to howbigisthetv.com if you're thinking of shopping for a new TV!

Augmentedly yours,

The Talking Dog Team

Alice in AR land

2010-03-19T04:35:00.007-06:00

Last time we looked at our new website mixing face tracking and augmented reality: expandAR.com. This time we'd like to talk more about a proof-of-concept experiment we've just posted at expandAR.com/w using the same technology: with this version, instead of the software messing with their own face, the user sees themselves transformed into four of the characters from Disney's new hit film, Alice in Wonderland. The images used to create this demo are, of course, © 2010 by Walt Disney Pictures.

Can you imagine watching a program or a commercial where you see yourself inserted into the action using the approach we're showing here, with your face changing to different characters, or being modified in interesting ways as different things happen to you? So can we!

We see this as a starting point for something that any film, television, or commercial producer could use to allow people to see themselves as part of the action, to become part of the show. It's important to remember as you look at these stills from the site that this is really full-motion video of the user being inserted into these faces, which makes the experience just that much more engaging. What about a website that shows clips from famous movies and lets people see themselves as an interesting/amusing part of the clip? Talk about your remix culture.

Also, there are other interactive story-telling options here: users could be presented with choices, and depending upon their response they would see themselves transformed in various ways. Likewise, this could make for an immersive and entertaining educational or gaming experience.

Several things are happening to make this magic happen. First of all, facial recognition software is locating the user's face, and continually adjusting for their position within the image and how near/far they are from their webcam. Then, real-time video is being grabbed of the person's face. The image of this face is adjusted in real time to match the color and brightness of Tim Burton's imaginative images. In some cases the face is also being warped or tilted to have it match the look of the film's characters even more.

The fact that all this is able to be done in flash, so it doesn't require the user to download any additional software makes this a great promotional tool. The fact that it is a form of augmented reality that doesn't require the user to print out a marker also ensures that more people will be likely to try the site out.

In case you missed it from last time, we're going to close here with our movie demonstrating the original version of expandAR. Thank you to the people who have sent us pictures of themselves having their reality expanded in various crazy ways by the expandAR website, please keep 'em coming!

And if you are a film or television producer looking for an innovative way to engage your audience, let us know, we'd love to discuss how Augmented Reality might be just the solution you've been looking for.

A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FToeYWCAoYk

May all your days be augmented ones,

The Talking Dog AR team.

PS - Talking Dog president Rob Bryanton has also posted an entry about this over at his Imagining the Tenth Dimension blog, check it out.

ExpandAR: "Expand Your Reality"

2010-03-18T15:20:00.000-06:00

Here at Talking Dog we've been having fun making funny faces into our webcams this month. We recently launched our new Augmented Reality visual toy: "expandAR".

You can try it out yourself at expandar.com.

A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FToeYWCAoYk

Here's what we say on our site:

"expandAR" is a visual toy that uses face tracking and augmented reality for some hilarious and mind-altering effects. Once you've made note of the keyboard combinations for the effects you like you can call them up whenever you like. You can also play with this toy with more than one person - with practice you can play "ExpandAR Pong" and throw the effect from one face to another and back again.

Share your best expandAR photos with us! Just email your pictures to us and we'll put them in our gallery of crazy pictures made with this site. And once a month, the person who sends in our favorite picture will win a prize!

The subtitle for expandAR says "Expand Your Reality". Some of the effects within expandAR are pretty darn surreal, and some even temporarily alter your perception of the world around you, in ways similar to what's known as the waterfall illusion. Good times to be had by all!

But first and foremost, what we're looking at is an open-ended plaything, something to stimulate your creativity and let you explore the possibilities. So have fun with expandAR and send us your pics!

May all your days be augmented ones.

Talking Dog

p.s. Just as a proof of concept for other uses of this technology, we recently took expandar and created a modified version that lets you become various characters from Disney's new film Alice in Wonderland, directed by Tim Burton. You can check that version out here.

Twitter Trends

2010-02-11T16:44:00.014-06:00

Here at Talking Dog Studios we've been experimenting over the last little while with connecting to the twitter API in order to display trends and such in an Augmented Reality window. Here's a little something we came up that we're calling "Trend Face". This Flash app lets you see the world's trends attached to the side of your face, changing in real time as words rise and fall in popularity. There's a couple of other features - you can click on any trend word and immediately see its most recent tweets, and there's a search function that lets you see the most recent tweet referencing the search term you entered.

Please check it out at talkingdogstudios.com/ar/trendface and tell us what you think. It's a fun little project and who knows: you might even learn a thing or two about what matters to the twitterverse right this instant.

Speaking of that, you can take a picture of yourself and the current "moment in time" trends, for you to look back at for years to come: save it to your hard drive or share it with your Facebook friends. And for lots more tweets about Augmented Reality-related stuff we find interesting, be sure to follow us twitter @talkingdogar .

Cheers!

The Talking Dog AR team

Augmented Reality Watch

2009-12-31T08:23:00.006-06:00

A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArXyFFr8n18

Hey, all you watch companies out there, here's a proof-of-concept video we made demonstrating a great new way to let your customers try on different watches in the comfort of their own homes. We've added a couple of enhancements to this that make it more than just your average AR: one, check out how the tag disappears, so it's easier for the customer to see how the watch will look with their clothing or on their bare wrist. And two, check out how the digital watch actually tells time! If you go to www.talkingdogstudios.com/ar/watch you can try it out for yourself: just use the left/right arrow keys on screen or on your keyboard to try out the different watches.

We'd love to see this used in a real retail application, where anybody with a webcam would be able to quickly try on a variety of watches, and where clicking on the "add to my shopping cart" button would take you to the website's store. Best of all, unlike many of the retail AR applications out there right now, there's no special software required to be downloaded because this all works in flash.

In the meantime, we hope everybody gets a kick out of playing with our augmented reality watch demonstration. Enjoy!

Rob Bryanton
Talking Dog AR
ar@talkingdogstudios.com

Greetings 2010

2009-12-30T17:56:00.003-06:00

Here's a youtube movie demonstrating an augmented reality page we helped to create for a New York company who specialize in the retouching of photos for magazines and advertising: "Sous Les Etoiles" (be sure to check out their beautiful website).

A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpVrRHr30Lg
New York City based director Christopher McLallen, go to www.christophermclallen.com, and you'll see some great examples of his work.

What a thrill it was for us to collaborate with the talented team attached to this project. And we're doubly thrilled, because some of them were kind enough to provide us with the following mini-testimonials about their experience of working with Talking Dog on this Augmented Reality project.

"A key to working with new technology is to have a team that is not only knowledgeable but also patient and personable. Rob and everyone at Talking Dog Studios have all three in abundance, which made for a wonderful experience."

- New York City based director Christopher McLallen (www.christophermclallen.com)

"I have to say, I am very impressed with your dedication to the client, the precision of your questions-comments... It is what I call simply: professionalism! And especially in such new technology, new challenges and creativity.

- Sylvere Azoulai - CEO, SOUS LES ETOILES, New York NY
(www.souslesetoiles.net)

If you go to the youtube movie linked to above you can see more about the talented team who worked on this project, including links to their websites. We sincerely look forward to working with them again!

All the best in 2010,

Rob Bryanton
Talking Dog AR

PS - if you would like to try this AR out for yourself, go to either of the following links:
http://www.souslesetoiles.net/2010/
http://www.talkingdogstudios.com/ar/sous

Augmented Reality Season's Greetings

2009-12-04T08:23:00.006-06:00

A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozEfHjAbmwE

All the best of the holidays to you and yours! From here in Saskatchewan, Canada, the gang at Talking Dog Studios have created a unique Christmas present for you - an augmented reality page that lets you look into your webcam and see yourself as Santa Claus. There's lots of different Santa faces to choose from, and when you see one you like, just click on the "Take a Picture" icon to save a photo of you as Santa to your computer or to share with your friends on facebook. Check it out!

http://www.talkingdogstudios.com/ar/santa

This AR uses facial recognition, so no tags required. We hope you get lots of laughs from this free web page.

Best wishes,

Talking Dog AR

Crazy Wakeboarder

2009-11-02T07:39:00.003-06:00

We had a great time at the Saskatchewan Communications Expo Tradeshow last week, introducing Augmented Reality to a number of curious onlookers and media professionals who had not come across this exciting tool before. People really got a kick out of our "Crazy Wakeboarder" which is a fun diversion, but it's also a fairly unique example of what you can do with a little creativity: unlike most AR projects, where the 3D images are generated "above" the marker, in this case everything is "behind" the marker, so it's like you're looking through a window into another world. If you twist the marker you can look up into the sky, or look down at the frothing water, or look left and right to see the skyline of Waskesiu Lake, which is one of the popular vacation sites located right here in our home province of Saskatchewan, Canada.

Here's a video demonstrating our 3D animated "Crazy Wakeboarder" doing his tricks out on the water.

A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4E7QW-mMzM

If you'd like to try it out yourself, here's the link:
http://www.talkingdogstudios.com/sasktourism/

By the way, there'll be audio geeks out there who recognize the Wilhelm Scream is the sound our wakeboarder makes when he wipes out. If you're not familiar with this "sound designer's inside joke" check out the wikipedia article on the subject here.

Best augmented wishes to you all,

Talking Dog Studios

How Big is a Planet?

2009-10-27T17:35:00.004-06:00

Here at Talking Dog Studios, we've been creating Augmented Reality projects for a while now. We've recently put up a couple of free sites for people to play with, both have similar designs but will likely appeal to very different groups.

The one that just went up now is called "How Big is a Planet?". You can go to the website and try it out yourself, it's at howbigisaplanet.com . Here's a video demonstrating how the site works:

A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiXhrDLhvRg

We think there's something about actually seeing the scale of related things when you hold them in your hand that sticks in your memory more than just reading about such things. Seeing yourself hold Mars and then seeing yourself hold Jupiter gives you a "mental slap" that makes it more likely to remember this kind of information. The following site is based upon the same principle, but this time we're comparing the relative sizes of a developing baby during its nine months of development in the womb. Here's a video:

A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkuEXH1pTCQ

Again, it's one thing to read about how teeny an embryo is only one month after the egg has been fertilized, and it's quite another to hold it in your hand. If you'd like to try it out yourself please go to howbigisthebaby.com . Both of these sites would make great teaching aids, but they're also just fun to play with. One thing to note - once you have the marker showing the baby or the planet in the position you like, you can quickly take the marker out of view and the object remains, useful if you want to see yourself with these planets and babies without having to hold the tag. And when you see something you like, you can click on the "Take a Picture" button and save a picture of yourself to your hard drive, or automatically share it with your friends on facebook.

Is taking a picture of yourself with a baby in front of your tummy a good way to let your family know you're expecting? Well, that's a personal decision. But having watched both kids and adults have a great time playing with these websites, we're hoping that you will enjoy them as well.

If you'd like to know more about Talking Dog Studios and augmented reality, here's a link to our website.

Augmenting the world, one website at a time,

The Talking Dog Team

How Big is the Baby - video

2009-10-10T05:53:00.007-06:00

Hey, check out the new movie we've just put up demonstrating How Big is the Baby!

A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkuEXH1pTCQ

Pretty cool, huh? Be sure to send us any of your favorite pictures of you with your virtual baby to ar@talkingdogstudios.com

Cheers!

Talking Dog

Pregnancy Flakes?

2009-10-01T14:47:00.007-06:00

We've have had our How Big is the Baby project up for a week or two now, just added a feature yesterday which allows people to post pictures of themselves with the baby directly to their facebook page. Hey, wouldn't this be a great way to announce to your parents that you're expecting? Well, maybe...

We noticed in our website stats that yesterday September 30th, we got mentioned on an Isreal news site called ynet. The article can be found here and you may be curious what it says in english...well... a translation of the site can be found here. Our site was linked to under the heading of "Pregnancy Flakes", we suspect something was lost in translation but we're not sure what. It looks like the site was mentioned because of http://twitter.com/ErezAK... thanks! We just saw a big jump in the number of visitors to the site, so we guess that means lots of people from Israel are having fun picturing themselves with a developing baby.

We look forward to seeing what types of pictures start surfacing online and hopefully people have some fun with it. We don't actually record or look at the pictures as you take them (because we respect your privacy and say so in our privacy statement), but if you have a picture you think we might get a kick out of, email it to us at ar@talkingdogstudios.com .

We've also been building up our twitter followers. The twitterverse is a mysterious place and we hope people following our tweets are picking up a thing or two. Thanks to a few mentions on twitter we've also noticed a flow of people coming to check out our site. Also, we picked up a new "slogan" through the retweeting circles. The phrase "Get pregnant without the morning sickness" seemed to replicate all over the place and we were entertained by the idea.

To finish off here is a recent speech by Bruce Sterling talking about the augmented reality industry.

Video: Bruce Sterling's Keynote - At the Dawn of the Augmented Reality Industry from Maarten Lens-FitzGerald on Vimeo.

Have fun in your augmented world!

www.talkingdogstudios.com
1212A Winnipeg St.
Regina, SK Canada
306 790 4008

Welcome to Talking Dog AR

2009-09-14T11:57:00.002-06:00

Talking Dog Studios is based in the middle of Canada. Our team have been creating sound and music for television and film since 1989 at our current location in Regina, Saskatchewan, in a huge building that was originally constructed by General Motors to manufacture vehicles way back in 1927. Our most successful project so far has been the hit television series "Corner Gas". Other recent films we've worked on include "Hungry Hills", "Surveillance", and "The Englishman's Boy".

Talking Dog has been looking into "Augmented Reality" (AR) since the beginning of 2009. We are excited to be displaying some of the projects that we have been working on since then.

Our current project can be found at howbigisthebaby.com . This site is a fun way for kids or adults to hold up the augmented reality marker in front of their tummies and imagine there's a baby growing inside, and we know this will also be a useful tool for educators wanting to engage their students more as they see themselves holding a developing baby through its nine months of development.

Here are some of the other AR projects we've worked on so far:
Doritos contest
Tenth Dimension 3D Helix
Saskatchewan Tourism

We've also recently been mentioned in the Regina Leader-Post newspaper.

You can also start following us on Twitter.

Are you imagining that Augmented Reality could be a useful tool for promoting your company or project? Are you a web developer wanting to add an augmented reality window to one of your clients' sites? Please email us at ar@talkingdogstudios.com .

And have fun augmenting your reality!

Talking Dog Studios
www.talkingdogstudios.com
1212A Winnipeg St.
Regina, SK Canada
306 790 4008