These dinosaurs could use some Augmented Reality
We brought our son to the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller. It has a huge and magnificent exhibit of dinosaur skeletons, for dinosaur enthusiasts of all ages. And what was going through my mind? Wouldn’t it be cool if museum-goers could access an augmented reality app (using an iPhone or iPad) and see what the dinosaurs looked like with their skin 3D-rendered and overlaid on top of the real-life skeletons?
In the same dinosaur museum, I saw some software that was designed to teach people about dinosaur bone identification. It allowed people to identify bones located at the bottom of the screen, and then attach the bones in the right place on the dinosaur model. What was I thinking? You could create these tasks with our free interactive 3D animation software.
Will computer graphics replace the need for animatronics?
We also went to the Science Centre in Calgary and saw an exhibit on animatronics that displayed very cool movie props, among them the alligator used in the Peter Pan movie. My techie inclinations led me to think about whether computer graphics applications will eventually replace the need for animatronics. I also saw how 3D printers could be used to replicate creatures for use in animatronics. 3D printing has been a very exciting area to explore in many domains in recent years, and something that we keep exploring internally.
What’s more difficult to render, a summer or winter scene?
Finally, we spent a couple of days in beautiful Lake Louise. The scenery is just gorgeous, though some would say we are nuts for going to a -17c hike in Johnston Canyon. However, during this hike, I wondered many times whether it is more or less technically difficult to photo-realistically render summer or winter scenes.
It was a wonderful vacation, though my technical mind did wander a number of times. I am sure my wife loves me for this characteristic.