Technology is becoming faster and more advance each pasting day. We are at the point were we can argument what we can see. We can put on a pair of glasses and add things to our world that isn't really there. We can use this tech to give more information to the user.
For this project I made an app using Unity3D and Vuforia to create a I made a AR application for a physical of the book Holes by Louis Sachar. In this app will allow the user to see a little scene from the book. Pressing a VR button will tell the reader a little about the book to get the person interested in reading the book. On the back we have more information about the book along with reviews of the book and a video review about how good of a read it is.
Back of Book
Cite: Conrad Ptasznik
Front of Book
Cite: https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1552422497i/38709._UY500_SS500_.jpg
These are the images that I used for the front of the book as well as the back of the book. When the book is uploaded to the target manger, it creates features in order to identify what image is being shown to the camera.
In order to use this application, download the zip file below from Github. Be sure to have Unity 2019.2.0fl or newer in order to use this app. Be sure to have a webcam because this is require to run the Vuforia camera component. You can download unity and vurforia here.
Unity3D - https://unity3d.com
Vurforia - https://developer.vuforia.com/downloads/sdk
If you need help installing Vurforia on you Unity here is a tutorial for that/
https://library.vuforia.com/articles/Training/getting-started-with-vuforia-in-unity.html
After that open folder "CS428_Project_1" within unity to open up the project. Be sure that you camera is connected and is on and hit the the play button located on the top tool bar within Unity. When the application is running, hold the front cover of the book to the camera until 3D model appear.
From here to can interact with book by holding on to the White virtual button as shown on the picture below.
This can also be done with the virtual button on the back of the book. This button is a little different because it more of a switch the allows you to switch from book info to written reviews to video review just by pressing and releasing the Virtual button .
Hand not on Virtual button
Hand on Virtual button
Below show a step by step how you can switch from different reviews and information with the virtual button.
If the user has a Vive they can run this application using the EXE file the is included in the GitHub file. Have the Vive on and run it. Here you can have the app running using the Vive camera. They can interact with the same why they do in Laptop camera.
Git Hub Link : https://github.com/Conrad21/CS428_Project_1_cptasz2
To download, go to and select the clone or download button (should be green) and place the files on your desktop. Unzip the file and you should have everything need to run the application
Here's is link to the sources
Virtual reality glasses are becoming more and more popular now than they were 25 years ago. The equipment is so light-weight that we can now wear them like glasses. This can be used as an effective way of advertising products.
If you had a book store where it had all the books with image targets of VR. This could be a very integrated way of advertising the books. Instead of having the user check their phone about a book they can now simply pick up the book and see if they might be interested in it or not. The cover can also be more interactive. If it a book about looking for treasure, the cover could have dirt all over it and the user will have to remove the dirt to revile the cover. This interaction will make the book feel more unique to the reader, making it catch the viewer's eyes.
Having a scene from the book will help the book “Pop-out” to the reader. The 3D models are just like a movie trailer to the reader where it is an interactive book cover. The 3D cover is to tell the reader what the theme is and gives them a visualizing of the main character of the book. The main character coming out is also a great way to entice the user into the book. They can be interactive with one another such as two characters talking to each other or the main character climbing over a mountain just like something they would read in the book.
If there a series with multiple books, the user can put the books together in order to make a new bigger scene. This would help persuade the user into buying all the book in the series to see what they can unlock with them. The more books they have, the bigger and more complex the scene becomes. If they collect all the book and make the scene, it can have a secret animation play where the characters traveling from book to book.
Information on the back of the book will tell the reader more about how other people have enjoyed the book. Like with amazon with their review board about a product, it will tell the user if they enjoyed the book or not. Having a book with a lot of good and or bad reviews will help the reader decide whether to get the book or not. If the reader wants more of an in-depth review, the video reviews also a great way to showcase this. It can also have a feature where if the reader likes the book, it can suggest another book and will pop up 3D models of those book covers so that the user will know what the book might look like.
The AR application can also be a great way of selling an item related to the book. This book can also have a link to the audiobook as well in case the reader wants the book on tape. If the book has a movie tie in like Harry Potter, it can have a trailer for the movie as well in case the user isn't really into the book but would rather see the movie.
All these feathers can be easily accessed just by picking the book and looking at it. With VR glasses it will give the user all in this information in the “palm of their hand” without having to do research using their phone browsers.
For the animation part I used partial affects to make it look like there is someone digging inside that hole that is in the middle of the book. I used a PNG image of dirt and added to that so that there is little pieces of dirt flying out.
Side view with partial affect
Model of Stanly
When the virtual button is hold on to, The main character, Stanley Yelnats comes out of the hole and tell you a little about the book (voiced by Cornad Ptasznik). You can tell it is him because he is wearing his red cap.