Augmented Reality Projects

The use of Augmented Reality is becoming ever more popular for business and education. In this project you will learn what Augmented Reality is and create a simple Augmented Reality artwork of your own. You can use any software you like to create the image, but these tutorial use Photopea and EyeJack app which are both free. Before you start, click on the AR Examples link below and see how Augmented Reality is being used for a variety of purposes.

In this project we will be using the free EyeJack app. To give you an idea of what you can create using it, watch the video below:

Step 1: Create Your Background Image

Your background image will be the first thing your audience sees in your augmented reality project. It should work without augmented reality because a lot of people who see it might not have a device to view the augmented reality part of it. The 'magic' of this project is when your audience realises that they can use their device to make your background image 'come alive'.

You can create your background image using any image editing software that you are comfortable using but you must save it as a .png or .jpeg image. Or you can watch the quick video tutorial below to learn how to create a poster or advert using basic Photopea tools. Photopea is a free online image editing software and you can find it by clicking here.

STep 2: Create your animated GIF

The next step is make your background image 'come alive'. You will do this by creating an animated GIF that will play when someone using the EyeJack app scans your image with the camera on their phone or tablet.

You can use any software you are comfortable using to create your animation but you must save it as a GIF or PNG for it to work in this Augmented Reality project.

The video below will teach you how to create an animated GIF using Photopea. If the video doesn't play, then click here. You will learn how to use the Puppet Warp tool to move a part of an image to make it appear like it is animating. But there are lots of other ways you can animate in Photopea. Here are some more videos that you could follow:

Below are the image files I used in my video for you to practice with or you may choose to use your own images.

STEP 3: Create your Augmented Reality

There are lots of Augmented Reality apps that you can use, but this tutorial uses the EyeJack app. You will need to download this app onto your laptop or desktop (Windows or MAC only). If you are in school, your teacher should already have this app installed on your device.

Watch the following video which shows you how simple it is to upload the background image you created in Step 1 and your animation you created in Step 2 to the Eyejack to create your finished Augmented Reality poster/advert/artwork.

My completed Augmented Reality Example

Have a look at my completed Augmented Reality project. You will need to have the EyeJack installed on your smartphone or tablet to view it. Then open you camera on scan the QR code. You will be taken to the EyeJack app which will load my animation. If it doesn't work it may be that I have reached my 100 view limit (which is all you get on the free on EyeJack package) so you will need to come back next month!

Notes to Teachers

This Augmented Reality project uses the free EyeJack app. The basic free package will be sufficient for this project but here are a few things you will need to know for the smooth running of this project in the classroom:

  • Eyejack is an app that needs to be installed onto the student's laptop/desktop device (MAC or Windows only). You need to have this installed before you deliver the lesson. Download from here.

  • Students will need access to a smartphone or tablet computer with EyeJack app installed to view their Augmented Reality creations.

  • To create their Augmented Reality, students will need to sign up to the app. We get our students to sign up with their school email address to adhere to GDPR.

  • Students can create lots of Augmented Reality art works, but the free package only allows 100 views in total of all their artworks per month. Once the limit is reached, the artworks are disabled until the next month.

  • Students are only allowed 30 seconds per artwork.

  • The Augmented Reality will work on both printed paper or on a monitor. It is up to you how you want view the Augmented Reality. You may want to print off students artwork and pin around the room allowing students to roam with their device (smartphone or tablet). The other benefit of printing is that students can take the print out home and their parents can view their Augmented Reality using their smartphone or tablet.

  • To view the Augmented Reality artwork, students will need a mobile device with the EyeJack app installed. Each Augmented Reality comes with a QR code and when scanned with the device camera it will open the EyeJack app. Your school may allow students to use their smartphones for this stage. Our school does not, so we use a few of the school iPads for this part of the lesson with the EyeJack app installed. Students can work in small groups with the iPad to wander round and look at the Augmented Reality artworks of their peers.


Getting the best out of this project requires some thought regarding the focus. Here are some ideas:

  • Augmented Reality could be used to gain support for a cause (NCCE Computing Unit).

  • Create marketing material for a local or national business.

  • Create a unique Augmented Reality artwork.

  • Add Augmented Reality to educational material to make it more immersive for younger learners.

  • Get your students to create marketing material for your school open evening and then let prospective parents walk round and discover fun facts about the school or have Augmented Reality quotes from students (be careful with the '100 views' limit with this idea. The first 100 parents will use up the viewing quota. One solution could be to hold back a bunch of printouts and enlist a group of students to replace the Augmented Reality print outs every 30 minutes or so with a fresh batch).

There are lots of YouTube videos explaining how AR is being used in education. Click on this link to see a selection of them.