InsideARiZONARattlesnake:EverythingYou'veAlwaysWantedtoKnowAboutOurAugmentedRealityGame

FWA asked us to provide them and the users of the site with some insights into our small side project ARiZONA Rattlesnake after it was awarded the FWA OF THE DAY on December 2, 2018. Just read the interview and learn more about the cool Augmented Reality game in the arcade game style.

What did you want to achieve with the project?

We wanted to create an experience that connects the real world with the digital "world." Additionally, we wanted to experiment with how image recognition works and whether a physical line can be transformed into a digital one. With this in mind, we considered developing an AR game in a distinctive style to further explore the possibilities of Augmented Reality. In terms of design, we had the idea to combine the Arizona desert with the style of the 1980s, synthetic music, and sliding cars on a highway.

What technical challenges did you discover and how did you solve them?

It was quite difficult to extract the drawn track from the camera image and create a seamless, textured mesh as the basis of a racetrack while ignoring possible false recognitions.

The first step was to recognize the sheet of paper in the camera image by using the rectangular shape of the paper. Once the paper was found, the inner part of the image is used for contour recognition. The extracted contour can be used to generate points along the racetrack, which are then automatically converted into a textured 3D mesh and displayed with Augmented Reality.

What does it mean for you to win an FWA Award?

FWA has always been an important platform to reach a variety of other geeks, other agencies, and innovative clients. It has influenced our work from the beginning and has always kept us informed about the great work of other people in various digital fields. Especially since some of us are members of the FWA jury. It is an honor for us to be part of this community, and we look forward to more FWAs in the future.

Tools used:

• For programming, we used Unity 3D, OpenCV, ARKit.
• For modeling, Cinema 4D and 3ds Max.
• Lastly, we used Akeytsu for animation.

Three hot facts:

• There are 17 species of rattlesnakes in "real" Arizona/USA.
• We have 781,872 variations of the logo available. :p
• Someone told us it was "impossible" to recognize a track in AR, but then our beloved Unity Dev intern made it possible after a week of diligent testing...