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TODD KERPELMAN: Hello I/O viewers.
Well, what better way to follow up
an interview with a real-life astronaut
than to check out a virtual spaceship?
So I am here with Amanda in the augmented reality booth,
and you're going to show me something cool from the NASA
website.
AMANDA LE: Yeah.
So here you can see on the NASA website they're showing
3D models of their rovers.
Here we have the Curiosity Rover,
and they're actually using the model VR web component
to put that 3D asset on their website.
TODD KERPELMAN: Well that's very cool.
Now, you said it's a web component, so
do they need to NPM install something to get it working,
or?
AMANDA LE: It's actually markup, so very simple to just put
on your website.
TODD KERPELMAN: Gotcha.
Oh, that's very cool.
And this 3D model, what file format is that?
AMANDA LE: So we recommend using glTF,
but it also supports USDZ and GLB.
TODD KERPELMAN: OK.
And is that something most commercial 3D modeling
tools will export to?
AMANDA LE: You should be able to export to that easily.
TODD KERPELMAN: I see you've got that little button down there
in the bottom right.
What does that do?
AMANDA LE: So this actually is the new feature
that we're launching at I/O today.
And what it allows you to do is open up what
we call Scene Viewer.
So Scene Viewer allows you to take this 3D model
and actually place it in your real world space.
TODD KERPELMAN: Whoa, no way.
AMANDA LE: So here you can see the Curiosity Rover at scale.
TODD KERPELMAN: Wow.
It's like there's a real-life spaceship here in the booth,
but not really.
It's just very-- actually very nicely rendered,
and it kind of fooled me.
AMANDA LE: And so you can actually manipulate
this in your own space.
So you'll see it at full scale, but you can also
shrink it down so that it can actually
fit in your living room.
TODD KERPELMAN: OK, yes.
So if I want to put the Curiosity Rover on my coffee
table, I now can, just by shrinking it down a little bit.
AMANDA LE: Yes.
TODD KERPELMAN: And so how did you get the size specification?
Apparently, this was built real life,
or this is showing it in real life
and you're able to shrink it down?
AMANDA LE: Yes.
So NASA, when they built the 3D model,
decided to build it at scale.
So that's the model we're referencing.
TODD KERPELMAN: Gotcha.
Very cool.
And so if I'm a developer and I want to turn my model VR
component into this cool scene viewer,
augmented reality experience, what do I have to do?
AMANDA LE: So there's no need to build an app for this.
All you actually do is go into the markup
and you add the AR attribute, which is literally
the letters a and r.
TODD KERPELMAN: [INAUDIBLE]
AMANDA LE: So super simple to do.
TODD KERPELMAN: I take two letters and I get all that.
AMANDA LE: Yes.
TODD KERPELMAN: All right.
Well that sounds easy.
I think even I could do that.
Well I can use a little pick-me-up after that demo.
Let's head on over here and see if I can find some caffeine.
Hey, Ashish.
ASHISH SHAH: How are you doing, Todd?
TODD KERPELMAN: I am doing well.
I'm already excited for this demo,
because I see there's an Espresso machine here.
So walk me [AUDIO OUT] today.
ASHISH SHAH: All right.
So what we are doing in here is we're
showing an Espresso machine coming to life in AR,
using this technology called augmented images.
That's part of VR core.
You want to give it a spin?
TODD KERPELMAN: Let's-- yes, let's check it out.
ASHISH SHAH: All right.
So as soon as you look at this marker.
TODD KERPELMAN: So you're showing the image there.
ASHISH SHAH: Yes.
TODD KERPELMAN: That's telling you to look around
ASHISH SHAH: And now it's annotated the machine
with information about its features.
TODD KERPELMAN: I can see the little [INAUDIBLE]
coming to life.
ASHISH SHAH: Yes.
It's telling you about those controls grinding.
TODD KERPELMAN: And my dose is controlled?
ASHISH SHAH: And the precise temperature.
What would you do without that?
And you could actually see an espresso being made here.
TODD KERPELMAN: Oh, fantastic.
ASHISH SHAH: This is a really powerful way for manufacturers
to show features of their product
which are otherwise just lost in text.
And this really makes the product come to life--
TODD KERPELMAN: Yeah.
ASHISH SHAH: --in a really powerful way.
And so this triggers the experience once it recognizes.
And now what happens once this image is recognized,
it starts establishing a correspondence
between the phone and the image.
TODD KERPELMAN: So the phone always
knows exactly where it is in response to--
ASHISH SHAH: With respect to the image.
And when I say it establishes a correspondence in terms
of a pose, that's position and orientation.
So position in like x-direction and y-direction
and in z-direction.
And also the orientation in three degrees, like pitch,
yaw and roll.
So the phone knows exactly where it
is with respect to the marker.
TODD KERPELMAN: Gotcha.
So this kind of works best in places
where you sort of have strict control over the environment
in which this image is going to appear and what's around it?
ASHISH SHAH: Yes.
If you're trying to augment real things,
you want to make sure that the image is
rigid with respect to the things that you don't augment.
TODD KERPELMAN: Gotcha.
But if you just want the image itself specifically
to come to life, that's all you need to do.
ASHISH SHAH: Absolutely.
So think about a scenario where you're at a store
and you want to see what's inside a box.
So you could use an app to look at the box,
it would recognize the box as a marker,
and you could actually have a sneak peek
at like what's inside the box.
TODD KERPELMAN: OK so like the model could pop out of the box
and I could see--
ASHISH SHAH: Exactly.
TODD KERPELMAN: --exactly what my waffle iron or toaster--
I need stuff in my kitchen--
that's all going [INAUDIBLE]
ASHISH SHAH: Without even opening it up.
TODD KERPELMAN: And then I won't get yelled at by shopkeepers.
ASHISH SHAH: Yes.
TODD KERPELMAN: Well, thank you very much Ashish.
I learned a lot about augmented reality today.
I'm going to grab this espresso.
Oh, it's not real.
But the coffee beans are.
Can I eat the coffee beans?
ASHISH SHAH: Yes, you can.
TODD KERPELMAN: I'm going to take a few coffee beans to go.
ASHISH SHAH: You can take the coffee beans.
TODD KERPELMAN: Thank you very much, livestream.
I'm going to go get caffeinated.
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