ELECTRONIC PRODUCTIONS

05 - 15 - 2019/ NUMBER 18

A publication
powered by AMR
 Our Brand
Hello My name is Evan Lavender, one of the 2-7

INDEX
co-founders of AMR and the product we’ll be
detailing today: CURALITY. This publication will go
over a brief explanation of Augmented Reality(AR),
AR?
its development, the possible applications of AR
and how Curality uses AR in it’s functions. 10-13
Notre
Dame
14-17

AR+ART
18-23

5
 Brand
Identity Curality
Let us Curate for you.

2 3
 Goal Fonts & Color
Augment My Reality or AMR for short is a brand that focuses on using
augemented/virtual reality technology to relay information to our users. Using
AR/VR technology we can simulate and create opportunities for deeper learning
and guidance. We want our users to gain information in a new way and create a
new, deeper experience to gain said information. Our AR product Curality gives #CCE8F5 #2F2F31
our users the ability to scan or view a photograph or object in real life, such as a
piece of art in a museum or a national land mark, and recieve information about
said object.

Technology and Curating #30A6DB #3E7376

#1c3336
The word “curate” has been borrowed by a wide range of industries, so it’s easy to for-
get what it actually entails. At museums, curators do much more than put together en-
ticing selections of objects. Yes, they’re charged with choosing the art that we see and
the way we see it, but they’re also guardians of cultural heritage; experts in niche pock-
Avenir LT Std Heavy
ets of art history; interpreters of priceless works of art; and, in some cases, deft naviga- ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
tors of international diplomacy and import laws. They might travel the world to secure
artwork loans from private collections, or work with technologists to develop digital
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tools that enhance the museum experience. 1234567890.,/!&@%
And while we generally think of contemporary art curators as the ones who embrace
the digital age and pressing social issues, they’re not the only ones engaging with the
cutting-edge. From major encyclopedic museums to university-run institutions, cura- Avenir LT Std Medium
tors who are schooled in the art of ancient Mesopotamia, South Asia, Renaissance Italy,
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and many other eras and cultures across the globe are expanding and enriching how
audiences experience art history. They’re also innovating the way that art is seen, under- abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
stood, and disseminated. 1234567890.,/!&@%
4 5
 Say you are walking in a museum
and you come across a piece of art
that you have come across before,
but you want to know more about
it’s history.

You can take the Curality app and

scan a piece in the gallery. Just
hold for a moment and the app
then locate that piece from
it’s database.
Tap Here

After the scan, Curality will give

you information that will be more
detailed than the brief history that
may be given in the gallery

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 Development & Applications
What Is AR? The implementation of Augmented Reality in consumer products requires considering the
design of the applications and the related constraints of the technology platform. Since AR
system rely heavily on the immersion of the user and the interaction between the user and
the system, design can facilitate the adoption of virtuality. For most Augmented Reality
systems, a similar design guideline can be followed. Environmental/context design focuses
on the end-user’s physical surrounding, spatial space, and accessibility that may play a role
when using the AR system. Designers should be aware of the possible physical scenarios
the end-user may be in such as:
Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience of a real-world environment where the
objects that reside in the real-world are enhanced by computer-generated perceptual in-
formation, sometimes across multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic,
somatosensory, and olfactory. The overlaid sensory information can be constructive (i.e. ad-
ditive to the natural environment) or destructive (i.e. masking of the natural environment) and PUBLIC PERSONAL
is seamlessly interwoven with the physical world such that it is perceived as an immersive as-
in which the users uses their in which the user uses a
pect of the real environment. In this way, augmented reality alters one’s ongoing perception
whole body to interact with smartphone in a public
of a real-world environment, whereas virtual reality completely replaces the user’s real-world
the software. space.
environment with a simulated one. Augmented reality is related to two largely synonymous
terms: mixed reality and computer-mediated reality. The primary value of augmented reality
is how it brings components of the digital world into a person’s perception of the real world,
not as a simple display of data, but through the integration of immersive sensations that are
perceived as natural parts of an environment. The first functional AR systems that provided
immersive mixed reality experiences for users were invented in the early 1990s, starting with in which the user is sitting in which the user has on a
the Virtual Fixtures system developed at the U.S. Air Force’s Armstrong Laboratory in 1992. with a desktop and is not wearable AR device.
The first commercial augmented reality experiences were used largely in the entertainment really in movement.
and gaming businesses, but is now expanding to other industries such as knowledge sharing,
educating, managing the information flood and organizing distant meetings. Augmented
reality is also transforming the world of education, where content may be accessed by scan-
INITIMATE PRIVATE
ning or viewing an image with a mobile device or by bringing immersive, markerless AR ex-
periences to the classroom. Another example is an AR helmet for construction workers which
display information about the construction sites. By evaluating each physical scenario, potential safety hazard can be avoided and changes
can be made to greater improve the end-user’s immersion. UX designers will have to define
user journeys for the relevant physical scenarios and define how the interface will react to
Augmented reality is used to enhance natural environments or situations and offer perceptu- each. Especially in AR systems, it is vital to also consider the spatial space and the surround-
ally enriched experiences. With the help of advanced AR technologies (e.g. adding computer ing elements that change the effectiveness of the AR technology. Environmental elements
vision and object recognition) the information about the surrounding real world of the user such as lighting, and sound can prevent the sensor of AR devices from detecting necessary
becomes interactive and digitally manipulable. Information about the environment and its data and ruin the immersion of the end-user. Another aspect of context design involves the
objects is overlaid on the real world. This information can be virtual or real, e.g. seeing other design of the system’s functionality and its ability to accommodate for user preferences.
real sensed or measured information such as electromagnetic radio waves overlaid in exact While accessibility tools are common in basic application design, some consideration should
alignment with where they actually are in space. Augmented reality also has a lot of poten- be made when designing time-limited prompts (to prevent unintentional operations), audio
tial in the gathering and sharing of tacit knowledge. Augmentation techniques are typically cues and overall engagement time. It is important to note that in some situations, the appli-
performed in real time and in semantic context with environmental elements. Immersive per- cation’s functionality may hinder the user’s ability. For example, applications that is used for
ceptual information is sometimes combined with supplemental information like scores over driving should reduce the amount of user interaction and use audio cues instead.
a live video feed of a sporting event. This combines the benefits of both augmented reality The following lists some considerations for designing Augmented Reality applications.
technology and heads up display technology (HUD). These applications are including, but not limited to:

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 EMERGENCY
DESIGN MANAGEMENT
ARCHAEOLOGY

LITERATURE
ARCHITECTURE EDUCATION

AR
COMMERCE
LANGUAGE

MEDIA &
MEDICAL BROADCASTING

MILITARY MUSIC

RETAIL TECHNOLOGY
SOCIAL
NAVIGATION INTERACTION

VIDEO GAMES VISUAL ARTS

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 SUPPORT
Augmenting Your Reality Assembling and disassembling a test object [3] can be
learned out and practice scenarios can be run through
to learn how to fix fault scenarios that may occur.

GUIDANCE
Minimizing risk of misunderstanding complex test pro-
User testing is very important for just about every product of innovation. You have to make cedures can be done by virtually describing test steps
sure a product works, kinks and all before you roll it out. Augmented reality is an interesting in front of the tester on the actual test object.
platform that can be applied to many parts of work life and everyday life as well. We started
user testing shortly after the development of Curality using the ARBT method.

Augmented reality-based testing (ARBT) is a test method that combines augmented reality EDUCATIONAL
and software testing to enhance testing by inserting an additional dimension into the testers
field of view. For example, a tester wearing a head-mounted display (HMD) or Augmented Background information about test scenario with earlier
reality contact lenses [1] that places images of both the physical world and registered virtu- bugs found pointed out on the test object and remind-
al graphical objects over the user’s view of the world can detect virtual labels on areas of a ers to avoid repeating previous mistakes made during
system to clarify test operating instructions for a tester who is performing tests on a complex testing of selected test area.
system. In 2009 as a spin-off to augmented reality for maintenance and repair (ARMAR) [2]
Alexander Andelkovic coined the idea ‘augmented reality-based testing’, introducing the
idea of using augmented reality together with software testing. The test environment of
technology is becoming more complex, this puts higher demand on test engineers to have
TRAINING
higher knowledge, testing skills and work effective. A powerful unexplored dimension that
can be utilized is the Virtual environment, a lot of information and data that today is available Junior testers can learn complex test scenarios with
but unpractical to use due to overhead in time needed to gather and present can with ARBT less supervision. Test steps will be pointed out and
be used instantly. information about pass criteria need to be confirmed
the junior tester can train before the functionality is
AMR is making steps forward to making more facets in which augmented reality can be used finished and do some regression testing.
for more real life applications. Being able to vist a gallery and see the art that you love, or art
you’ve never seen before given to you in better detail. Even art that has been damaged can
be brought back to life with the use of AR. Being able to bring a new face to art and edu- INFORMATIONAL
cation is the very reason our company, our brand exists. We seek to give people that crave
knowledge more in-depth details about. Curality can offer information ranging from art to Tester can point at a physical object and get detailed
landmarks. Our first and foremost goal is to be informative and we want to find a way to uti- updated technical data and information needed to per-
lize augmented reality to do so. We began testing our product througout mulitple museums form selected test task.
and galleries in the U.S. and curretly extending offers to international venues. As time goes
on we are gaining more reception at how well matched AR and the art scene really are and
how well our prodcut has been working for those that visit those types of venues and just in
the world in general. Seeing our app come to life and adapting it to different needs and pos- INSPIRE
sibilities is a dream come true and we couldnt have done it with out or sponsors, our families,
and our users.
Testers performing exploratory testing that need
inspiration of areas to explore can get instant informa-
tion about earlier exploratory test sessions gathered

12 through session-based testing.

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 Notre Dame Fire
On the 15th of April this year, the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris,
France suffered an immense amount of fire damage. The fire, declared
fully extinguished some 15 hours after it began, ravaged the 850-year-
old building’s roof and caused its spire to collapse. But firefighters who
worked through the night managed to save the Paris landmark’s main
stone structure, including its two towers. The cause of the fire is not yet
clear. Paris public prosecutor Rémy Heitz said his office was “favouring
the theory of an accident”, but had assigned 50 people to work on what
he believed would be a “long” and “complex” investigation. Other of-
ficials have suggested it could be linked to extensive renovation works
taking place at the cathedral. The blaze was discovered at 18:43 (16:43
GMT), and firefighters were called. The flames quickly reached the roof
of the cathedral, destroying the wooden interior before toppling the
spire. Fears grew that the cathedral’s famous towers would also be
destroyed. But while a number of fires did begin in the towers, French
Deputy Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said they were successfully
stopped before they could spread. By the early hours of Tuesday, the
fire was declared under control, with the Paris fire service saying it was
The Notre Dame Cathedral
fully extinguished by 10:00 local time (08:00 GMT). Search teams had before the fire (right) and
already begun assessing the extent of the damage when dawn broke
over the French capital. The cathedral’s blackened stone and charred
after the fire (left)
scaffolding were revealed to onlookers for the first time.
While a number of companies and business tycoons have so far pledged about €600m

”
($677m; £519m) between them. Offers of help with the reconstruction have also poured
in from around the globe, with European Council President Donald Tusk calling on EU
member states to rally round. Individuals and groups are mobilising to help rebuild No-
tre-Dame. Hundreds of millions of euros have already been pledged. Air France said in
a statement that the company would offer free flights to anyone involved in the recon-
Thoughts are now turning to how struction. The images and graphics that explain the fire Billionaire François-Henri Pinault,
Notre-Dame will be rebuilt as chairman and CEO of the Kering group that owns the Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent fash-
ion brands, pledged €100m (£86m; $113m) towards rebuilding Notre-Dame, AFP news
French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to agency reports. Another €200m was pledged by Bernard Arnault’s family and their com-
reconstruct the historic building even as the pany LVMH - a business empire which includes Louis Vuitton and Sephora - on Tuesday
morning, according to Reuters news agency. French cosmetics
fire still burned. giant L’Oreal and its founding Bettencourt family have promised

“
to give a further €200m to the reconstruction effort. Total, the
French oil giant, has also pledged €100m. The French charity
Fondation du Patrimoine is launching an international appeal for
funds for the cathedral, a Unesco World Heritage site.

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 Augmented Reality at the

AR+ART
Belvedere Museum Vienna

Art has been a relative latecomer to the digital revolution – at least where we’re referring
to the traditional/classic end of the spectrum – people are used to associating the value
of art to seeing it in person, hence the fact that museums and art galleries still rely on
special exhibitions for a large share of their revenue.

When his platform first launched, ArtFinder Co-founder Chris Thorpe told the Guardian
that “The emphasis on art history and institutes has taken away the visceral, emotional
experience of art. That experience and excitement should make you what to know more
and deepen your engagement with it.”

Artfinder built an IMDB-style searchable digital catalogue with hundreds of thousands

of paintings, sculptures, and art-related media. The site also contains essays on artists,
artworks and artistic movements, making it a useful (and free) reference resource for art
discovery, while social features open up new opportunities for enjoying art. It allows you
to virtually collect and share your favourite artworks, and as users build up a profile that
reflects their particular tastes, the system also generates further recommendations of
what they might like. Thorpe believes this element of recommendations, when combined
Art has been a relative latecomer to the digital rev- The bottom line is that whatever combi-
with geo-location, adds a crucial element of serendipity to art discovery and keeps that
olution – at least where we’re referring to the tradi- nation of technologies proves most dis-
physical connection to the real world which is so crucial to connecting emotionally with a
tional/classic end of the spectrum – people are used ruptive to the entrenched practices of art
piece of artwork.
to associating the value of art to seeing it in person, production and marketing, the art busi-
hence the fact that museums and art galleries still ness needs to find ways of engaging the
rely on special exhibitions for a large share of their next generation of buyers. And these are
revenue. people who must be reached in their own
turf – which is bound to be predominantly
When his platform first launched, ArtFinder digital rather than analog.
Co-founder Chris Thorpe told the Guardian that “The

”
emphasis on art history and institutes has taken away
the visceral, emotional experience of art. That experi-
ence and excitement should make you what to know
more and deepen your engagement with it.”
For an artist to create in augmented
Artfinder built an IMDB-style searchable digital cata- reality they previously had to build
logue with hundreds of thousands of paintings, sculp- their own isolated solutions, which
tures, and art-related media. The site also contains required technical skills and
essays on artists, artworks and artistic movements, resources, but now those artists
making it a useful (and free) reference resource for art can take visitors on a journey in
discovery, while social features open up new oppor- time and explain what lies behind,
tunities for enjoying art. It allows you to virtually col- enhance the art with illustrations or
lect and share your favourite artworks, and as users show how the artworks were made.
build up a profile that reflects their particular tastes,
Augmented Reality at the the system also generates further recommendations
18 Shanghai Himalayas Museum of what they might like.
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 Augmenting Museums

There are many possibilities for the use of AR in museums. The most straightforward a chance to layer more information on top of existing exhibits, and to get visitors more
way is to use it to add explanations of pieces. This means visitors will get more informa- involved with what’s on view. Some museums have experimented with AR to bring dam-
tion when they view exhibitions using AR. Museums could even use it to display digital aged or broken artifacts back into their collections, or to remix the collections on view.
versions of artists next to their work. These 3D personas are then able to provide a This year, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art worked with the design agency frog
narration. AR gives an opportunity to add a third dimension to displays, bringing objects to create an “augmented reality gallery” to showcase some of René Magritte’s works,
or scenes to life. There are already many institutions around the world using AR. These currently on view. The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History put on an exhib-
projects bring something new to existing collections and attract wider audiences. Here it, called Skin and Bones, which lets visitors animate the museum’s collection of skeletons
are some interesting ways that museums are using augmented reality. with an AR app on their phones. Even the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has brought
one of its exhibits to life, allowing visitors to learn more about the Lithuanian villagers
Mae Jemison, The first woman of color to go into space, stood in the center of the room featured in its Tower of Faces display with a companion AR tool.
and prepared to become digital. Around her, 106 cameras captured her image in 3-D,
which would later render her as a life-sized hologram when viewed through a HoloLens When Microsoft first started licensing its mixed reality capture tech, it expected most
headset. of its business to come from celebrities, sports figures, and the entertainment sector in
general. But Sullivan says educational and instructional institutions have become another
Jemison was recording what would become the introduction for a new exhibit at the fast-growing part of what the studio creates. “It’s way richer than video, but not radically
Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum, which opens tomorrow as part of the Smithso- more expensive,” he says. Other tech companies have partnered with museums to bring
nian’s annual Museum Day. In the exhibit, visitors will wear HoloLens headsets and watch their products into the gallery space. In 2017, shortly after introducing its AR platform
Jemison materialize before their eyes, taking them on a tour of the Space Shuttle Enter- Tango, Google teamed up with the Detroit Institute of Arts to show off what it could do.
prise—and through space history. They’re invited to explore artifacts both physical (like Museum visitors could borrow a Tango-enabled smartphone to discover hidden features,
the Enterprise) and digital (like a galaxy of AR stars) while Jemison introduces women like an augmented reality skeleton inside the sarcophagi on view. The Perez Art Muse-
throughout history who have made important contributions to space exploration. um Miami leveraged Apple’s AR Kit to build augmented reality installations in surpris-
ing spaces, like the museum’s terrace. (Visitors could see the works through their own
Interactive museum exhibits like this are becoming more common as augmented reality iPhones, or could borrow one from the museum.) Earlier this year, Intel worked with the
tech becomes cheaper, lighter, and easier to create. A few years ago, the gear alone—a Smithsonian to translate an exhibit in its Renwick Gallery to smartphones everywhere,
dozen HoloLens headsets, which visitors can wear as they file through the exhibit— using Snapchat’s augmented reality tech.
would have been out of reach. Now, as the technology becomes easier to use and the

”
experiences easier to create, museums are increasingly turning to them as a way to Of course, none of these exhibits rely on augmented reality alone. They still point visitors
engage visitors—whether that’s fleshing out the toward real-world objects and make use of the physical space in museums to create ex-
skeletons on view at the Smithsonian’s Nation- hibitions. But museum curators hope they can engage visitors on a new level, and bring
al Museum of Natural History, or taking a tour in new audiences altogether. For Jemison, who discovered her love of science on child-
of Mars with astronaut Buzz Aldrin (as a holo- hood visitors to Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, using HoloLens headsets is
gram, naturally). At the Intrepid, the holographic just one more way for museums to “engage curiosity and foster it.” If that gets one more
There’s a tremendous Jemison isn’t just the docent of the future. She’s kid curious about science and space, then it’s all worth it.
opportunity, especially also a part of the exhibit, a chance for visitors to
come face-to-face with an important figure from
around technology like space history. “I hope that me taking them on
augmented reality, to this tour, that it makes it a little bit more real,”
she says.
engage visitors.
Museums have long relied on technology to

“
give context to their exhibits—whether through
informational videos, audio guides, or smart-
phone apps. Augmented reality, in some ways,
is just the next iteration of that. It gives curators
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