While browsing through a variety of augmented reality projects, I found myself most attracted to the projects that did not rely on specially designed codes that the computer can recognize; rather the ones that could use everyday objects as triggers for animation and effects.

Apologies if everyone has seen this project already, it was a collaboration between magician Marco Tempest and Zach Lieberman and Theo Watson, implemented in Open Frameworks. Nice example of using playing cards as an augmented reality trigger. Video is a bit long but is entertaining and really done well.

Here’s another project, this one dealing with pool. At around the 2:13 mark the video gets into the AR/projection part of the demonstration. It seems like a good idea for implementing the technology— it looks like they can calculate the trajectory of a pool ball quite accurately. I also like the pool-ball positioning robotic arm you see earlier in the video.