Modder creates Tardis with augmented reality: bigger on inside!

Doctor Who, the cult UK science fiction show has attracted many geeks over the years right across the globe. It appears it has as many followers in America as anywhere else in the world.

If you have followed the show at all over the years, you will know that his Telephone shaped spacecraft may look normal on the outside, but inside it has more ‘space' than would seem possible. Obviously as it is a science fiction show, there are all sorts of reasoning, but never before has it been brought into the real world.

Greg Kumparak has created an ‘augmented' reality model of the TARDIS that creates an interesting illusion which gives the impression that the model is larger on the inside, than the physical dimensions would allow.

Greg built a Tardis model at home to put on his desk, complete with flashing light on the top. He wanted to really catch the eye however and that was when he factored in using augmented reality.

He used BLENDER, an open source 3D computer graphics package to create a likeness of the interior of the TARDIS and then used the Unity game engine together with the Vuforia augmented reality software development kit to insert the image of the inside on the open doors of the TARDIS model.

Vuforia is an interesting software suite as it enables creation of Augmented Reality applications. It can track image targets and simple 3D objects in real time using computer vision technology. This tracking data can then be used by the developer to position and correctly orient virtual imagery. The trick is to fool the human eye into thinking the virtual objects are parts of the same thing. [yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUBxHd3bMhg']

The video above shows the end result, which is pretty impressive. He wants to polish up his methods before letting other people get their hands on it.

As a closing note, if you want a Doctor Who PC with custom chassis, then head over to SCAN. Yes they are selling a limited edition Doctor Who fully licensed computer complete with hand built case. More information available here.

Kitguru says: Doctor Who fans rejoice!

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