A augmented reality architect is a specialist who creates and adds elements to our ordinary physical world that can only be seen with the help of special devices – glasses, smartphones, tablets. For the user, these elements of the real and virtual (artificially created by a computer) world, which are displayed on the display of one or another device, become one integral picture and serve to explain something, show additional information or teach something.
How did this profession come about?
You can read about the emergence of virtual reality technology in the publication about the profession of Virtual Architect. After the Internet came to every home, the concepts of reality (the physical world around you) and virtuality (the artificially created world on the Web) became basic in our life. We now spend approximately the same amount of time in each of the worlds. But there is another "layer" - this is augmented reality (AR), which is now considered a new media, just like a TV or a smartphone.
For the first time, augmented reality began to be used for military pilots in the middle of the 20th century - on a screen built into a helmet, a pilot could see information about the aircraft's course and find out how much fuel remains in the aircraft's tanks. Nowadays, augmented reality is used in a variety of areas, and AR architects perform a lot of tasks, using special programs to create a variety of objects that can be superimposed on the picture that our eyes usually see in reality. Let's see where exactly you can apply AR technology if you want to become such a specialist.
Where is augmented reality applied?
Navigation
In big cities, it can be difficult to understand where what is, where building 1 of house number 10 is on the other side of the street from building 2, where you can easily get lost in a huge shopping center, where it is completely unclear where the bus number 345 starts and where it goes.
Augmented reality glasses, loaded with a navigation program with a detailed city guide, will help each and every one to understand the complex routes of the metropolis. In fact, using augmented reality, it is possible to superimpose an electronic map on physical objects.
Trade
With the advancement of augmented reality technology, you no longer have to queue in a fitting room in a store. Now it is enough to just stand in front of a large screen, and the AR program will virtually try on any things you like on your reflection in it. The same fitting method will be available at your home - the monitor screen becomes a mirror in which you can try on anything - a blouse, sweater, necklace, earrings or headdress.
Media and advertising
Since childhood, you are accustomed to bright pictures on the pages of magazines and books that tell you about the most different facets of our beautiful world. Imagine if you put on AR glasses - and reading will turn into a colorful three-dimensional image and some elements in it will be able to move! It turns out that while reading a book you will be able to watch a real cartoon!
Augmented reality can also be used in advertising by offering the user a quest, game, competition or survey that can be downloaded through a special application.
Training
Augmented reality is also already used in educational literature. Nowadays, many books are being published on biology, anatomy, mental arithmetic and for the little ones, when a child points a tablet at an image in a book and sees how heroes come to life, atoms collide with each other and much more. And in books on economics, you can point your phone at different charts and see how they change in real time.
Medicine
Physicians often need a hint - both when they diagnose a patient and when they perform certain procedures or operations. In the augmented reality glasses, the therapist will be able to refer to the medical reference book and take the necessary information from there, the nurse can calculate the dose of the medicine. A surgeon who performs a complex operation can quickly find important data about a patient's condition when there is no time to seek help from colleagues.
Museums and excursions
For tourists, AR technologies can be a huge help. Travelers, wandering around their favorite city, will be able to quickly and easily receive information about any place where they find themselves. The most interesting figures and facts, history and geography. In this case, the virtual tour will be conducted in the language the tourist speaks.
What should such a specialist be able to do?
Well, now that you can imagine how many areas an augmented reality architect can work in, let's talk about what such a unique specialist should be able to do. Above all, such a profession requires artistic ability, imagination and creative thinking. You will have to be able to depict a variety of objects and at the same time understand where you will place them on the screen so that the elements of augmented reality do not interfere with the user to perceive the real world around.
Although programmers will do the bulk of the work of implementing what you have invented, it would be nice for you to understand the basics of programming and 3D modeling.
