Thursday, November 3, 2016 by: A. Darlene Smith
What is Augmented Reality (AR)?
According to Wikipedia, Augmented Reality is a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment where elements are augmented by adding object recognition. Information is manipulated digitally and overlaid so the object becomes more interactive. Click here for more information about AR.
What tools are available for Augmented Reality (AR)?
There are several AR apps that are available with pre-designed markers that definitely provide viewers with an AR experience, but I wanted to be able to create my own material.
After doing some research, I found an app called Aurasma that showed some potential. It is available on the Apple Store as well as Google Play, and that versatility is always a plus! The app allows the designer to create a marker and overlay a video. That’s exactly what I was looking for, and the price was right – free!
What is Aurasma?
Aurasma provides a digitally enhanced view of the world around us. It allows the creator to turn any object, image, or place into an Augmented Reality (AR) experience. Viewers can watch everyday objects come to life with graphics, animation, video, audio, and 3D content. These newly created interactive objects are known as Auras.
How do I get started with the Aurasma app?
The first step is to download the app. Click on one of the links above and download the Aurasma app onto your mobile device. With this app, you can experience augmented reality with Auras that you have created or that others have created and made public. It’s that simple!
Although you can create an Aura using the Aurasma app on your mobile device, I found it was easier for me to build my project on a laptop. I went to Google Chrome and typed Aurasma Studio in the search bar. After clicking on the site, I was prompted to create a free account by providing a username, email, and password. (Just a quick note, you will use these same credentials to log in to the app on your mobile device as well.) After signing up at Aurasma Studio, it is a drag and drop procedure to create your first Aura.
After I set up my account, what do I need to do to create my first Aura?
Although, at first glance, the Aurasma Studio seems very intuitive, there is a learning curve when using it for the first time. There is an Aurasma user-guide and HELP tab, but I found the instructions difficult to follow. That’s why I created this how-to guide!
After logging in to Aurasma Studio, click +Create New Aura in the top right corner. You are now ready to create your first Aura. You have two choices on the screen. You can choose Click to Upload Trigger Image, or you can choose Click to Select Existing. Since I want to make my own Aura, I am going to choose Click to Upload Trigger Image and a new window appears.
Step One: This step is where the trigger image, or marker, is uploaded.
- First, I need to give my trigger image a name.
- Then, I will click Browse.
- Since I have a saved image on my computer that I want to use, I just find and click on the image, and then, click Open.
- Now, I have the name and address of my trigger on the form. I can add a description if I desire, but for now, I think I will leave that blank.
- After I have the form filled out like I want it, I click Save.
- Step One Upload Trigger is complete. I am ready to click Next which is located on the top right of the page.
- On the Step Two Create Overlays page, I see my trigger image to the left of the page and a box on the right that provides two choices: Click to Upload Overlay or Click to Select Existing. I click on Click to Upload Overlay. This will open a new window that allows me to pick my overlay for my trigger image.
- Once I choose the overlay, I click Open, and a new window will appear that provides a summary of the overlay. The title of my overlay appears in the Name section: Aurasma Contact Info. In the Type section, the word Video appears because the overlay I chose was a MP4. A “fakepath” address is provided, and there is a Description box that I can provide an explanation of the video if I so choose. I can also check the Loop Overlay box if I want the video to loop play when someone scans the marker. Any of this material can be changed if I so choose. Once I am satisfied with the information, I click Save.
- Now I see my trigger image with the video overlay on top of the image. I can grab the overlay with my cursor and move it wherever I want on my trigger image. I can also make it larger by putting my cursor on the corners and dragging.
- I can delete the overlay I just added by clicking the purple X in the Overlay 1 box located on the right of the image. I can add more overlays to my image if I want by duplicating the steps in Step Two. There are also other editing boxes that I can use on my project located under the trigger image.
- Once I am happy with my project, I click Save in the top right hand corner.
- A green box will appear at the top of the page that notifies me that my Aura has been created successfully.
- I can click the Preview box in the top right hand corner, or I can click the Preview box underneath the trigger image to preview my Aura. A new window opens with directions on how to preview my Aura, so I will just follow the steps. Once I preview, I click Close at the bottom of the page. Always preview your Aura to make sure it works properly.
- If I don’t like the way something looks, I can fix it at this screen, but if I make any changes, I have to click Save again, located in the top right hand corner, in order to save any changes.
- Once I am happy with my Aura, I click Share at the top right hand corner. The screen goes gray and it tells me it is sharing and saving. You must click Share in order for others to interact with your Aura.
- Once that process is complete, it will take me back to My Auras page where I will see my newly created Aura.
I have successfully created and shared an Aura!
How can others see my Aura?
Although your project is now public, it will not work until people follow your “Channel.” Your ‘Channel Name” is your username, not your email address. So in order for others to view your Auras, they must download the Aurasma app, set up an account, and then in the Discover Auras search bar, they must type in your “Channel Name.” Several options may appear; your followers just need to pick your channel and click Follow. Your followers can now see past, present, and future Auras that you create.
What have I created with Aurasma?
We were having seventh graders from surrounding counties on the Walters State Community College campus where I work. I volunteered to create a twenty minute activity for one of the visiting groups and their teacher. Since there is a growing interest in Augmented Reality (AR), I decided to create an Augmented Reality Scavenger Hunt for these students. Eight of our Behavioral and Social Sciences instructors volunteered to be a part of the scavenger hunt. I took each of their pictures and created a video of each volunteer introducing themselves and posing a question that the seventh graders had to answer in order to score a point on the scavenger hunt. (Follow my Aurasma Channel at adsmith to see the project.) I uploaded each of the images into Aurasma Studio and overlaid the corresponding video. I printed each image, placed them in page protectors, and hung them on the first floor of our building. The visiting students had to find the images, scan them with the Aurasma app, and accurately answer the questions that was posed in the videos. My education students served as mentors to the seventh graders during this activity. I can testify that this activity was definitely a success!
Do you have any troubleshooting advice?
I found this app/web tool to be challenging to use, and I would score myself 8 out of 10 when using new technology. Creating the Aura was simple because of the intuitiveness of the dashboard, but there were a couple of issues that consumed much of my time.
1. Sharing:
You must share your Aura to make it public, and it has to be public for others to view it.
First failed attempt:
I created and saved my first project. When I opened the app to view the Aura on my phone, it worked fine. I was so excited; I created my very own Augmented Reality project! I thought everything was ready to go live! Fortunately, the day before I was going to unveil the project, I had a college student download the app to view my creation, and much to my surprise, the Aura did not work. After a Google search, I realized that participants had to follow my “channel” in order to view my Auras.
Second failed attempt:
Once again, I opened the Aurasma app, clicked on the Discover Auras search bar and typed in my “channel name.” There was my name! I clicked on it, and started following my “channel.” Once again, a feeling of success, but just to be sure, I went back to the student and asked him to follow my channel. I walked him through the three simple steps to follow my channel, and he was notified that he was now following adsmith! Finally, he was going to get to experience AR created by the one and only Mrs. Smith! With eagerness, we went back to the trigger image and scanned it with the Aurasma app, but once again, nothing happened!
Third time is a charm:
Frustrated does not begin to explain how aggravated I was with this whole process. I had less than 24 hours until the project was to be used with the seventh graders, and I could not get it to work. I thought about giving up and using a tool I was more comfortable with, but “giving up” is not part of my personality. More searching….more reading….more Googling…and finally, I stumbled up on a possible solution. By default, Auras are private unless the creator shares them. When I went back to My Auras, I read the information under the images; yes, they were under my “channel name,” but they were private. In order to correct this, I had to click on the edit button for each image and click Share. Once that was done, the information under the image verified that it was now public. I went back to my tester, and sure enough, it worked! He was awed with the project that I had created!
2. Video Orientation:
The videos for my Augmented Reality Scavenger Hunt were created on my iPhone and iPad Pro. I connected my device to my computer and transferred the photos and videos that I was going to use for the project. As I was creating my Auras, I noticed the videos were turned sideways. I tried to resize them, but that didn’t change the orientation. I decided to do another Google search and found these steps:
- Create an Aura in studio and add your video overlay
- As always, right click and select 'restore aspect ratio 'so that your video is not stretched to fit the dimensions of the trigger
- With your overlay selected, click the '3D view' button at the bottom of the overlay creation window
- This will open an editor that is most commonly used for editing the placement of 3D and 2.5D overlays. We are going to be using the 'rotate around Z' tool to compensate for the incorrect orientation of the asset. To view the other tools available, you can hold down the 'h' key on your keyboard.
- Before rotating, click on the box which says 'show advanced controls' in the lower left hand corner of the window - this will allow us to see the changes we make in terms of exact degrees.
- Press and hold the 'A' key on your keyboard - your mouse cursor should change to a double headed blue arrow
- While holding the 'A' key, left click and drag your mouse to either the right or left so that your video rotates to the correct orientation. You will notice that every time you release the left mouse button, the value in the 'rotate Z' column of the advanced controls menu will update to reflect the change you just made. Try to set the rotation so that this value reads exactly 90 or -90 in order to ensure that your video is correctly oriented.
- Your video will now appear on the correct orientation - click ok. Note that the preview version of your video overlay in the Edit Aura window may appear strangely skewed now that you have rotated it in the 3D viewer. Don't worry about the way your overlay looks on this screen - it will appear the way it does in the 3D viewer when seen through the Aurasma viewfinder.
- Make sure to test your video.
The directions above seemed easy enough to follow, but after many failed attempts, my patience grew thin, and I just started trying to fix the issue by randomly clicking tabs on the screen.
I consider myself to be very techy, but I could not figure out how to fix this problem? I probably should have just accepted the fact that the video orientation was wrong and been thankful that at least it was all working, but I just couldn’t let it go. That’s when I stumbled up on the fact that one step was missing from the list above. Between steps 7 and 8 above, there should be a side note that you should not touch the video overlay after you have completed step 7. If you click on the overlay after you’ve completed step 7, it doesn’t save your rotation! The lesson learned is complete step 7, click Okay, click Save and Preview. Use the Aurasma app to view the trigger image in preview mode, and make sure your video orientation is correct.
What are some ways to use Aurasma in the classroom
1. Interactive Word Walls
Display vocabulary words and create “Auras” with student videos that show them acting out or explaining the words.
2. Student Wall of Fame
Create Auras that use images of the students and overlay the images with student videos that explain what the students have been learning in class. Have the parents use the Aurasma app to scan and listen to what the students are learning.
3. Labeling
Make classroom posters come alive with Aurasma.
4. Interactive Journal or Article
Create a Daily Prophet from the Harry Potter movies using Aurasma.
5. Classroom Rules
Use Aurasma and let your students create an interactive rule chart.
6. Welcome to School
Post signs and posters around the building that introduce visitors to the school or campus.
7. Tutorials
Create homework tutorials for material that students are having difficulty mastering.
8. Bring History to Life
Have students’ role play as famous people from history.
9. Student Created Book Reviews
Have students create reviews for books they have read in the classroom or school library.
10. Classroom Yearbooks
Record short videos that document the school year.
Contact Information
Example of Contact Information Aura
I created the Aura above from a logo I designed in Power Point. You can see the difference between the images. If you want to bring my Contact Aura alive on your device, download Aurasma and set up your account. Once you are finished, type adsmith in the Discover Auras search bar, and follow me. Go back to the home screen and click the purple button at the bottom of your device screen.(See image below.)
Scan the before image above, and watch it come to life!
Is Aurasma worth the learning curve?
It most definitely is! One of my favorite sayings is “Without change, there is no change.” It would be easier to just use the tools that I am already comfortable with, but by doing so, my students and I would miss out on the learning experience associated with trying something different. I feel confident that this tool is going to be a game changer. I highly recommend this tool without any reservations.
We hope you will take the challenge with us, and let’s change the world of learning; one new tool at a time!
Is Aurasma worth the learning curve?
It most definitely is! One of my favorite sayings is “Without change, there is no change.” It would be easier to just use the tools that I am already comfortable with, but by doing so, my students and I would miss out on the learning experience associated with trying something different. I feel confident that this tool is going to be a game changer. I highly recommend this tool without any reservations.
We hope you will take the challenge with us, and let’s change the world of learning; one new tool at a time!