Ghosts in the Machine: Integrating 2D Video Actors into a 3D AR System
In this paper we discuss the integration of 2D video actors into a 3D augmented
reality (AR) system. In the context of our research on narratives forms
for AR, we have found ourselves needing highly expressive content that
is most easily created by human actors. We discuss the feasibility and
utility of using video actors in an AR situation, and then present our
Video Actor Framework (including the VideoActor editor and the Video3D
Java package) for easily integrating 2D videos of actors into Java3D, an
object-oriented 3D graphics programming environment. The framework is based
on the idea of supporting tight spatial and temporal synchronization between
the content of the video and the rest of the 3D world. We present a number
of illustrative examples that demonstrate the utility of the toolkit and
editor.