Simon Greenwold from MIT Media Lab aesthetics and computation group developed a new concept for creating an easy to use combination of real and virtual environments. Using what he calls a “window” (a large portable touch sensitive screen) equipped with a high res digital camera in the back, he created a device which captures a real environment and let the user add fixed virtual three dimensional objects inside it using a simple stylus input device.
The new technology might have many possible applications in various fields. A few of the obvious ones are as tools for interactive architecture and design. An interior decorator could use the device, nick named “Installation”, to capture the look of a room and add or change fuetures such as furniture or walls on the go creating a new look for the room which can be visualized instantly. Using more than one device virtual environment can be shared, and using high speed wireless connection people in distant places can work on the same real/virtual environment together.
