Google Expeditions for AR

     Google Expeditions is a free app that gives you access to hundreds of AR objects, all arranged in categories.  The quickest way to use the app is to open it, select AR from the menu, and you'll see the list of categories, each having a few images to view.  Select an image, point your phone or tablet at the location where you want the AR object to appear, and click.  It take a few seconds to download the image, then it will appear.  You can resize (bigger or smaller) the object and while you can't rotate by moving the object on the screen, you can walk around the object to see it from any point of view. 

     You can also create AR tours in your classroom by selecting the objects you want students to see, printing the AR markers and placing them around your room.  When students scan the markers, they'll see the AR objects.  Here's a link to a teacher-created youtube video that provides a quick and easy to follow demo showing how it's done:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekf7JG5APZY 

     You can find out more about Expeditions here: https://edu.google.com/products/vr-ar/expeditions/?modal_active=none

Using HP Reveal to Create AR Objects

     Creating an AR object with HP Reveal is pretty simple.  You're just using the app to add virtual content to an image, object, or block of text.  You can see a quick and easy to follow introduction to the process here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTGpjG_T7z8

     The first step is to create an account.  You can do that here: https://studio.hpreveal.com/landing
The app will work for android tablets and phones as well as Mac phones and IPads.

     As an example, I might be doing a brochure or story about birds at Crow's Nest.  I'm going to print the brochure, but I'd like folks to see AR content when they scan the image of a particular bird with their phone or tablet.  I might want to link a photo of a Green Heron (from Green Heron pond at the Crow's Nest site) to a location on a map of the area.  So, once I've started the app, I would take a photo of the object/image/text I want for the target image, in this case the Heron.

My target image.

     Then I will be prompted to provide the Overlay - that's the AR that will pop up when the target image is scanned.  I've decided that I would like to have a map view of the Crow's Nest area pop up.  So I'll upload my Overlay image.

My overlay image.

     Then share your aura (the virtual content linked to the photo) so that others folks who have the HP Reveal app can see your AR when they look at the image.  They will have to follow you, in their HP Reveal account, to see it.