webAR #1: What is web AR?

Let's say we launch a new radler-beer. It's a blend of natural mango, lime and lemongrass flavors. Plus the light bitterness of a pale ale brewed with organically grown barley and hops. All encased in a dark green bottle. Place it now in the camera lens of your smartphone. In the background is a sun-drenched city, where you are just enjoying a cold drink. What do you see? 

The green bottle comes to life. A hop vine creeps upward along the glass. When it reaches the neck, the cap bursts open and a geyser of crystal clear water escapes from inside. At this moment, the pleasant sensation of refreshment reaches you with entirely new senses. 

Meanwhile, trees are sprouting by the tenement you observe in the background of the bottle. You see them blooming and fruiting with a dozen ripe mangoes and juicy limes. It is from there that a colorful bird flies out in a moment to perch on the neck of the bottle and wave its light wings flirtatiously. Now you recognize him! Yes, it's his outline that adorns the label of the radler you're about to taste. 

Augmented reality (augmented reality or AR for short) is the world added to the existing one. So you can virtually transform and beautify what actually exists. Change colors and shapes, add effects, bring still life to life. So while previously the brand world was a collection of images glued to the product and encoded in the consumer's memory, now it can be evoked instantly. All you have to do is point the camera, installed in every smartphone, at the physical product. Though not just on the product...

The webAR engine we built is based on artificial intelligence, which we teach to look for markers in the image. When they are detected, the system plays a predetermined effect and adds it to the view in real time. In this way, what actually exists merges on the smartphone screen with the unreal. 

The marker can be an established word (e.g., your brand name), a graphic shape (e.g., a logo), clothing (e.g., a t-shirt) or a color (e.g., purple). In the example described above with the radler, the role of the marker was a green bottle. When the system recognized it in the image, it triggered an animation with a geyser, fruiting trees and a bird. However, there are many more possibilities...

The web AR engine detects a marker, which can be a graphic, text or colour. It can then replace any of these - freely, according to your choice - with an animation, a 3D object, a simple graphic, a video or an animation.

• image webAR - you can animate a graphic on packaging, a poster or an instruction manual. 

• text webAR - you can replace specific words on an advertisement, leaflet or newspaper. 

• colour webAR - you can replace a specific colour with another or display a film or animation where it appears. 

• fashion webAR - you can add virtual reality to promotional t-shirts or create virtual clothing for a brand. 

• GPS webAR - you can detect that a user has arrived at a specific location and invite them to play a game, take a tour or shop online.

• world webAR - you can create a virtual world in a certain space, e.g. invite animated dinosaurs to a park, or bring shop windows or showrooms to life just as spectacularly.

• face webAR - you can teach our webAR engine to recognise a face and detect movement on it - this allows you to create masks and filters that you are sure to know from Instagram.

• body webAR - the webAR engine can also detect body movement and turn it into an avatar. So if you want to invite your customers into virtual reality, you can take them on this journey.