1

Multimedia Project:
Make an Animated AR
Object Using Vuforia and
Unity3D
- Project Report -

Author:
Reynaldi

December 2015

Table of Contents
Augmented Reality........................................................................................2
Unity..............................................................................................................3
Vuforia...........................................................................................................3
Image Target..................................................................................................3
Object Target.................................................................................................4
Vuforia Object Scanner..................................................................................5
3D Model.......................................................................................................5
Digimon.........................................................................................................7
Digivice..........................................................................................................7
Required Program..........................................................................................7
Collecting Dataset.........................................................................................8
Showing the Model......................................................................................10
Result...........................................................................................................12
Implementing the moving character with another model...........................13
Conclusion and Lesson Learned...................................................................16

Augmented Reality
Augmented reality (AR) is the integration of digital information with live
video or the user's environment in real time. Basically, AR takes an existing
picture and blends new information into it. One of the first commercial
applications of AR technology is the yellow first down line in televised
football games.

The key to augmented reality is the software. Augmented reality programs

are written in special 3D augmented reality programs such as D'Fusion,

3
Unifye Viewer or FLARToolKit. These programs allow the developer to tie
animation or contextual digital information in the computer program to an
augmented reality "marker" in the real world.

The end user must download a software application (app) or browser plugin in order to experience augmented reality. Most AR applications are built
in Flash or Shockwave and require a webcam program to deliver the
information in the marker to the computer. The marker, which is sometimes
called a target, might be a barcode or simple series of geometric shapes.
When the computer's AR app or browser plug-in receives the digital
information contained in the marker, it begins to execute the code for the
augmented reality program.

AR applications for smartphones include global positioning system (GPS) to

pinpoint the user's location and its compass to detect device orientation.
Sophisticated AR programs used by the military for training may include
machine vision, object recognition and gesture recognition technologies.

Unity
Unity is a flexible and powerful development platform for creating
multiplatform 3D and 2D games and interactive experiences. It's a
complete ecosystem for anyone who aims to build a business on creating
high-end content and connecting to their most loyal and enthusiastic
players and customers.

Vuforia
Vuforia is an Augmented Reality Software Development Kit (SDK) for mobile
devices that enables the creation of Augmented Reality applications. It uses
Computer Vision technology to recognize and track planar images (Image
Targets) and simple 3D objects, such as boxes, in real-time.

Image Target
Image Targets represent images that the Vuforia SDK can detect and track.
Unlike traditional fiducial markers, data matrix codes and QR codes, Image
Targets do not need special black and white regions or codes to be
recognized. The SDK detects and tracks the features that are naturally

4
found in the image itself by comparing these natural features against a
known target resource database. Once the Image Target is detected, the
SDK will track the image as long as it is at least partially in the cameras
field of view.
Image Target also known as image Marker.

Object Target
Object Recognition allows you to detect and track intricate 3D objects. It
has been designed to work with toys (such as action figures and vehicles)
and other consumer products.

Object Recognition can be used to build rich and interactive experiences

with 3D objects. These experiences could be augmenting a toy with 3D
content in order to bring it to life, overlaying a user manual on top of a
consumer electronics device or leading a new employee through an
interactive training process for a workplace device. Another simple
application of Object Recognition is to unlock new in app content when a
product is recognized.

Object Targets vs Image based targets

Object Targets are a digital representation of the features and geometry of

a physical object. They are distinct from image based target types, such as
Image Target, Multi Targets and Cylinder Targets that require the use of a
planar source image. An Object Target is created by scanning a physical
object using the Vuforia Object Scanner.
Target Type
Image

Target
Source

based

targets
Object Targets

Recommended Uses

planarpublications,
images
feature
scan

packaging,

flat

surfaces
Toys,

products,

geometries

complex

Vuforia Object Scanner

The Vuforia Object Scanner is an app that allows you to scan and create
object targets. The Object Scanner produces an Object Data (*.OD) file that
includes the source data required to define an Object Target in the Target
Manager. The Object Scanner enables you to generate, test and edit OD
files. It provides a visualization of the objects features as well as their
coverage across the object.

3D Model
3D models represent a physical body using a collection of points in 3D
space, connected by various geometric entities such as triangles, lines,
curved surfaces, etc. Being a collection of data (points and other
information),

3D

models

can

be

created

by

hand,

algorithmically

(procedural modeling), or scanned.

3D models are widely used anywhere in 3D graphics. Actually, their use

predates the widespread use of 3D graphics on personal computers. Many
computer games used pre-rendered images of 3D models as sprites before
computers could render them in real-time.

Today, 3D models are used in a wide variety of fields. The medical industry
uses detailed models of organs; these may be created with multiple 2-D
image slices from an MRI or CT scan. The movie industry uses them as
characters and objects for animated and real-life motion pictures. The video
game industry uses them as assets for computer and video games. The
science

sector

uses

them

as

highly

detailed

models

of

chemical

compounds. The architecture industry uses them to demonstrate proposed

buildings and landscapes through Software Architectural Models. The
engineering community uses them as designs of new devices, vehicles and
structures as well as a host of other uses. In recent decades the earth
science community has started to construct 3D geological models as a
standard practice. 3D models can also be the basis for physical devices that
are built with 3D printers or CNC machines.

Digimon
Digimon ( Dejimon, branded as Digimon: Digital Monsters, stylized
as DIGIMON), short for "Digital Monsters" ( Dejitaru
Monsut), is a Japanese media franchise encompassing virtual pet toys,
anime, manga, video games, films and a trading card game. The franchise
focuses on Digimon creatures, which are monsters living in a "Digital
World",

parallel

universe

that

originated

from

Earth's

various

communication networks. In many incarnations, Digimon are raised by

humans called "Digidestined" or "Tamers", and they team up to defeat evil
Digimon and human villains who are trying to destroy the fabric of the
Digital world.

Digivice
The Digivice ( Dejivaisu?), short for "Digital Device" is a device
from the Digimon series based on the first Digimon product, the Digimon
virtual pet, and it indicates that the possessor is a DigiDestined. It appears
in every season of the anime, as well as the V-Tamer 01, Chronicle, D-Cyber,
and Next manga, and several of the video games. Its primary use is to
empower the DigiDestined's partner Digimon through Digivolution, though
each version of the Digivice is also equipped with many other helpful
features, such as radar or data storage. Even when Digivice's are the same
type, they are usually differentiated by a color scheme unique to the
character who uses them.

Required Program
To do this project there were some program required. The minimum
requirement is:
1. Unity 5.2.2f1 (32-bit)
2. Vuforia-unity-5-6-0
The unity we are using is the 32 bit version. Because the 64 bit is not
compatible with Vuforia SDK that we are going to use.
The Unity for Windows itself can be obtained in https://unity3d.com/getunity/download . This is an online installer. So you will need a quite fast
internet connection and it better if you have visual studio installed to edit
the C# command in unity platform.

8
Downloading and Installing Vuforia that can be obtained at. The author
download for unity https://developer.vuforia.com/downloads/sdk

Collecting Dataset
Like mentioned before, to do Object Recognition as one of the Goal of this
project, we need to collect some dataset as our Object Targets. This will be
done using the Vuforia Object Scanner. We are using some of the Digimons
Digivice as our Object Target because we are trying to create some Digimon
AR based on author favorites anime franchise.
There are 4 Steps to create an Object Data file by scanning an object.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Print the Object Scanning Target

Place the printed target
Position the object
Scan the object

Before you begin scanning objects, youll need to print out the Object
Scanning target. Be sure to print the target at its native size (100%).
Modifying the target size will affect physical scale estimated by the Object
Scanner.

The Object Scanning Target is used to establish the position of your Object
Target relative to its local origin. This origin is represented by ( 0,0,0 ) in the
lower left hand corner of the Object Scanning Target's grid region and
corresponds to the local (0,0,0) of the Object Target prefab instance's
bounding box. The unit scale of the grid is in millimeters, this unit is also
used for the scene unit and the estimated physical object scale.

The Object we intend to scan need to be put in the white box over the grid
on the top of the left of the Paper like the picture below.

10

We need to place object at the origin 0, 0, 0 and need to cover all side of
the object. As the example, when it only scanned the surface the object like
Figure 1 it will not coverage all the point.

Figure 1

After that we can check the coverage of the object. We need to not move
the object while scanning, and after the dataset is complete we upload the
*od file to the Vuforia Website.

11

Showing the Model

To show the model first we need to download the object dataset that we
scanned earlier from vuforia website. Then after that, we also need to
generate our API Key to be implemented on AR Camera Object in Unity
Scene. Then we can import both of vuforia unity package and our dataset
unity package into the unity project.
After importing the unity package, drag the AR Camera from Vuforia Assets
to the Unity Scene, and insert the API kEY and connect it to the dataset.
Like the picture below.

12

Then we drag the object target from vuforia assets to unity scen and put or
3d model in it under the hierarchy. For the 3d model the author is using the
3d

model

of

alphamon

taken

from

http://www.models-

resource.com/pc_computer/digimonmasters/model/7149/

13

Then dont forget to add some component to the 3D Model such as Box
Collider, Mesh Renderer, and Cube (Mesh Filer). These components are the
foundation of the 3D Model so it can stand on the object target. It will also
enable the augmentation on the other side like rear side of the object
target when we rotate it.
Then we can build and run by pressing ctrl+shift+B and choosing android
as the platform, because we want to deploy it as android mobile apps. In
the player settings configuration, dont forget to change the product name
into the one you desired. And the bundle identification need to follow the
following rule: com.companyname.productname. With the version, bundle
version and minimum API level set we are ready to go. The application will
be exported as *.apk and we can install it through the android debug
bridge.

Result
As the result, the Alphamon 3D Model will be augmented on the DIgivice
Object Target as below:

14

15
With the right angle, correct lighting and steady hand the augmentation will
easily be shown. These parameters should be fulfilled for the augmentation
to happen and it becomes some weakness of this application.

Implementing the moving character with another model

The problem with current model is the model we used is too rigid. So we are
trying to make the model move or we can say the authors try to animate it
by

using

another

model.

With

some

guidance

from

http://www.himix.lt/augmented-reality/augmented-reality-animatedcharacter-model/ we are replacing our model and try to implement it on

Image Target first, not the Object Target.

As we can see from the screenshot above the 3D model have the Animator
Component with some Controller called ChuckFight1.
The difference from previous model is in the ChuckFight1 there are already
embedded moving behavior method such as below

16

So what we need is just scaling the abject and creating the movement as
you can see in the screenshots below.

17
And finally here is the final result. We managed to successfully show the
object on the markered paper

18

Conclusion and Lesson Learned

In the end, AR application is crated and object Recognition is achieved.
Even the animated object is still implemented on image target not object
target, it can easily studied and implemented on Object Target. However
there is still some parameter to be fulfilled when we want the augmentation
to be appeared.
There are some lessons can be learned like, using Unity to create game and
animation. Despite using Library like Vuforia, Author can understand the
basic how Augmented Reality Work. Object Recognition is also can be
achieved using Vuforia Object Scanner. Unfortunately the Vuforia Object
Scanner only compatible and giving the best result using Samsung Galaxy
S5 and/or Google Nexus 5.
Augmented Reality is still a hot topic and need to be explored more. This
project is also fun because it is based on the authors fanciness of Digimon
and fulfilling the dream of creating Digimon AR.
For the future work developer can develop a lot more AR games like AR TCG
(Trading Card Games) that will augment the model and showing some
fighting animation. It will be very cool as hell!!!