The 3D Augmented Reality Cube prototype was developed by a team of Concordia University’s software engineering
students in SOEN 490 Group B for the 2010/2011 academic year. Originally intended to have much more
functionality and a specialized hardware; the prototype kept the main features and showed a pseudo cube
with a gyroscope to detect rotation. The project is built for HTSoftwares as a research into model
manipulation and impact by a change in position given by a user’s movement.
The pseudo cube displays a model on three screens that are placed together to make a corner of a cube.
The 3D model can be zoomed, locked in place, and show cross sections. The model will rotate based on
the change in position that is made by the user, either by moving the mouse or rotating the gyroscope.
The use of multiple screens gives the user a better feel for the model being worked on. Ideally a future
release will give the complete illusion that there is an actual object within a box.
The software is intended for anyone who works with CAD and any other 3D designers to have a better vision of
their work. The setup also allows for presentations where there will be 3D. In the future this technology can
be used to demonstrate any representation of various real life models. For example, building engineers usually
have a smaller in scale real life model built to represent their buildings and plans. In the future they can
make a 3D model and represent it on the cube, giving the full feel of the model. The simulation could also be
useful to demonstrate different environments.
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Unlike other means of representing 3D models that currently exist, the use of multiple screens allows for
a whole new means of experiencing digital. As originally intended, on smaller screens, and wireless this
software can allow for more versatile and realistic means of manipulating a model naturally. In the short
term, it is hoped that this project will demonstrate the possibility of manipulating and viewing models
in a non-conventional way. In the future, a year or two from now, this prototype can be enhanced to track
a user’s movement more natural and have a fully functional software that renders in real time so that there
is no delay between the users input and rendering of the model.
