Disney engineers have developed a "magic bench" augmented reality

Disney Research continues to experiment in areas where science, modern technology, animation and cinematography intersect. This time the engineers of the company have developed a unique "magic bench", sitting on which any person will be able to communicate with an interactive animation character. No, he will not see the character directly in reality, but he will see it on the screen opposite the bench, like a reflection in a mirror. In this case, you can communicate with the characters and even physically feel their movements.

The system works quite simply. Directly in front of the bench was a depth sensor (in this case, Disney engineers used Kinect 2.0), as well as one additional camera. Further on, algorithms written specifically for this experiment come into play. They shorten the location of the human body in space and gently cut it out of the background, allowing you to insert an animated character anywhere in the three-dimensional scene. In this case, if a person holds a hand behind the hero, the algorithm gently closes the hand at the intersection, and if you hold your hand in front of the character, the hand will be visible. The same can be said about realistic shadows cast on virtual heroes. All these technical tricks make animated animals as realistic as possible.

Realism is added and built in the bench vibrators and speakers, for example, the snoring of a painted elephant, dozing off next to a man sitting on a bench. The voice of the character is heard from the speakers if he communicates with you. Use an interactive bench can be several people at once. The magic bench was first shown to the public at the SIGGRAPH 2017 exhibition. Such an augmented reality could well be used in the future in Disney entertainment parks.

The article is based on materials https://hi-news.ru/entertainment/inzhenery-disney-razrabotali-magicheskuyu-skamejku-dopolnennoj-realnosti.html.