Developing Physics Simulation in Augmented Reality

Abstract

Use of a physics engine to drive a virtual scene is becoming more common. Physics simulations aim to model the behaviors of objects in space so as to provide realistic motions in computer animation, thereby enriching the interaction and user experience in augmented reality. In this paper, we present a cross-platform environment in which handheld and desktop-computer users can collaborate with each other in a shared scene to accomplish physically realistic experiences during the course of interaction. In realizing the system, we explore and exploit several novel techniques, including bare-hand manipulation, a client/server computing framework, a tangible mobile phone interface, and a distributed scene graph structure. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the system, we developed JengAR, a simulation of the well-known tower building game