TARGUS at TCEA
We’ve reached the end of the fist month of the new year. With CES 2020 now over and complete we’d like to talk about TCEA “Texas Computer Education Association”. TCEA is a global, nonprofit, member-based organization with a focus of supporting the use of technology within the education system and classroom. Founded in 1980 the organization has been playing a vital role in increasing technology funding and access for PreK-16 schools for nealy 40 years.
This week is TECA’s 2020 convention and expo, located in Austin, Texas it has become a must-attend event for educators of all types that are committed to improving the learning of students. With over 1,000 presentations and workshops it has become a hub of fresh ideas, information and resources for engaging learners and improving instruction.
But why are telling you this? you may ask. Well what’s exciting is that our good friends at Targus are attending the event and show casing what they have to offer. With a broad range of Chromebook and table cases to secure devices in and out of the classroom to unique offerings such as security locks and universal docking stations, Targus has become a brand of choice for K-12 educators and IT directors. To help showcase what they have to offer in a fun experiential way Targus have brought along our Augmented Reality application that our sister company “Immersive Studio“ and our partners at Outform developed as a new and innovative solution using ‘future technologies’ to enable Targus to promote a range of their new range of products in a new exciting way.
Future Augmented Reality Technology for Retail
Now of course you are probably interested in what we mean in regards to this AR application, well here is a brief lookback and summary of this amazing project. You can also find out more detail about the project here on our website.
The Goal and Solution
The goal of this project was to find a way to show a wider selection of products in an interesting and engaging new way, which would allow Targus to utilise a smaller physical footprint to exhibit from, as premium retail floor space and exhibition space is becoming more and more expense and we wanted to explore how digitally recreating a number of the Targus rucksack products in Augmented Reality could solve the problem, expand the amount of products that could be displayed at any one time, whilst connecting their customers back to the Targus brand.
To achieve this we proposed a solution that combined both ‘physical’ and ‘digital’ creating what we have coined as ‘Phygital’. Our partners at Outform designed and created a modern futuristic style of a half bust mannequin which would enact as the visual target for the Augmented Reality application to trigger off. With that created we would then attach a QR code based target to the back of the mannequin which we can also digitally mapped into our program so that the clients products would be positioned correctly and accurately onto it via Apple Ipad Pros.
Using our proprietary custom built photogrammetry capture rig we were able to capture the real world products accurately guaranteeing the exact dimensions and textures and realistic look which was important to us, as we are focused on closing the gap between art and technology developing new ways to make virtualised products look real and appealing whilst maintain accuracy. The quality of our digital scanning also allowed us to repurpose the models for the creation of alternative supporting digital advertising material such as digital high resolution imaging and animation.
We wanted not only virtualise the products as photo realistically as possible but to also let the customers see the product in real-time and real world scale and to see what that products look like when they are worn on the back, but we also wanted to dd a level of ‘gamification’ to the application too enabling us to connect the customers back to the Targus brand whilst understand the key features of the product.
For more information about the project, our custom scanning facilities, our Augmented Reality solutions, or just ideas of how we can help you with your own product virtualisation and deployments then please feel free to contact us and we would be happy to help find a solution for you.