Last Tuesday, I gave a talk during a technical session at Augmented Reality Event 2011.

I presented ClayAR as having both a software and hardware component, with the software component inspired by the anthrohistorical relation of humans with clay as a creation motif. The crux of the software matter is having to “condense” a relatively complex array of tools for 3d mesh manipulation for usage on a mobile device – yet, without making the version on mobile too difficult to use, or too weak in capabilities. As set by manufacturers’ precedents, a mobile device is essentially a different beast than a desktop computer – as a baseline standard, it has a touchscreen interface, and an accelerometer and gyroscope and camera built directly into its form factor. ClayAR uses the accelerometer and augmented reality as two different ways in which to intuitively control the object’s physical rotation and/or camera zoom/pan/rotate location.

As might be expected for a hobby pet project, the hardware component is still on the drawing board, but…

Here are my slides… an earlier version is available for download to run on your Android (2.2+) or iOS (iPhone, iPad) device:

The complete picture goes full circle, empowering the mobile maker with a device that can 3d holographically project the mesh – or fab it, on the spot…