LAL DERA AUGMENTED REALITY

ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM

Augmented reality brings the story of this 17th-century Mughal imperial tent to live. (Lal Dera - The Red Tent)
EXHIBIT
This Augmented Reality exhibit was part of the larger ROM exhibit Treasures of a Desert Kingdom: The Royal Arts of Jodhpur, India. The AR-enabled iPads were mounted directly outside the tent which, when activated, gave visitors a glimpse into the life of a 17th-century Mughal Emperor. 
How the tent would have been used, and those who would have inhabited it is shown via animations created from period paintings of the era from the ROM's collection. In addition, several objects that would have been present in the tent can be explored which trigger animations showing their use.
AR APPROACH
We used Apple ARKit 2 and Unity to bring the tent to life. ARKit 2 allowed us to be able to use the tent itself as the world anchor through the use of the Persistent AR capability of ARKit 2. This means that no matter where the iPad camera is viewing, it knows how and where to place the characters to complete the illusion that the objects exist within the tent. Other features we built included the occlusion of the characters based on the known placement of foreground objects such as the vertical tent posts.
FIRSTS
Treasures of a Desert Kingdom features masterpieces drawn from the collection of the former royal family, most of which are on display outside their palace setting for the very first time.
Check out the video below: