AR Sandbox
A sandbox that shows how people shape the earth: move the sand and a projected world reacts in real time.
AR Sandbox is an augmented-reality sandbox about how humans shape the Earth. Visitors play with a virtual world by moving real sand: dig a valley, build a mountain, and the projected landscape follows instantly, with height lines, colours and water.
The experience also travels through time, from ancient civilisations to the present, so you can see the impact of urbanisation and climate change on the landscape you just built.
How it works
An Azure Kinect depth camera hangs above the sandbox and measures the height of the sand many times per second. TouchDesigner turns that height map into the landscape and projects it straight back onto the sand with a projector mounted next to the camera, so the image always lines up with the shape of the sand. The diagram shows the two setups we compared for the camera and projector.
Built with
- Azure Kinect depth camera
- TouchDesigner
- A projector above a sandbox
