The MagicBook: a transitional AR interface

The MagicBook is a Mixed Reality interface that uses a real book to seamles sly transport users between Reality and Virtuality. A vision-based tracking method is used to overlay virtual models on real book pages, creating an A ugmented Reality (AR) scene. When users see an AR scene they are interested in they can fly inside it and experience it as an immersive Virtual Realit y (VR). The interface also supports multi-scale collaboration, allowing mul tiple users to experience the same virtual environment either from an egoce ntric or an exocentric perspective. In this paper we describe the MagicBook prototype, potential applications and user feedback. (C) 2001 Elsevier Sci ence Ltd. All rights reserved.