Nature magazine’s first augmented reality advert goes live

Subscribers to science journal Nature will have the opportunity to interact with an advert for a University via AR 3D visualisation today.

In a similar way to Sony’s forthcoming augmented reality Wonderbook announced at E3 last week, smartphone, tablet and computers users will see a virtual model of  King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) jump from the page.

The Saudia Arabian University employed the skills of creative 3D technology company Inition to create the app. Once downloaded, users can walk down the street on campus, talk to students and explore the research departments, through the screen interface, when positioned in front of a printed symbol in the magazine which the webcam uses for position referencing.

Users can also link out to all available job vacancies in that area onNaturejobs, the worlds largest dedicated science jobs board. 

This is one of the first times augmented reality has been used to display classified jobs and Nature hope to continue to use this type of technology in the future, both for advertising solutions and editorial opportunities.

Andrew Douglas, Global Head of Advertising and Sponsorship, NPG said “We wanted to develop this app to demonstrate how this technology can potentially be used for both editorial and commercial opportunities. This proof-of concept also demonstrates NPG’s ability to provide creative, bespoke promotional services to its customers, identifying and project-managing third-party expertise where necessary.”

Stuart Cupit, Co-founder and Director at Inition added “This is our first large scale multi-platform AR deployment and represents the culmination of months of research and development time to get the technology running seamlessly across mobile, tablet and in-browser on Mac and PCs. Augmented reality is a great way to leverage print advertising and unlock a host of interactive information that takes the user on a memorable journey through the university departments and jobs."

To interact with the advert, users need to download the ‘Kaust App’ from the App Store or . After launching the application users can point the camera at the advert and the KAUST campus will come to life.

FREE WEEKLY 3D NEWS BULLETIN –