This interactive augmented reality birding guide began as a postcard series to share our passion for birds. We started to dream and ask ourselves, "What if we are able to replicate the wonderment of finding, hearing, and identifying birds in the wild?". Try the Adobe Aero experience for yourself on an iOS device here, then learn more about the simple steps we took to transforming this experience into an interactive immersive experience that can be shared with anyone anywhere in this tutorial, "How to Create Interactive Augmented Reality Scenes in Adobe Aero with Velvet Spectrum." We hope you enjoy this experience that explores some of our favorite birds of the Pacific Northwest while discovering each bird's unique song. It was fun to not only bridge the physical and digital mediums, but to blend our creative imagination with the natural world around us.
Working with AR offers many possibilities for animation and interaction; it allows us as artists to see our creations come to life in a way that no other technology does. In addition, the ability to curate a forest scene intermixed with wildlife, sounds, and even an educational element is exciting for us.
We hope our birding experience will inspire others to pick up the hobby, explore their surroundings, and see if they can identify a few of their local birds.
Scan the QR code or click this link to experience
some of our favorite birds of the Pacific Northwest in
augmented reality using Adobe Aero
Creative Process & Behind the Scenes
Our creative process for this project allowed us to journey through a range of techniques and skills to accomplish first the artworks and animations in 3D inspired by our surroundings in the Pacific Northwest and into custom typography using Photoshop. Once we had all of our components, we built out our AR scene in Aero.
Check out the video below to go behind the scenes, see how we navigated through each step, and pick up a few tips and tricks within the Aero app, like setting proximity triggers, adding audio, and more!
Postcards
AR is such a great way to share an immersive experience; we wanted to help introduce more people to the technology by adding a physical element to our birding adventure. These postcards can be sent to friends and family anywhere around the globe, complete with the QR code to access our Aero experience; these small keepsakes can be saved and displayed as love letters from the Pacific Northwest.
We often see Northern Flickers in our garden and backyard. It's best to catch a glimpse of them when they are perched up in a tree; there, you can see all the details of their patterned plumage and red tail feathers.
Steller's Jays are always a treat to spot in the wild; they usually keep hidden in the shadows of marshy areas, but if you're lucky, you can catch a glimpse when the sunlight hits their blue bottom feathers.
Learn how we made this and try adding proximity triggers to your own animations and sounds.
Last spring, we had the pleasure of witnessing an Anna's Hummingbird build her nest and raise her young in one of our trees. We were able to reference the photos and video we took of them when creating the hummingbird artwork and 3D animation.
