Augmented Reality Changing the Retailer Footprint

According to MIT Technology Review:

Vizera takes a 3-D scan of a piece of furniture, and uses software to segment the resulting 3-D model into pieces, similar to the way in which an upholsterer would when covering furniture. Vizera also digitizes upholstery options by scanning materials like fabric and leather in a way that aims to keep the colors, textures, and patterns as consistent as possible with the actual swatches.

The company then uses the 3-D model to simulate upholstering the couch with the digitized fabric, and from that it calculates the depth and scale details of the image that the projector will shine onto the actual piece of furniture in the store. A depth camera connected to the projector is used to line up the image with the actual furniture.

Vizera Labs envisions a future where the brick and mortar footprint of furniture retailers is greatly reduced, by allowing customers to preview the look of multiple fabric options on a single piece of furniture. Noteworthy, however, is that while the retail brick and mortar footprint would be decreased, the techology footprint would be increased.

(Photo: http://webrazzi.com)