Arworks » ARworks

Executive Council: Gitex Whiteboard animation

admin — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 14:33:34 +0000

Whenever a company develops something new and spectacular, it is always a question how to inform the concerned audience about the release. It is even harder if the company happens to be a government institution.

In this project, our honorable client was the Executive Council of the Government of Dubai. The City has just developed a smart decision making system for its organisation, called Quarar. They wanted to present it on the Gitex 2014 conference, and they needed something impressive that visitors will remember to. Gitex (Gulf Information Technology Exhibition) is an annual computer trade show in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the biggest innovative exhibition in the region. That is why we’d suggested them to produce a special whiteboard animation that represents the unique and innovative system they created.
PLEASE, FIND BELOW THE ARABIC AND ENGLISH ANIMATION

It is not easy to produce a film like that despite the 1:40 minutes length. An animation consists of several different parts that have to be combined in accurate timing at the very end. First of all we had to record the drawn parts of the video – it was the hand of our designer who was drawing every little part to a whiteboard. After that, the video had to be edited and the speed of the animation had to be set. Here came the other elements; the logos and the subtitles in two different languages (Arabic and English) had to be added and positioned within the animation. After this long process we had a complete whiteboard animation, without narration. Voice recording and editing is never an easy task, especially when the lengths of the texts are not the same; and the Arabic voiceover was much longer than the English. Finally, these voiceovers had to be cut into several parts, and had to be fit to the animation properly.

At the very end of the project we got a really high-quality product that our client appreciated so much. The guests of the conference enjoyed the show and totally understood the importance and greatness of Quarar. Using the whiteboard animation helped us a lot in the precise explanation of a government decision support system like Quarar and last but not least we managed to do this in a very spectacular way.

Kinect 2 for Windows unboxing

admin — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 11:33:50 +0000

Our very own Kinect 2 for Windows just arrived – expect some very cool stuff in the future.

FMCG In-Store AR activation

admin — Tue, 08 Jul 2014 15:05:16 +0000

We developed this promotional app for our international FMCG client, who wanted to present the different stages of the product’s manufacturing process to their customers, while emphasising excellence in quality.
By holding the packaging of the product in front of the tablet’s front camera, additional 3 dimensional animated content – talking, moving characters and an airplane – appeared on and around the product.

The customer was guided through the journey by the brand’s two emblematic figures, from the production plants through the factory till the distribution. Along this journey, he could learn the essentials of the product – by listening to their conversations, comments and by watching embedded video clips.

With the help of this application, which was used in an In-store activation, the brand managed to engage their customers strongly in its key messages.

Interactive fireworks on the 100 AED banknote

admin — Tue, 17 Jun 2014 08:37:15 +0000

To demonstrate the possibilities of Augmented Reality (AR) we’ve designed and developed an app - ARworksME – which shows the quick history of Dubai in 3D. Since its an AR app, it does this on the 100 dirham note – and as a back up feature, users can see the content without the banknote as well, just purely in 3D. They also have the option to zoom in or rotate the animated model freely like they were flying over in their own jet.

Just download the app, hold it on the flat banknote, and you will see a falcon flying above it, than the buildings start to grow up from the ground – among them with the Burj Khalifa. After that comes the interactive part – you can choose wether you want to bring some clouds above the city, install the Expo2020 flag on the top of the Burj – or start a firework. And there is a 4th surprise there as well. Download it now :

DOWNLOAD THE APP NOW: App Store Link
If you don’t have a 100 dirham, click here

DOWNLOAD THE APP NOW

Brand Montage with Greenbox Mobile iPad Studio

admin — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 07:10:19 +0000

Promotional Activations have to be more and more interesting, involving and innovative to keep up the interest of the potential customers.

We’ve kept these objectives in mind, when we’ve developed a spectacular but easy to use iPad Application for an event of a well known brand with Geometry Budapest.

Customers were asked by a promoter, wether they want to participate on a prize draw. If the answers was yes, the promoter invited the customer to a green box photo studio — which was built up in 2 minutes from a green roll up and an iPad Application on 2 square metres.
The guest was standing in front of the background and a photo was made — and the app took away the green background from the photo, so the cut out image of the participant could be easily added onto the built in branded photo — actually the key visual of the campaign. Then the prepared montage was shared, printed or simply sent to any e-mail address.
A registration step was also included in the app to collect the contact details of the participant for the future prize draw.

Using iPads and purpose built applications on activations are becoming more and more common — they gave a unique experience to the participant, an innovative image to the brand and they are very cost efficient if they ‘re used on many places for more days.

Mountain Dew – X-Men AR App: Clips in the can

admin — Wed, 11 Jun 2014 08:01:46 +0000

Mountain Dew’s worldwide sponsorship of the new X-men movie was accompanied by an Augmented Reality app - MDew Scan – developed by ARworks based on the creative idea of BBDO/Impact Proximity ME. The app creates a strong, direct link between the product, the Mountain Dew can itself and the movie not possible with other marketing channels.

After the launch of the app, it asks the user to scan the Mountain Dew logo on the can – and helps this by placing a semi transparent drawing of the can on the screen. When the app recognises the can – it opens up its multimedia content linked to the movie. Now, users can watch exclusive teaser videos or unique backstage photos and share their impression with their friends on Facebook or Twitter.

The hidden content and the app is communicated on the can itself and on other POS materials – this is key to reach the highest download numbers possible.

The app result an even stronger motivation to buy the product in Saud-Arabia- since there are no cinemas in the country.

This app is a perfect example on how to use apps and augmented reality to connect your product to any topic/theme you’re sponsoring – consequently maximising the return of your investment on the sponsorship.

iOS Link, Android App Link

Article on the sponsorship

Augmented reality stand for Dubai Customs on Gitex

admin — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 03:44:43 +0000

As part of the Smart City initiative of Dubai, Dubai Customs wished to strengthen its presence on Gitex with the newest innovative mobile technology – Augmented Reality. So, in co-operation with H2O, we’ve developed an AR app for them – which, at the end was used much more widely.

The app consisted of three parts, one for the Gitex exhibition, one for the newspaper add, and a game to learn and entertain users. This ensured that anybody who interested in Dubai Customs could get information whether they were Gitex customers, or just saw the newspaper ad.
App Store Link
Google Play Link

When creating an app content supporting an event we always think of adding extra visual tricks. In this case the installation of Dubai Customs contained a giant poster in the background. Holding your phone (or the iPad provided by friendly hostesses) the poster became live, and you could see the whole environment in 3D. More to that, animated trucks, ships were “coming out” from it demonstrating the role and philosophy of Dubai Customs – thus creating a lasting experience. Similar to that a video played on the newspaper ad when you pointed your phone to it. A clever way of expanding the limited space of an ad.

The other part of the app was a catchy falcon game, since falcon is the logo of Dubai Customs. Falcons were flying in the surrounding virtual environment around you. In order to catch them all, you had to turn around in the physical world as well. This added another layer to the experience mixing the actual environment and the virtual world together. When catching a falcon, it transformed into a shield bearing the relevant information that the client wanted to tell the users, of course in a more memorable way.

All was happening right on your mobile, so it immediately carried the main message: Dubai Customs is already on your mobile – in a smart way.

World’s first app to manage your legal cases

admin — Tue, 27 May 2014 05:51:23 +0000

ADJD, Abu Dhabi Judicial Department goes mobile with the help of ARworks.

The first phase of our biggest smartphone app development project in the Middle East just has been closed with a Press Conference yesterday in Abu Dhabi.

App Link Android

Press Coverage:

The National, Gulf news

The CMS app, which helps users managing their legal cases, has been introduced. The app includes various, complex features to help users to manage and follow their legal cases – but it gives useful and interesting experience to those as well, who are just interested in the operation of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department.

With the app, besides checking the timing, documents and involved parties of your legal case, you can easily search for law offices and lawyers in the central database, calculate the fees of the planned legal actions, or follow the statistical numbers of the institution’ activity.
All of this information is coming real-time, directly from the connected database on the servers of ADJD.

But there are spectacular visual features as well – you can virtually stand in the middle of the Main Court Room, or the Museum and look around in the full 360 panoramic view of those places. In the Museum you can even read some interesting facts on the exhibited objects, participating on a Museum Tour from the comfort of your living room.

The app will be available for iOS and Android after the final testing is over.

Apart from developing the app, ARworks built a Middleware Server Solution through out which the app communicates with the central servers behind the firewall – in this way we’ve developed an integrated front end- back end solution.

This app – first of its kind in the world – shows clearly, how mobile devices and apps will help the daily life of every people. It also represents how advanced is the UAE in its efforts to go fully digital.

A Smart Day in the Smart City from 2015

admin — Sun, 16 Mar 2014 19:09:24 +0000

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, announced last week the launch of the Smart City initiative focusing on 6 different areas – Life, Transportation, Society, Economy, Governance and Environment. On the announcement event an Augmented Reality (AR) application was used which indicates that AR technology will enter the highest circles of Dubai – and we’re ready to be part of it.

At ARworks we’re convinced that this initiative will turn the daily life of UAE into a fully mobile, connected experience. We’d like to be a part of this digital transformation since our Visually Impressive Technologies (VITs) like Augmented Reality, 360 panoramic photo and video and Kinect based virtual reality could make the otherwise not so spectacular content of mobile applications into a real visual experience – like we did for the Dubai Customs Office on the Gitex, 2013. Apart from this the strong front end app-back end server know-how will help us to built robust, fast data storing and data representation systems – like we’re doing for a government legal institution at the moment.
As a result of the initiative, visitors of the 2020 World Expo will feel that they are really entering a Smart City – the city of the future.
To show, how we think a smart day in the world’s first Smart City, Dubai, will look like already in the near future, we’ve prepared an imaginary diary entry – or a Facebook post – of a day in Dubai. Let’s see the experience:

11, March 2015
7:30 I’m waking up, checking the weather on the live 360 panoramic camera feed from the Burj Khalifa in my bed – sunny day ☺. Preparing kids for school, then leaving the house. On the go my app tells my road toll balance as we’re passing by the toll gate – and congratulates for not overspeeding for 3 months.. Arriving to school, dropping of the family – then booking on my phone the parking spot for today at the office.
8:30 Arriving at work. First scrolling through the new pitch/purchasing announcements from the Ministry of Infrastructure on my iPad – we will actually apply for one of them then approving our numbers for the last month to be automatically send to the authorities. My first meeting is about a real estate project – I’ve just updated the full 3 dimensional model of the new buildings so I can present it to my clients on our interactive 3D projection map. Besides the living 3d model of the new Free Port Zone, I’ll show them how the development is going on with a 360 panoramic video – the video was recorded by the automatic system on site yesterday. They are satisfied with the progress, so I’m happy to leave for lunch.
12:00 My app proposes to go to the new restaurant about 10 minutes drive – since I can see in the app, that my friends will be there as well, I’m going there. While waiting for the coffee my app alerts me that my driving license will expire – I check my connected personal datasheet at the Ministry of Interiors within the app – I have one more month to renew it. No problem, I’m booking immediately a time with the app for the next week.
14:00 I’ll have visitors from abroad for the afternoon to show around so I’m going to DWC to pick them up. On the road I just check the interactive real time statistical menu point of the Dubai Tourism app – there were another 5% increase in this month of tourist trips to Dubai. I can understand why ☺.
15:00 They’ve arrived and we are going to the Dubai Creek first, to walk through the virtual tour of Dubai in 1900 – we pick up the necessary Google Glasses in the booth – as we can do at many places of the World’s First Connected Smart City. A kind of time travel, it is. The virtual, otherwise non-existing 3D buildings of the ancient city impresses them very much – so they make some images in them, and share it.
16:14 My son just sent me a mail that he managed to collect all of the virtual characters on their historical augmented reality treasure hunt game in school. Finally, he enjoys learning.
17:00 Since we don’t have time to visit the 2020 World Expo site, we check it through our app, again. A virtual walk within the 3 dimensional, 360 panoramic model of the Expo city is downloaded to the app, and we can discover together the fantastic location, like actually being there.
18:27 Another alert from the app – my medical test are ready, they just came in from the hospital to the app. I check them on the screen. I have to log in first for this info – and there are so many passwords but finally I succeed. I also see the doctors recommendation – a bit less stress, sleep more and eat more fruits to make my cholesterol level right.
19:30 Since we haven’t agreed on anything for tonight, I’m checking the interactive GPS based camera view of the programs tonight in the city. There is one just across the street – and I can book within the app one of the last seats.
22:00 The guests are in the hotel, I’m at home, children are sleeping. It was a pretty intense day in Smart City.

AR app for Revolution, the Premium Watch Magazine

admin — Tue, 18 Feb 2014 14:09:14 +0000

The latest edition of the Middle East Revolution magazine comes with an Augmented Reality application, thanks to Air3, the Agency, who asked us to prepare the app for their client. At several points of the premium publication, users can bring the pages to life. The image of the luxury watch starts to move and readers became viewers who can just simply lean back and see the movie about the masterpiece, unfolding in front of their eyes. Besides the animated watches 5 interviews of leading watch professionals are included on the pages as well.

The videos appear on the page, as classic marker based AR solution – but, by clicking on them, they pop up to cover the full screen.

With this solution the challenge of todays print media is partly solved : How to make the pages as interesting and up-to-date as their online competitors’ sites. By adding digital content to the images and articles, readers have the advantages of print and online media at the same time: the personal, tactile experience of the tangible paper and the excitement of richness of moving, digital content.

Watch out for the next edition of the magazine, hopefully it will have even more features.

App Link App Store
App Link Google Play

Official Revo Site Link

Some pages of the Magazine to try the app