Mixed prototyping environment with different video tracking techniques

Mixed Prototyping has been recently proposed as an interesting design tool able to combine virtual and real objects, in order to allow both designers and final users to evaluate and assess multiple design choices. This paper describes a Mixed Reality environment that deals with several issues that usually arise in Mixed Prototyping: the reliable simulation of the product behaviour; the mutual occlusion between real and virtual objects; the interpretation of the user's gesture while she/he is interacting with the elements of the product interface; the composition of virtual graphics within the real scene through a fast and robust tracking methodology. In particular we focus on the tracking methodology considering two different solutions based on fiducial markers and natural features, respectively. We have considered different scenarios of use, referring to four typologies of products. Each one presents its intrinsic challenges: small hand held products (e.g. mobile phones, remote controllers, etc.), medium sized products (e.g. small appliances), large interactive products (e.g. major appliances) and large non-interactive products (e.g. furnishings). We propose a comparative study that aims to identify the tracking system that better fits each application.