Lighting simulation in augmented reality scenes: Teaching experience in interior design

One of the weaknesses in augmented reality (AR) scenes is that, most of the times, the virtual model lacks realism and is not integrated sufficiently into the scene to be credible. The problem lies in lighting conditions differences from real environment and virtual objects superimposed. This problem takes on special significance indoors, to visualize interior design proposals, because a non-integrated scene may seem unlikely and unattractive. In this paper, we describe a teaching experience conducted in the framework of an interior design specialization course. It was carried out by students from the School of Building Construction of Barcelona in November 2011, at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. Students were required to use AR freeware tools for modeling and visualize their own proposals indoor. The challenging task was to make virtual objects blend harmoniously into the real scene, so they should appear as if they were like real. New modeling techniques have been experienced in order to add lighting conditions maps to virtual objects. We used for that radiance and global illumination simulations from the real environment to get real scene lighting information. Experience was useful to determine the consistency of illumination between the virtual objects and the surrounding real objects in the scene, as well as, to evaluate the importance of the use of this technology in interior design proposals and architectural visualization.