Introduction to the Special Section on Augmented Video

Merging computer-generated content with real-world visual data is one of the main challenges in fields like augmented reality or visual effects and is increasingly important in broadcasting, gaming, medical, automotive, maintenance, and learning applications. Although augmented reality (AR) has been investigated for a long time, it has recently emerged as a hot topic, with significant commercial interest. One reason for that is the availability of new camera-equipped devices like smart phones or tablets that enable see-through capabilities. Combined with powerful graphics capabilities, sensors, and tracking methods, AR now becomes available to everyone. In addition, glasses-based systems, like Microsoft’s HoloLens, allow for hands-free visualization, enabling many new applications.