"Kapow!": Augmenting Contacts with Real and Virtual Objects Using Stylized Visual Effects

We propose a set of stylized visual effects (VFX) meant to improve the sensation of contact with objects in Augmented Reality (AR). Various graphical effects have been conceived, such as virtual cracks, virtual wrinkles, or even virtual onomatopoeias inspired by comics. The VFX are meant to augment the perception of contact, with either real or virtual objects, in terms of material properties or contact location for instance. These VFX can be combined with a pseudohaptics approach to further increase the range of simulated physical properties of the touched materials. An illustrative setup based on a HoloLens headset was designed, in which our proposed VFX could be explored. The VFX appear each time a contact is detected between the user’s finger and one object of the scene. Such VFX- based approach could be introduced in AR applications for which the perception and display of contact information are important.