treasARhunt: Creating an Augmented Reality treasARmap

I've been playing around a bit with using HP Reveal Studio (formerly Aurasma Studio) to created Augmented Reality resources, such as interactive game boards and conference posters. For Mobile Summit 2018 and the 17th World Conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning (mLearn 2018), I developed a workshop on how to use HP Reveal Studio to create an AR treasARmap. That's a magic treasure map that appears blank for my students, until they scan it using the HP Reveal (formerly Aurasma) app using their mobile devices. What they see when they scan the blank map is something like the image below, where the pieces of the map slowly reveal themselves.

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The QR code and URL on the image above will take you to the companion resources that I created for the workshops. But, since I've had a lot of requests for this, I've put together this blog post to bring everything together into one spot, and show how I created the AR treasARmap.

About treasARmap

The treasARmap map was created using the Canva free online poster and infographic creation suite. It was then "augmented" using a free HP Reveal Studio account. This is what the final product looks like:

Accessing the Hidden Treasure Map

To access this augmented reality "treasARmap," install the HP Reveal (formerly Aurasma) AR app on your mobile device. Launch the app, point your device at the image below, and click on the AR objects to follow a team's path to the finish line!

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Get the App

Follow Rob Power, EdD on HP Reveal

• Launch the HP Reveal app
• Click on the "search" (magnifying glass) icon
• Search for Rob Power, EdD 

Step 1: Making a treasARmap Poster

You can make a treasARmap map poster using any graphics editing tool. Perhaps one of the simplest to use is PowerPoint. However, the Canva free online poster and infographic creation suite was used to create the map poster for treasARmap. The following video shows how Canva was used to create the map poster.

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Do It Yourself

treasarmap_resources.zip
File Size:	8540 kb
File Type:	zip

Download File

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• Find or create a background pattern for your treasARmap poster.
• Create an account at Canva (if you don't already have one).
• Upload your poster background into Canva.
• Use Canva to create the static text and images (the non-Augmented Reality components that will always be visible) on your treasARmap.
• Save your treasARmap in Canva.
• ​Export a copy of your treasARmap poster as an image file (.png or .jpg).

Additional Useful Tutorials

Step 2: Augmenting Your treasARmap

​You can use the free HP Reveal Studio (formerly Aurasma Studio) to created your Augmented Reality Layers on your treasARmap. The following video shows how to get started by adding the treasARmap poster you created in Canva to the HP Reveal Studio, and how to add basic "layer" images with simple user interactions.

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Adding Delays and Conditional Triggers
This video shows how to add timer delays to your trigger images, and how to set layer images so that they remain hidden until the user performs specific actions.

Creating Branching Triggers
In this video, we build upon the conditional triggers concept, and use layer images to create branching scenarios for users.

Do It Yourself

• Login to HP Reveal Studio (or create an account, if you do not have one yet).
• Create a new "Aura" by uploading the treasARmap poster background that you created in Canva.
• Add 3-4 "layer" images to your treasARmap "aura."
• Try adding the following actions to your "layer" images:
  • Have one layer trigger a YouTube video.
  • Have one layer link to a Google Form.
  • Have all but one of your layers "hidden" when your treasARmap is first scanned.
  • Add a delayed "trigger" to one of your layers, so that it appears at a set time after another layer.
  • Add a "trigger" to one layer, so that when it is clicked, one or more of your other layers appear.
  • Create a "branching trigger," where two layer images are visible, and the map changes (with different additional layers appearing) based on the trigger layer selected by the user.
• Save your completed treasARmap.
• Preview your completed treasARmap, and download the "target image." Give it an appropriate filename!
• Open the image you downloaded, and test it using the HP Reveal app!

Additional Useful Tutorials

Share Your treasARmap

I'd love to see what you come up with playing around with the concept of creating AR treasARmaps, or other AR resources for your teaching and learning! I've set up the following Padlet wall as a spot where participants in the treasARhunt workshops can share their completed projects... but feel free to post yours, as well. (Just be sure to include a note as to "who" we need to follow using the HP Reveal app to bring your treasARmap to life!)