Capture real-world objects and drag them directly to your computer.
Brought to us by designer and programmer Cyril Diagne, AR Copy Paste is an app available on iOS and Android devices that uses a combination of AR and machine learning to capture digital clones of real-world physical objects and automatically isolate them from their surrounding environments.
These AR copies can then be dragged and dropped directly onto your computer screen and into a variety of compatible programs as if copying and pasting a simple JPEG image.
“Thanks to modern developments in machine learning, it is now possible to precisely detect people and objects around you, remove the background automatically, and transfer the result to virtually any software on your computer,” stated Diagne during an interview with Dezeen.
According to Diagne, the process is achieved using a pair of open-source technologies. The first, Boundary-Aware Salient Object Detection (BASNet), is used to identify the foreground object and isolate it from the surroudning environment; the second, Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT), serves as a liaison between the smartphone and computer, allowing you to place digital captures in specific positions across your computer screen.
“AR Copy Paste originates from personal research in interaction design, exploring how machine learning can help make our interactions with digital systems more natural,” added Diagne. “The use cases described by such a large and diverse group of creatives made a lot of sense and motivated a couple of friends and me to turn the prototype into a real application that anyone can use.”
Compatible software includes the Adobe Creative Suite, Google Docs, Keynote, Microsoft Paint, and Powerpoint just to name a few.
Those interested in copying and pasting reality can request access to the app here.
Image Credit: Cyril Diagne
