Apple AR: ARKit Turns Artist's Apartment into Fight Club's IKEA Scene

At the risk of breaking a few rules, we're going to talk about Fight Club. More specifically, digital artist Mateusz "Marpi" Marcinowski has mimicked a scene from the movie using Apple's ARKit.

In the "IKEA Nesting Instinct" scene, while the narrator ruminates about his consumerist identity, the camera pans his apartment, with text overlays identifying each IKEA product in the space, as though it were an IKEA catalog come to life.

In an experiment, Marcinowski is able to emulate this effect using ARKit along with GPS, compass, and gyroscope, with descriptive appearing as items come into the iPad camera's view. It's quite the fitting application of the technology, since the retailer intends to release one of the first official ARKit apps.

This app experiment shows users what kind of dining sets define them as a person. (Not really, but it looks like it does.)

This app experiment shows users what kind of dining sets define them as a person. (Not really, but it looks like it does.)

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However, according to Marcinowski, the app does not actually identify the items, but rather pins "Swedish-sounding" words via a word generator, along with random prices and SKU numbers, to objects as they appear in the view.

"It was just a test, trying to see one way of AR future. I'm back to art experiments now," said Marcinowski, with a smile, via Twitter.

Nonetheless, with Apple, Google, and others jockeying for position with image recognition tech, apps that identify products and their prices will soon be more prevalent.

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Cover image via Marpi Marcinowski/Twitter