How it works
How an AR photo plays its video.
An augmented reality photo is an ordinary print with a video tied to it. A phone camera recognizes the picture and draws the video onto the paper, holding it in place as the phone moves. Below is what happens on the phone, what you need, and where it stops working.
- Scan the code
- A page opens
- The camera finds the photo
- The video plays on it
On the phone
What happens between the scan and the first frame.
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The code opens a web page
The QR code holds a short address: ember22.com/x/ followed by a six-character Short Code. The phone's own camera reads it and opens that address in the browser. There is nothing to install and nobody to sign in as.
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The browser asks for the camera
The page asks once for permission to use the camera. What the camera sees stays on the phone: it is compared with the print right there and never uploaded or saved by Ember22.
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The camera recognizes the picture
The page carries a compact map of the print's details: edges, corners and texture. When enough of them come into view, it knows where the print is and how it is tilted. If the print is too small in the frame, the screen says to move closer.
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The video is drawn onto the paper
The video is pinned to the four corners of the photo, so it lies flat on the print and follows it as the phone moves. It starts muted while the camera searches, and the sound comes in once the photo is found. Where a browser holds sound back, a "Tap for sound" button appears instead.
Three words
Print, Short Code, live print.
- The physical thing: a magnet, a card, a poster, a canvas. Its picture is what the camera looks for. Copies printed from one design all play one video.
- Short Code
- The six letters and numbers at the end of the printed link, carried by the QR code. Once you publish, it is fixed for good, so a print already in someone's hands never stops pointing at the right place.
- Live print
- One design joined to one video, under one Short Code. That is what a credit buys, whether you print ten copies or ten thousand.
What you need
Less than you might think, on both sides.
To make one
- The design file you send to the printer, or a photo with plenty of detail.
- A video clip: up to 30 seconds on the free trial, up to 3 minutes on Business.
- A printer or print shop. You print it the way you already do, with the QR code on a sticker or in a corner.
- An Ember22 account. The trial lasts 14 days and asks for no card.
To watch one
- An iPhone or an Android phone with a camera, and the browser it came with.
- A data or Wi-Fi connection, because the video streams when the page opens.
- Enough light to see the picture clearly.
- Nothing else: no app, no account, no email address.
Getting a good lock
What makes a print easy for the camera.
Detail
Faces, leaves, fabric, lettering: anything with edges gives the camera points to hold. A clear sky, a flat color, a dark night shot or a mirror-perfect pattern gives it almost none, and it may never lock.
Light
Ordinary room light is plenty. A dim hallway hides the detail the camera needs, and so does a lamp reflected straight back off the print.
Finish
Matte or lustre paper. Gloss throws back bright highlights that wipe out part of the picture at some angles, and the camera can't see through them.
Size and distance
Prints as small as about 2 inches work. The print should fill a good part of the screen; from across a room, a small one is just a few pixels.
Honest limits
Where it stops, and what happens then.
- The camera loses the print
- A quick wobble is smoothed over and the video stays put. If the print stays out of view, the video pauses on its frame in a small window in the corner, over the live camera, so the viewer can see where to aim. Point back at the print and it returns to the paper and carries on from the same moment.
- The phone can't track
- If the camera is refused or the phone can't follow the print, the video still plays, as an ordinary full-screen video. Nobody is left looking at nothing.
- One design, one video
- The camera tells prints apart by their picture, so every copy of one design plays the same clip. A different video needs a different picture.
- Video, not 3D
- It plays a video on the print, or just beside it, and can show up to six buttons next to it, such as Website, Call or Email. It doesn't add 3D objects, face filters or games.
- It needs a signal
- The video comes over the internet each time. In a basement with no reception, the page can't load it.
- It isn't private
- Anyone holding the print, the QR code or the link can play it. Keep anything secret out of the video.
- Trial prints pause
- Prints made during the free trial stop playing after its 14 days unless the account moves to a paid plan. Paid ones keep playing while the account stays open, cancelled subscription or not.
After it's printed
The code is permanent. What it plays isn't.
You can replace the video, change the buttons or switch a live print off and on again from the Studio, as often as you like, at no cost. Prints already out in the world play the new version the next time someone scans them.
The one thing that changes the deal is a new picture. Prints already made carry the old one, so the camera would no longer recognize them. The Studio warns you and asks you to confirm before it publishes a change like that.
Privacy
What a viewer gives up: very little.
People who scan a print never make an account, install anything or type an email address. The camera picture is used on their phone to find the print and goes no further.
Ember22 counts scans so the person who made the print can see how it is doing: the time, the kind of device and browser, and an approximate city worked out from the network. It never asks for GPS location and does not store IP addresses. Unique viewers are counted with a random ID kept on the phone that isn't linked to who they are. The privacy policy has the full list.
Where people use it
The same mechanism, on different paper.
- Video photo magnetsA fridge magnet made by a print shop or a photo booth.
- AR greeting cardsA birthday, holiday or thank-you card with a message from the sender.
- Video save the datesThe early announcement, months before a wedding.
- AR wedding invitationsThe formal invitation, with an RSVP button beside the video.
- Augmented reality artPrints and editions that show how the piece was made.
- Video QR code or live print?When a plain QR code that opens a video is the better choice.
- Ember22 vs ArtiviveHow it compares with an app-based AR art platform.
Questions about the technology
Which phones does it work on?
iPhones and Android phones, in the browser that came with the phone. The phone needs a working camera and an internet connection. Where tracking isn't possible, the same link plays the video full screen.
Will it work through a picture frame's glass?
Often, if the glass doesn't catch a reflection. Ordinary glass mirrors lamps and windows across the picture, which hides detail the camera needs. Non-reflective glass, or no glass, is the safer choice.
Can two live prints hang side by side?
Yes. Each has its own code, and the page that code opens looks only for its own picture, so a neighbour on the same fridge door won't set it off.
Is the video downloaded onto the viewer's phone?
No. It streams while the page is open, the way a video on a website does, and nothing is left behind in the phone's photos.
Does it use the viewer's location?
Not their GPS. Scan counts include a rough city, estimated from the network the phone is on, and the IP address itself is not stored.
Can I tell how many people watched?
Yes. Your dashboard counts scans and unique viewers for each live print. It shows how many, not who.
See it on your own print.
Make one in the 14-day trial, print it at home, and point your phone at it. No card needed.
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