The Artvertiser source code is now available, licensed under the GPLv3. It is an Improved Reality platform, designed for the live substitution of advertisements in a video stream with alternative 2D content. The code was initially developed by Julian Oliver before being significantly improved by Damian Stewart.

A typical application of The Artvertiser at work might be the Product Replacement of street billboards with 2D art using a laptop with webcam or camera-enabled mobile device. You might also want to have your own personal exhibition in the Louvre, substituting well known paintings with your own creations and inviting others to enjoy the show. Counter-propaganda operations are also well suited to the platform, like changing the imagery of a disliked political campaigner before uploading the recorded result for all to see. Alternatively, it can be used to product replace planar images in archival video, like a Hollywood movie or TV advert, using popular films as an ‘exhibition surface’.

You can see a couple of examples of The Artvertiser at work using our own specially crafted digital binoculars, The Billboard Interception Unit, on the project website.

The Code: The entire project tree exists as a git repository, cloned like so on your local system: git clone git://repo.or.cz/The-Artvertiser.git

The code should currently build on any modern Linux-based OS with the addition of a couple of dependencies and — thanks to Damian — should also compile on OS X with the correct prior tweaks in place. See the README file in the top-level directory for more information.

A special ‘mob’ user has been set up allowing complete Read/Write access for anyone at all. Once you’ve cloned the repository as above, just: git checkout mob

.. to move to the mob branch. It’s all yours!

We look forward to your improvements, forks, derivations and vandalisms.

Happy (urban) hacking!

Julian and Damian

http://theartvertiser.com
http://julianoliver.com
http://frey.co.nz