Desktop augmented reality systems used in real-time modeling and simulation

In the fields of environment simulation, real-time modeling and collaborative designing, it is difficult to display a complex environment in real-time. In some applications, however, the virtual environment can be replaced by the real world and the virtual objects can be superimposed onto the real world. A combined real and virtual environment is thus generated and rendered in real-time avoiding complex environment modeling and display. An experimental desktop augmented reality system with a see-through display is described. It estimates CCD external parameters by tracking 4 known points with different colors.