YouTuber Makes Real-Life, Functional Harry Potter¡¯s Marauder's Map Using AR

If you¡¯re someone who has been a fan of the Harry Potter series (the books or the movies) you would have seen some really cool things used by the characters -- whether it is the flying broom or Dumbledore¡¯s Deluminator or the Cloak of Invisibility.

YouTube/Lucas Rizzotto

However, one thing that many would have loved to get their hands on was the ¡®Marauders Map¡¯ -- a magical map that could tell you where someone is roaming around in the magic school of Hogwarts while also showing secret pathways to enter or exit the premises.

However, now, a YouTuber who goes by the name of Lucas Rizzotto has created a life-like Marauder¡¯s Map from scratch, using the power of technologies like AR and image recognition.

For this project, he booked a mini castle in England, to make his very own Mini Hogwarts. For the map though, he had a few challenges -- figuring out how to track people, creating an accurate map of the castle and how to make the map appear ¡®magically¡¯ just like it did in the movie.

YouTube/Lucas Rizzotto

For the locating part, he created an app that sends a phone¡¯s GPS coordinates to a nearby server, showing them in a pink dot. He then changed it to look like ribbons, just like the actual map. He even added small disappearing walking tracks making it look just like a real deal.

Next, with the help of Adobe Photoshop and a Drone, he created the map of the mini castle. He tried to draw it out using an iPad, but it looked terrible and he decided to make it on Photoshop instead.

The last challenge, however, was the trickiest -- using AR and image tracking. The combo of the tech allows the map to appear on a real piece of paper. He came across a few challenges while using an AR headset to make it work since AR headsets cannot create images over blank ink, due to the nature of their transparent displays. He then switched to his trusty smartphone which worked like a charm (literally).

The image tracking works perfectly when there is a ton of contrast on the surface to create digital marking points. For this, he created a sort of pattern on the top and the bottom of the page using Photoshop.

YouTube/Lucas Rizzotto

For final touches, in the app, Risotto created an ink dissolve shader as well as voice recognition that only turns on the map after hearing ¡°I solemnly swear I¡¯m up to no good.¡± How cool is that?

In the end, the video shows a crazy life-like Marauder¡¯s Map that looks straight out of the Harry Potter world. Who said muggles can¡¯t do magic?