Augmented Reality Takes 'Doctor Who' Fans on Inside TARDIS Tour

Part of the appeal of science fiction is its affinity for the far-fetched. But what if those stories could become a reality? Or at least augmented reality?

Former TechCrunch editor Greg Kumparak spent his holidays building a miniature replica of theDoctor Who time-warping TARDIS, staying true even to the time machine's its-bigger-on-the-inside décor.

"There's a running gag in Doctor Who, wherein new characters are always dumbstruck by the TARDIS being bigger on the inside than it appeared on the outside," Kumparak wrote in a blog postabout his new model. "Once I realized I had a rough idea of how to pull that off, I couldn'tnot do it."

With the petite Police Box exterior complete, and clay test renders portraying the enormous TARDIS interior (based on the 2005-2010 show model), Kumparak just needed a way to combine the two.

Using the Unity game engine and Qualcomm's Vuforia API, he engineered an augmented reality app that turned the front door of the phone booth into an open door to the time machine. Kumparak's trial-and-error process led him from non-flat surfaces to too-small signs, finally landing on an app-compatible feature.

"Eventually I just hacked off the front door and put in the big timey-wimey space-warp-lookin' marker," Kumparak said. You can see the results in the video below.

One of the trickiest parts (as if building the box and smartphone application weren't enough) was figuring out a way to portray the TARDIS's interior only where the open doors would be.

"That was, after all, the basis of the entire illusion," Kumparak said.

Using a technique called "depth masking," Kumparak rendered the entire piece, but also utilized an invisible object with a specialized shader to keep the camera from displaying parts outside of the rectangular door.

"And that's that. My tiny, desktop-sized TARDIS that just so happens to be bigger on the inside," the developer said.

While Kumparak has no plans to mass market the 3D TARDIS (or a 3D paper version) or its companion app, a number of fans are more than willing to put some money in his tip jar.

"I don't know who you are, I don't what what you want, but I will find you, and SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY," Kaci Elise Champion wrote four days ago on Kumparak's blog entry.

A Kickstarter project doesn't seem to be in Kumparak's future, but he wrote in a comment response that he is "looking into ways to let other folks in on the fun," likely via source code or the APK.

"Seriously dude, market this. It might not make you a millionaire, but it'll definitely bring in some decent spending cash…some of it mine," Neil Royal wrote.

For more from Stephanie, follow her on Twitter @smlotPCMag.

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