Disney Coloring Book App Gives Twist to Augmented Reality

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Oct 062015
 

Children can now enjoy fun activities like solving puzzles and coloring their favorite Disney characters with the Disney Color and Play app. The people behind the Disney Research Project are taking the art of coloring to another level by developing an app that will allow users, young and old to color using Augmented Reality (AR).

Coloring books are not only creative tools to develop art skills in children but are also great stress busters for adults. And with this augmented reality coloring book app from Disney, children from all ages are introduced to a whole new world of art and technological advancement.

Basically, the user simply has to place the tablet with the app over the image on the coloring book he or she is working on and the result will be a three-dimensional model of the image. What makes it different from the iOS mobile app Crayola Color Alive, launched in 2014, is that it lets you see the 3D image while you render the color. The app from Crayola, on the other hand, allows users to see the output only after the work is done.

Another twist worth looking forward to will be the textured 3D version of the image being colored. That is, whatever texture is derived from the coloring book, the app will create the same output on screen. Moreover, the object is animated and can be seen from different angles, allowing the user to see the 2D image transform into real-time.

With the added dimension on the screen output, you can have an idea how the image looks like from different perspectives. This is made possible with what is known as the virtual spring system.

 

How does it work?

With the application of augmented reality in this latest project of Disney’s creative team, the app that is being developed is able to detect and track the original 2D image on paper and convert it to a three-dimensional image in real time. As you color the image, you can also see the development of your work on your tablet, but it will feel like magic with the animated 3D image on the screen.

Augmented reality has been present for a while now and has been used in different applications. It has enhanced user-experience with the integration of contextual information with what is seen on a camera feed. Also, it has made gaming experience more realistic as it allows images to come alive.

This technology has been used in business applications as well. However, Disney was able to come up with something that stands out among other creations introduced by other companies, an app that does not take away the joy of using traditional coloring books but rather enhances user-experience with the use of technology.

With the number of activities that can be enjoyed with smart devices and gadgets, researchers from Disney say that the use of traditional coloring books might not as exciting as they used to be. But by being to turn 2D coloring book images into animated 3D models, this will not be a concern anymore.

 

Sources

http://www.disneyresearch.com/publication/live-texturing-of-augmented-reality-characters/

http://www.slashgear.com/disney-creates-augmented-reality-coloring-book-app-05407902/

 

TTP Augmented Reality Glasses

 Augmented Reality  1 Response »
Sep 102012
 

A company called TTP (The Technology Partnership) is competing head on with the Google Project Glass. TTP has developed an augmented reality pair of glasses that shows information while wearing them and yet no one but you knows this is happening.

According to The Guardian, “Developed as a prototype by TTP (The Technology Partnership), a technology development company, the glasses incorporate a tiny projector in one arm of the spectacles. The picture is then reflected from the side into the centre of the lenses, which are etched with a reflective pattern that then beams the image into the eye.

That means the image is directly incorporated into what the wearer see when looking directly ahead … the ‘killer app’ for an augmented reality system might be one that would work when you look under your car bonnet, “so rather than seeing a big block, you see it all clearly labeled to tell you what part is what. Alternatively … surgeons might find it useful, not to show them what they’re looking at, because it’s never actually that clear, but to tell them what’s happening to the patient’s life signs: – to the blood oxygenation when I press here, what happens to the pulse. If you can display that directly into their field of vision, that’s really useful.”

This, of course, is only available now in the TTP research lab. But, expect some bigger players to jump on this technology soon.

Augmented Reality and Barometers in Smart Phones

 Augmented Reality  Comments Off on Augmented Reality and Barometers in Smart Phones
May 032012
 

According to Juniper Research, the Next Big Thing in Smart Phones will be not only the use of augmented reality, but barometers that calculate tiny changes in elevation. Augmented reality is already being introduced into Smart Phones in the area of MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems).

Items such as accelerometers and compasses are soooooo last year. Gyroscope technology will help smart phone and electronic tablet users orient themselves and their screens to their environments.

The barometers embedded into electronic devices will work with GPS systems so that Maps will work indoors. This will be helpful if a person is at a large college campus and needs to find a room, at a large corporate campus, shopping mall, museum or any other indoor location where GPS now fails.

The price of MEMS have come done as smart phone manufacturers are under increasing pressure to add more value and bring costs down.

According to PC World, “Juniper predicts that annual revenues generated by MEMS devices built into mobile phones – including sensors, audio, displays and radio frequency components – will exceed $6.3 billion by 2016. However, unit prices for MEMS devices will continue to fall rapidly, meaning that vendors will need to have guaranteed volumes in order to commit to cost and price reductions.”

And, not only will your smart phone increase exponentially in its intelligence because of MEMS, it will also increase the augmented reality portion of displaying data you need overlapping real life as you see it. And this will make you a tad savvier as well.

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