“[C]hildren spend an increasing amount of time passively consuming content or absorbed in digital devices and become less engaged with real-world activities that challenge their creativity. Augmented reality (AR) holds unique potential to impact this situation by providing a bridge between real-world activities and digital enhancements. AR allows us to use the full power and popularity of digital devices in order to direct renewed emphasis on traditional activities like coloring.”
– St´ephane Magnenat et al., Disney Research
By providing a bridge between real-world activities and digital enhancements, Disney hopes the mind of child could equally be enhanced in tandem. To achieve this, the coloring book app detects and tracks the child’s drawing using a deformable surface tracking method, which relies on an outlier rejection algorithm for real-time tracking and surface deformation recovery. As a result, the augmented video stream projects an animated 3D version of the character being colored in. Essentially, as the child draws and colors, the Disney character then springs to life in real-time like magic.
One could argue that we already live inside a present day sci-fi future. A lot of what was once envisioned from the minds of historical sci-fi authors have already emerged for people to bear witness to and enjoy. So what does our future actually entail for us if we’re already living in a sci-fi reality? Will it just become increasingly sci-fi beyond fathomable recognition? That’s certainly a possibility, but then I believe our future won’t just contain elements of sci-fi literature, but equally a future of fantasy.
Can you imagine it: a future where, using advanced technologies such as AR, fantastical creatures emerge within the very same fabric of our physical and material space? When you look up towards the sky, you not only see a flock of birds flying by, but subsequently a fire-breathing dragon alongside them; Where tiny fairies hover above a sleeping child, singing them a lullaby. This is the future we’ll soon bear witness to – a future, not of sci-fi, but of fantasy!