Boring No More! Augmented Reality Book Will Improve Children Reading Habit

Reading has long been associated with boredom. It takes patience and diligence to cultivate the habit despite its positive effects. But that stigma should vanish soon with the emergence of Augmented Reality book.

Augmented Reality book is the solution for encouraging children reading, even going beyond that. With the interactive and creative attributes surrounding the book, kids are set to read more on their own, not for attaining good grades only.

What is Augmented Reality book and how does it work?

Augmented Reality book utilizes Augmented Reality technology. It refers to the technology that is able to add 2D dan 3D contents into the real environments of the users. The users will see the various content types via their mobile devices and tablets using certain applications. When using it, the users can still see the natural world around them.

Books are made from words. For kids, books may seem heavy because they lack of visuals. Children, by nature, love visuals. Using AR technology into the publication industry helps tackling this problem. The AR technology helps to provide interactive reading experience.

When firstly see the AR book, children will be enthusiastic to keep reading the information while enjoying the visuals. Definitely, the visuals contain the information required. The AR technology simplifies the book content then make it easier to be studied. Moreover, the visuals are rendered into 3D objects or animations. This makes kids much more excited to read and with the helps from their parents or teachers, the habit may continue even after school hours.

Below is phase-by-phase of Augmented Reality book.

1. The AR technology will use AR marker to create images.
2. The AR technology will also deploy a calibrated camera that will detect the marker. This camera holds the key for the next tasks because it will scan the marker pattern and examine whether or not the marker suits well with the existing database.
3. If suitable, the information in the marker will be rendered and made into 3D objects or animations made beforehand. If unsuitable, the information won’t be followed up.

For the readers, the result of the work can be viewed with the help of certain mobile applications. Each of the mobile applications will provide a QR code or an image pattern that will trigger the AR content. To experience this, the users have to download the app via their smartphones or tablets then direct camera to the trigger. Once doing so, the AR content will emerge on the screens of their devices.

Advantages of Augmented Reality book

The AR technology has been widely used in the publication industry that exposes it to the following benefits:

1. Generating alternative revenue source other than selling printed books. Publishers can start producing electronic bookish content or e-book with AR-based experiences via in-app purchases and subscription models.
2. Providing easier and more interactive reading experiences for readers, especially children. With the experiences, they will be highly shaped into life-long readers. The Augmented Reality book serves as the engaging gateway for unlocking the benefits of reading in the future.
3. Encouraging the publishers to become more creative by producing great contents taken from physical books. The information will be then made into 3D contents for readers using mobile devices or tablets.

Global Augmented Reality book examples

In the international publication sector, Augmented Reality books are not entirely new. Based on the data from Harvard Business Review, the AR technology in the industry was firstly used in 2008. Top global car manufacturer BMW first chose the technology for creating a printed magazine ad in that year. Below are the others:

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1. The New Yorker

As an international reputable magazine, The New Yorker adjusts to the innovation. In 2016, the magazine introduced the AR technology to the readers. To enjoy the unique reading experiences, they simply had to download then install an app on their smartphones. After that, they pointed the cameras at the magazine covers to view the 3D animated cityscape made by artist Christoph Niemann.

2. Masters of the Sun

Masters of the Sun is a graphic novel made by famous music band Black Eyed Peas and animation studio Marvel. The AR technology contains a voice cast and make the story into life. The voice casts include those of pop stars Jaden Smith and Snoop Dogg that surely adds the value of the novel.

3. Toy Story Woody’s Augmented Reality Adventure

Toy Story is a legendary comic that holds its name and even refreshes it with the use of the AR technology. The readers simply need to activate an app within this book. In addition to enjoying the book in a livelier way, the technology also offers puzzles for igniting the imagination and enhance problem-solving skills of the kids.

4. Amazing Animals of New Zealand

Another example is Conservation Department of New Zealand that published a coloring book entitled “Amazing Animals of New Zealand” for elementary school kids to educate them on the native animals of the country. The two-page book was given to five kids aged six and eight years old for coloring. Their colored pages were used as samples of application.

Augmented Reality Book with Coloring

Along with the introduction of Augmented Reality book, this type of book comes with coloring option. This accommodates children who like drawing. This time around, users can color pages of a book. The AR technology will automatically recognize the pages and colors they use. The system will directly map the final result of the colored pages to pop-up virtual scenes and 3D models. The system is based on natural feature detection and picture processing technique that can be easily exploited in all kinds of AR publication applications.

The innovation selects natural feature registration to support augmentation and physical book modification. The registration must be strong enough to enable modification of the book content. If not, small changes to the original pictures will lead to failed registration. A series of filters must be applied to remove as possibly many colors from every frame.

For each video frame, the picture contrast must be maximized to ensure color constancy then balance white color. The distance for every pixel is measured from the line between black and maximum grey grade that may belong to black pixel. The last step of color removal is for the limit of all distance that exceeds score for white color.

When white pages are successfully input, frame is fixed to the same orientation and dimension as with the page pictures used for registration. At the same time, textures are extracted. The registration of page detection is stopped while the new registration process starts for detecting colored pages that require improvements.

The Augmented Reality book in Indonesia

One decade after the global publication, the national sector welcomed the first such book in the middle of 2018. The users first have to download a special application to their smartphones or other devices connected to the camera. Then, they have to direct the camera to AR book in every page with a special marker. The marker will then bring up interactive content in each of the pages.

As a company engaging in the AR sector, MonsterAR once created an AR colouring project at Trans Studio in Cibubur, West Java. The visitors of the theme park were invited to experience unique colouring with the AR technology. Not only entertaining, but also the strategy educated the visitors about colouring and creativity with the interactive wall of the park.

Should you wish to produce Augmented Reality book or educative content, call us, MonsterAR, right away. We’ll be happy to help what you need.

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