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Fairly or unfairly, the field of augmented reality — using technology like iPads or Google Glass to add graphics or information on top of the real world — often gets tagged as childish or gimmicky.
But you know who likes childish gimmicks? Children.
For example: A fun new partnership between Los Angeles-based augmented reality firm Daqri and crayon maker Crayola. An iOS mobile app called Crayola Color Alive, coming to Android this week and Windows Phone next month, scans the pictures from special tie-in coloring pages and turns their colored-in subjects into 3-D characters on the screen.
The app is free, but the 16-page books will cost $6 when they go on sale in January, bundled with seven crayons. Parents can also buy sets of coloring pages, $2 per half book (reprintable endlessly), from inside the Color Alive app.
Daqri VP of product Matthew Kammerait said Color Alive is aimed at children aged 5 to 10 and that the first four books are the start of a three-year partnership. Two of them are linked to big brands: Mattel’s Barbie dolls, and Activision’s console and mobile game series Skylanders.
And because everything in 2014 needs to somehow incorporate selfies, the app also includes a “selfie mode” where kids can pose with the 3-D versions of their creations.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
