Hey, how would you feel about seeing your coloring book character in 3D while you’re coloring it? Sounds amazing, right? Well, we have good news for you — Disney Research has developed an interactive, augmented reality app that is able to track and capture real-time images from a mobile device’s camera, and then map them onto any 3D surface. Yep, this means that your drawing is transformed into a 3D object in real-time, so you can actually watch it getting colored on screen. It also retains the original artwork’s texture. Wow.

The video above gives a short explanation of how the app works (very simply, it copies pixels from your work and adapts them for use in other regions) and reminds us that traditional coloring books are soon to be a thing of the past. The example below shows an elephant whose pants are being colored in, and you can see how this app could potentially revolutionize the coloring book industry. The technology could even extend to all sorts of interactive gaming experiences.

This program isn’t available just yet as it’s still in the testing phase, but keep your eyes peeled for more updates in the near future. Man, imagine if this was your first coloring book experience. It will be for some lucky children, and they’re in for a special treat.

What do you think of the app? Would you or your kids use it? Let us know in the comments below.

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HT: Disney Research

IMAGES: YouTube/DisneyResearchHub