Synopsis: Jawbone.tv takes a closer look at the augmented book projects of Camille Scherrer, the media and interaction designer behind 'Le Monde des Montagnes' (World of Mountains), the 'Haunted Book' and most recently a book based motion graphics piece for Louis Vuitton. (If you enjoy this article, you might also like 'Motion Book Explores Space Between Page and Screen' and 'Interactive Book: Electronic Popables Brings Traditional Format to Life'.)
Much energy has been spent recently trying to discover ways for technology to simultaneously spread story across multiple media. And while this is a worthwhile pursuit, some independent creators have chosen instead to narrow their efforts, focusing on applying technology to the untapped corners of a single medium. Case in point is media and interaction designer Camille Scherrer and her exploration of the interactive realms of the printed page.
In the strictest sense, what Scherrer deals with is Augmented Reality (AR). What's different though, is the reach her work achieves with the technology. It extends beyond the gimmicky, cookie-cutter AR marketing nonsense that littered the 2009 media landscape (see '40 Augmented Reality Projects Sure To Blow Your Mind ... Or Just Blow'), into a legitimate attempt to push storytelling boundaries by quietly superimposing a supplemental, moving layer atop a pre-existing printed narrative.
"The core of the project [Le Monde des Montagnes, see below] is to generate interaction between two originally conflicting worlds in order to create a new source of creativity," says Scherrer. "Between paper and screen."
'Le Monde des Montagnes (World of Mountains)' is a 2008 student project from ECAL/EPFL+ECAL Lab team, and probably the most widely noted of Scherrer's work.
As Scherrer describes it: "The set-up [a book, a lamp, and a laptop] seems perfectly harmless at first sight. But as soon as you open the book under the lamp ... the pages take on new animated and mysterious dimensions ... worlds appear and disappear with a direct connection to the actual items printed on paper: animal figures appear over the mountains, peaks emerge in a shadow play, a bird silently flies over, foxes light up the text with their lanterns at dusk ... The book’s iconography, inspired from a family album of the 1930s, changes into a virtual fairy tale."
"A book is essentially an ordinary object. As this is the first element of the set-up to draw the viewer’s attention, [it's] placed in a position of trust and availability. The same applies to the desk lamp whose familiar shape puts the reader/viewer at ease. The installation therefore stands out from high-tech set-ups with obvious technological devices such as cameras, goggles or tags which tend not only to discourage the viewer, but also to erect barriers between the visible and invisible worlds."
Unlike most marketing AR, the seamless overlay in Scherrer's work is achieved using high performance software that eliminates the need for typical AR markers, making it easier for readers to ignore the technology at work.
"The installation’s secret is based on a camera hidden in the lamp, and on the 'BazAR' Augmented Reality software developed by the Computer Vision Laboratory (CVLab) of the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), providing the same robustness as ARToolKit while relying on natural features instead of visual markers," explains Scherrer. "It's particularly stable and operates in real time, without any lag ... and the principles used for recognition make it possible to providing augmentations directly on the very image, without any visible marks ... It gives the spectator a more natural feeling, and gives the artist free rein to use his imagination."
For Scherrer's earlier project the 'Haunted Book', the same methods were employed to add animated elements to an illustrated book based on the poem 'The Haunted House' by Thomas Hood.
"[My] interpretations of these hidden creatures appear as a skeleton’s arm grabbing out of a letterbox, flying fish jumping out of an old cupboard, or loads of ugly insects running down a sofa. The animated engravings create a subtle and adapted way to enhance the illustrations by staying in the universe of the poem."
Will Augmented Books evolve beyond the realm of art instillation?
Tristan Hohne recently developed what he calls a 'Motion Book'. Entitled 'Hirngespinster' (loosely translated from German as "dream weaver"), it's a traditional paper book, an LED table, a camera and computer, and most importantly, a ring device – the 'dream catcher' – that connects things as a sort of gateway from analogue to digital (read more about Hohne's Motion Book). There's also Jie Qi's interactive pop-up book 'Electronic Popables' that sparkles, sings, and moves by integrating traditional pop-up mechanisms with thin, flexible, paper-based electronics (read more about Electronic Popables).
As of yet, neither make significant steps towards commercial use, but just this past September, Louis Vuitton partnered with Scherrer to create animation for the new 'Louis Vuitton: Art, Fashion and Architecture' book (perhaps indicating a commercial niche for the concept, albeit in simulated form).
Either way, the invisibility of the technology in Scherrer's work should be noted by all storytellers contemplating the possibilities of AR. By avoiding the clunky, sci-fi AR marks from the process, Scherrer's books exist beyond mere backdrops for virtual wow; they retain their appeal even when the animation appears. Neither the book, nor the virtual dominate. And combining them equally draws the reader into the fantasy.
See more of Scherrer's work at chipchip.ch.
