Augmented reality app changes Play-Doh into mobile game

The modeling clay may be one of the most low-tech toys ever created, but it now offers some high-tech fun.

A new augmented reality app has been launched to bring Play-Doh works of art to life. The majority of us have played with this modeling compound at some point in our lives. That said, the number of kids who are spending time with this type of toy is starting to shrink.

Kids are more likely to look to tablets and mobile devices for fun than they are to modeling clay.

In response, Hasbro has introduced a new augmented reality app. The purpose is to remind kids of all ages about how fun it is to be creative. The new Touch app is now available for iPhones and iPads. Kids and adults alike can use it to scan their Play-Doh creations. Once, scanned, they are brought into a virtual world where they are animated. This may seem rather gimmicky, but the response from both children and grown-ups has been a very positive one. People just seem to love it.

The augmented reality app is both immersive and entertaining, encouraging people to be creative.

In this way, the sixty-year-old brand is giving itself the opportunity to become more relevant among children who are accustomed to seeing a digital version of their playtime. This mobile app can be used for free with any Play-Doh product the kids already have. That said, there is also an enhanced opportunity to play.

With the Shape to Live Studio set, kids have considerably more features available. The set retails at about $40 and comes with seven cans of Play-Doh, character and action stampers, cutters and a white scanning surface. It provides a notably larger environment as well as a larger number of characters for interaction. Overall, it can make the mobile game more fun.

The augmented reality app launches with a digital world that is essentially empty. That said, once a Play-Doh creation is scanned, it is brought into the application through the device camera. The scanning takes around 10 seconds to complete including the aligning of the image and the image processing. Inadequate lighting slows down the process, which must be completed on a white surface.