Book object for augmented reality

A non-transitory computer readable medium having program instructions embodied thereon, comprising:

• program instructions for capturing images of a book object and a handheld motion controller disposed in a gameplay environment, the book object having first and second pages, the first and second pages being joined substantially along a fold axis defined along a spine of the book;
• program instructions for analyzing the captured images to identify a first tag on the first page and a second tag on the second page;
• program instructions for tracking movement of the first and second pages by tracking the first and second tags, respectively;
• program instructions for generating augmented images by replacing, in the captured images, the first page of the book object with a first virtual page corresponding to the first page of the book object, and replacing the second page of the book object with a second virtual page corresponding to the second page of the book object, wherein movement of the first and second pages of the book object controls movement of the first and second virtual pages, respectively;
• program instructions for rendering first and second scenes on the first and second virtual pages, respectively, the first or second scene defining an animation, wherein the animation defines movement of at least one three-dimensional object in proximity to the first or second virtual page on which the first or second scene defining the animation is defined;
• program instructions for analyzing the captured images to identify a pointing direction of the handheld motion controller in the gameplay environment;
• program instructions for processing the pointing direction of the handheld motion controller to identify a selection of a portion of content rendered on the first or second virtual pages of the virtual book;
• and
• program instructions for presenting the augmented images on a display.

A system for interfacing with an interactive program, comprising:

• an image capture device for capturing images of a book object and a handheld motion controller disposed in a gameplay environment, the book object having first and second pages, the first and second pages being joined substantially along a fold axis defined along a spine of the book;
• a computing device configured to receive the captured images from the image capture device, the computing device being configured to execute the interactive program to define,
• an analyzer module for analyzing the captured images to identify a first tag on the first page and a second tag on the second page;
• a tracking module for tracking movement of the first and second pages by tracking the first and second tags, respectively;
• an augmented image generator for generating augmented images by replacing, in the captured images, the book object with a virtual book, the virtual book having a first virtual page corresponding to the first page of the book object, the virtual book having a second virtual page corresponding to the second page of the book object, wherein movement of the first and second pages of the book object controls movement of the first and second virtual pages of the virtual book, respectively;
• a rendering module for rendering first and second scenes on the first and second virtual pages, respectively, the first or second scene defining an animation, wherein the animation defines movement of at least one three-dimensional object in proximity to the first or second virtual page on which the first or second scene defining the animation is defined, and wherein the animation provides an appearance of compression of the three-dimensional object when the second page converges on the first page or an appearance of decompression of the three-dimensional object when the second page diverges from the first page;
• wherein the analyzer module is configured to analyze the captured images to identify a pointing direction of the handheld motion controller in the gameplay environment;
• a selection module for processing the pointing direction of the handheld motion controller to identify a selection of a portion of content rendered on the first or second virtual pages of the virtual book;
• and
• a presenter for presenting the augmented images on a display.

A system for interfacing with an interactive program, comprising:

• a book object having at least a first page;
• a handheld motion controller;
• a client device for capturing images of the book object and the handheld motion controller in a gameplay environment;
• at least one server computer having a processor and memory, including,
• an analyzer module for analyzing the captured images to identify a first tag on the first page;
• a tracking module for tracking movement of the first page by tracking the first tag;
• an augmented image generator for generating augmented images by replacing, in the captured images, the book object with a virtual book, the virtual book having a first virtual page corresponding to the first page of the book object, wherein movement of the first page of the book object controls movement of the first virtual page of the virtual book;
• a rendering module for rendering a first scene on the first virtual page, the first scene defining at least one three-dimensional object in proximity to the first virtual page on which the first scene is defined;
• wherein the analyzer module is configured to analyze the captured images to identify a pointing direction of the handheld motion controller in the gameplay environment;
• a selection module for processing the pointing direction of the handheld motion controller to identify a selection of a portion of content rendered on the first virtual page of the virtual book;
• and
• wherein the client device includes a presenter for presenting the augmented images on a display.