3D Books ‘Cause Reading’s Boring

With 3D TVs, games, and movies, books are getting a raw deal. No one wants to sit and read anymore–especially kids–so publishers need to step up their game if their going to survive, right? One brainstorm later and we’ve got the next big thing: 3D children’s books!

More than just 3D illustrations–we’re talking fully-animated augmented reality. In the prototype in the video above, a Korean picture book comes complete with 3D audio and graphics of dragons, heroes, and warships! I might have been cynical about the death of reading when I started watching, but now I just want one for myself.

The Digilog Book was first introduced to the world on a popular Korean television program earlier this month. It is the work of the Gwangju Institute of Science & Technology (GIST) Culture Technology Institute.

To make the fantastic world of children’s make-believe come to live with the flipping page of each book, the reader must wear a pair of computerized glasses that provide an augmented reality overlay. As the book pages turn, the computer senses the page orientation and displays the appropriate 3D animation. Spin the book and you can see the characters and buildings from all sides.

The creators say it took about three years to develop the technology to this point and that it will likely take a couple more years to bring it to market. Still, the Digilog shows how close we are to a wide variety of augmented reality applications–now 3D, not just 2D–and many different platforms. Sure, it may take a few years for 3D augmented reality to take off, but we’ll certainly be seeing more of this in next short while.

I’m still holding out for augmented reality contacts and implants. Trust me, it’ll be here sooner than you think.

[DesignBoom via @choaffable]