When Rolf Zuckowski waves as a hologram from the cover of a book: An interactive children’s book not only brings the musician’s songs to life
If the audience can’t come to the musician, the musician has to come to them: This is exactly what the recently published picture book “Rolf’s Song Secrets ” makes possible. It is colorfully designed based on the songs of the well-known children’s song author Rolf Zuckowski – but that’s not all: an accompanying free augmented reality (AR) app brings the musician right into your living room as a hologram. Next to him on the book cover is the publisher, idea generator and illustrator Sarah Settgast, also in 3D miniature form.
The children’s book with a digital extension was published by the Potsdam-based publishing houseDeutsche Pappebuch Gesellschaft, which Settgast founded together with business partner Sven Slazenger. The publishing house stands for haptically high-quality cardboard books made from bite- and saliva-proof materials, ecologically certified and produced in Germany. The team works with Sachsendruck in Plauen, one of the oldest printing companies in Germany. The collaboration with this traditional company spans an arc into the digital future: Volucap in Potsdam-Babelsberg took over the production of the app and the development of the holograms. The volumetric studio uses sophisticated technology to create lifelike 3D scans that can be integrated into virtual reality applications, making films “walkable”.
However, the project began with Settgast’s enthusiasm for Zuckowski’s songs, which children have been growing up with for decades. During the first lockdown last spring, she regularly followed his “song stories from the attic room” on Facebook. There, the musician sang for entertainment and told little stories. This was followed by a letter suggesting a joint collaboration and a meeting in the Hamburg summer. Zuckowski was enthusiastic about the idea of creating an interactive children’s book based on his song lyrics.
While Sarah Settgast painted colorful and sometimes mysterious-looking visual worlds to a total of 12 selected songs with watercolors, the AR app was developed by Volucap and tested for various device editions. For the special highlight, their personal holograms, Zuckowski and Settgast spent a day in the Volucap studio being digitally scanned all around by 32 cameras. Viewers can follow the special shoot in a YouTube video. In the large, white Volucap studio, attention has to be paid to every detail. White clothing makes the people disappear too much and even the musician’s guitar was matted so that it wouldn’t shine too much later in its digital version. If you leaf through the finished book, the app automatically recognizes the respective page via the photo function and, thanks to a cooperation with Universal Music, plays the song and lyrics for you to sing along to. The pages work like QR codes, so it doesn’t matter whether you are in the middle of the book or flicking through it from back to front. The interaction with the app is deliberately kept lean – by combining haptic, virtual and auditory perception, children can easily immerse themselves in the visual worlds. “Sometimes it doesn’t take much to make a strong impression or convey joy,” says Sarah Settgast. “It’s all about good sound and beautiful images.” Good sound – that was also important to Zuckowski. The fact that tablets and smartphones can now play his songs in high quality was a decisive factor in the successful collaboration. “Especially in the current times, when people can’t go to concerts and listen to artists live, this is an opportunity to have a piece of entertainment at home. Rolf Zuckowski’s songs connect generations,” says Settgast.
As a picture book, “Rolf’s Song Secrets” works with or without interactive elements. Whether with their parents or older siblings, with or without app accompaniment: many a classic song is waiting to be rediscovered by readers
Deutsche Pappebuch Gesellschaft not only works with children’s books, but also produces high-quality cardboard books for corporate customers. The corporate publishing products can be used to present the company philosophy or a product catalog with a special feel. Customers can be addressed in a special way via an additional augmented reality application. At the moment, the makers of Deutsche Pappebuch Gesellschaft are already talking to the next prominent partners and companies. So we can be excited.
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The media technologies of the future are already being used today – not only in the entertainment sector but in a wide variety of industries. For our MediaTech Hub Potsdam blog, we talk to tech enthusiasts, entrepreneurs and researchers once a month and tell the stories behind their innovative business models, ideas, projects and collaborations.
