François Schuiten brings augmented reality and 3D to the world of comics in 'La Douce’

Dassault Systèmes, French company dedicated to the design and development of 3D applications and simulation of reality, and the artist François Schuiten have combined three-dimensional technology and the drawings of the well-known Belgian author to create 'La Douce', the first comic that takes advantage of the 3D possibilities of augmented reality.

The last story of the well-known Belgian cartoonist François Schuiten, ‘The Sweet’ (Editorial Norma), goes beyond the paper by incorporating the new augmented reality technology into the comic, an experiment that can be seen in Spain at the end of September. The author of 'Dark Cities', a train enthusiast, wanted to bring the model locomotive back to life 12.004, called 'La Douce', in French a play on words between “the sweet” y “twelve”. It was a locomotive manufactured in the late 1930s., considered a jewel of the industry both for its futuristic design and its speed.

The comic flies between the past and the future in the way of combining the black and white of the traditional graphic novel with virtual reality, but also in the content when telling the story of Léon Van Bel, an engineer who refuses to get rid of his old locomotive when the rest of the world switches to the cable car, due to the imminent flood that threatens the planet. “like the character, I too find myself torn between the present and the future.”, admitted the cartoonist, what he said he felt “attached” to pen and ink, and at the same time “fascinated” by new technologies.

3D comic

It was Schuiten himself who offered the project to the company Dassault Systèmes, dedicated to developing programs in three dimensions (3D) and virtual reality with industrial applications. The result is a 3D comic animated by this 'augmented reality'.’ what, as its name indicates, creates the illusion of “increase” the reality, by reproducing on the computer or mobile screen a mixture of real live images captured by a camera and virtual elements extracted from software or the Internet.

“What I liked about this project is that it did not contrast modernity and tradition, but he mixed them together”, noted the multifaceted artist. In your opinion, no matter how much new technologies evolve, “you will always continue writing and drawing”, with the difference that in the future, “maybe the words will fly off the pages”.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiHLs18UVp8[/youtube]