VR,AR,MR:The new frontier for publishing?

 Read by Wang Lei, this is a small batch from the weekly literary program Ink&Quill.

"Classic of Mountains and Seas", or widely known as "Shan Hai Jing"  in Chinese, is an over two millenniums old text that depicts mythical flora and fauna in ancient China. 

For centuries, people have had to struggle through the script's obscure language to figure out what those mysterious monsters look like. 

But now, thanks to augmented reality technology or AR, these fictional creatures have finally come to life.

Holding a mobile phone in front of any drawing of the picture book "Strange Tales from Classic of Mountains and Seas", readers could watch how dynamic animation superimposes upon the portraits on paper. [Photo:China Plus]

Liu Xinyi is the brain behind the picture book "Strange Tales from Classic of Mountains and Seas", which provides illustrations based on descriptions in the original texts. 

Holding her mobile phone in front of a drawing just like playing Pokémon Go, she demonstrates how dynamic animation superimposes upon the portraits on paper:"We use sound to demonstrate those mythical creatures. The audio guide simplifies the complicated text in 'Classic of Mountains and Seas'. These colourful images are quite appealing to a young crowd."

"Although static pictures are exquisite enough, the animated effects would definitely help to draw in readership." She further explains why her company applied AR technology for their printed publication:"Since all these sound effects are dubbed by famous voice actors, many fans also purchase our book. "

A girl is watching the educational program launched by the 3-D holographic theatre. [Photo:China Plus]

Liu's firm is not the only start-up that ventures into this new domain.

The recently concluded Beijing International Book Fair has witnessed a growing incorporation between reality technologies and publishing. From a 3-D holographic theatre to a goggles-alike VR headset, a specific section was established to showcase the trendiest gadgets in the industry. 

Teng Sheng is the client manager from Tus-Digital World S&T Culture, a Beijing-based VR company. According to him, a great number of products they display during the fair are education-related.

"In terms of collaboration with traditional publishers, there is a tech company called 'Meng Xiang Ren', literarily meaning 'Dreamer' in English. If you buy their books, all you need to do is to bring out your digital device and scan any page you like. The book is just like a disk. You can use your mobile phone or any digital device to read the rich content it contains. Once you scan the page, there will be animated figures telling a story for you. You can interact with them. You can play games. The targeted audiences are mainly young children. "

Wearing a headset, Teng Sheng is demonstrating to our reporter how mixed technology works. [Photo: China Plus]

But the technology is not limited to small screens. 

In a room named mixed reality library or MR library, visitors are asked to don a headset, which may remind you of the sunglasses the comic superhero Cyclops wears, and then stare at the walls to gaze upon imaginary animations or objects. Afterwards, they could navigate at will, even click on those imaginary objects to interact with them. 

Teng further introduces:"What does this mean? It means in the future, you can just wear some glasses to read books. Once you put the glasses on, there will be all kinds of virtual information popping up in front of you. It will feel like magic. Personally I believe that no matter how VR or AR develops, mixed reality would be the future for publishing, since this technology allows you to immerse into the fanciful world without losing touch with reality. "

Audiences are enchanted by the diverse products displayed during the Book Fair. 

"It feels like I am part of that virtual environment. Everything feels real. "

"When I put on the headset, visual-wise it feels like the animated figure and I walk towards each other. I think mixed technology would be very popular if people could deploy it to education."

The recently concluded Beijing International Book Fair has witnessed a growing incorporation between reality technologies and publishing.[Photo:China Plus]

But not everyone is thrilled by the new development, such as Mrs Sun, mother of a four-year-old girl. When asked whether she will buy a book that combines the latest virtual reality and immersive technologies for her daughter, she immediately declines:"I think it's too early for her. After all, she is still a little kid. I think paperback book is better for her eyesight and cognitive capacity. If she spends too much time with those advanced multimedia productions, she might end up playing lots of games and lose interest in reading. It's nothing wrong to let her get a taste of those technologies. But it won't do her any good if she indulges herself into these animations and games. "

But like it or not, this technology is already here and ready to take off. 

By the end of 2016, the State Council of China issued a development plan on emerging industry including virtual reality and other immersive technologies. 

It seems that wearing a headset to read books is no longer a dream. But only time will tell whether this will ultimately revolutionize our reading habits. Let's wait and see.