Photorealistic AR Psittacosaurus

Developed to enthral visitors and promote viral word of mouth referrals to increase attendance at TMAG's Dinosaur rEvolution event, this industry leading AR exhibit did that in spades. It has received more than 2 million views online, and 70,000 in-person views at the exhibition in Tasmania's small capital city - Hobart - which has a population of just 250,000.

The team at Handbuilt used highly advanced photorealistic augmented reality to bring the dinosaur to life from the real world fossil which is actually embedded in rock in front of the visitor. Picking up one of the digital devices nearby allowed stunned people to witness the dinosaurs bones rise from their exact location in the rock and assemble into the animal, and start moving around.

The Psittacosaurus is probably one of the most heavily researched dinosaurs, especially due to this very famous fossil, as the rock itself amazingly contains skin colouration and texture of the animal - meaning the dinosaur actually looked very much like the 3D version you see. It was also one of the the first dinosaurs to have primitive feathers (or quills) which many believe was the start of dinosaurs evolving into birds.

Due to overwhelming demand, Handbuilt converted the TMAG experience into an iOS app called Famous Fossil, which can be accessed from Handbuilt's website (https://www.handbuiltcreative.com.au) and shows the AR fossil, the AR dinosaur and lots of AR contextual information.