
Let’s take Fusion Town Master, for example. With Lego's new product, kids begin each session in the app. Autodesk’s 123D Catch app, for example, converts snapshots of physical objects into computerized 3D models.
#Lego digital designer free roam software
It’s a level of sophistication most-often found in software intended for 3D modelers. This time around, Lego partnered with Qualcomm, a company that knows a thing or two about toy digitization, to create image capture that’s able to recognize and recreate 3D objects. But the images were always flat, and the app didn’t allow for creative builds the way Fusion does. In 2011, the company released the Life of George, a playset that paired with an app and challenged kids to re-create photos that George, the hero, had taken out of Lego bricks. It’s not Lego’s first foray into digital capture, but it is its most sophisticated. Everything about this is familiar, except the base: each one has a distinct ID tag-the toy equivalent of a QR code-that will help the app identify and scan what's built on top of it. Each Fusion playset-of which there will be four-comes with about 200 Lego bricks, a building base and a free app download (via iOS or Android). The new Fusion series of playsets, which Lego unveiled today, guides kids through creative builds with the iconic blocks in the real world and then imports their designs into a series of apps. That’s why the Danish company is leveraging sophisticated 3D capturing technology to blend kids’ physical and digital worlds like never before. “In our research, we found that kids make no distinction between physical and digital play,” says Ditte Bruun Pedersen, senior design manager at the Lego Future Lab.


If left to their own devices, many kids will spend hours noodling with games on phones and tablets, which some experts say can have a negative impact on cognitive development, among other physical side effects.īut it’s getting more and more difficult to break them from these digital habits.
