The Avatar i-Tag Web site (www.avataritag.com), developed in partnership with Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising (Fox Licensing), features heroes, creatures and vehicles straight from James Cameron's much-anticipated film, Avatar, which is set for release in December 2009.

The Augmented Reality technology used for the project was developed by AR world leader Total Immersion. Each action figure, vehicle and creature in the 40-strong product line comes with a 3-D web tag, called an i-TAG, which consumers can scan using a home computers webcam.

Users take the corresponding plaque and hold it in front of the camera. A three-dimensional, animated representation of the figure will appear above the plaque on the screen. As the owner shifts the base or moves it farther from the camera, the size and perspective of the virtual entity also changes.

Adding to the experience, when a child covers one of the icons printed on the plaque, more information is revealed, or the elaborate onscreen creation is set in motion. For example, the Thanator rears back and then jumps forward with a ferocious growl and owners learn in a pop-up fact card that the creature has a massive, distensible armored jaw.

Further press:

"I have seen the future of toys, and it is Augmented Reality" says Daniel Terdiman on Cnet.com in response to the Mattel's i-Tag system, made possible by Total Immersion... more

Mattel’s Jason Horowitz talks to the L.A. Times about how the Avatar AR-enabled line of iTag action figures weds augmented reality and the fantastic reality of James Cameron’s blockbuster.  In this interview, Horowitz discusses how augmented reality expands upon the remarkable experience of the film.”... more

iMediaConnection elected Avatar Campaign as one brilliant Augmented Reality Campaign... more