Disney's future, like its past, is in creating memorable and iconic characters on paper that come to life through the magic of animation.
Unlike Disney's past, however, its future is an even more literal version of that concept. Like so:
Pretty incredible, right?
That's the magic of "augmented reality." The folks at Disney's research division are working with augmented reality technology to make drawings literally come to life. They're using an app on a standard, consumer-grade tablet, and a normal coloring book colored with normal crayons.
You, or a child, or whoever, colors in the character on the page and the app does the rest of the work of bringing that drawing to life. So you color in your drawing:
And it comes to life as you go:
And you're not even limited to a flat surface - these guys will go where you want them to:
And yes, they'll dance for you too! Like so:
Check out the full video of this amazing technology in action, right here: