3D Japanese Pop-Star Hatsune Miku performes via Toyota App

Metaio in partnership with Toyota Motor Sales (TMS) has announced that Hatsune Miku, one of Japan’s most popular virtual pop-stars, will perform “live” on stage in 3-D with the 2011 Toyota Corolla in her own Augmented Reality (AR) experience. The experience is available through the free Toyota Shopping Tool App in the iTunes App Store and the Android Market.

Hatsune Miku is a fully synthesized vocal and visual character created by Crypton Future Media, Inc. in 2007. Her voice has been featured in more than 100,000 user-generated songs and videos. One of the best-selling compact cars in the world, Corolla’s updated exterior and interior design and technology features plan to stand out in the market.

Smartphone users can download the app and follow the instructions on “ToyoTag”, a special 2D barcode solution created specifically for this experience. The ToyoTag acts as a virtual “stage” where the 3-D Hatsune Miku performs “live” alongside the 2011 Toyota Corolla.

Users can take photos with Hatsune Miku and share them directly with their friends after the show finishes. Using advanced image recognition technology, metaio is able to recognize and track any image and overlay interactive digital and 3-D content. “The Hatsune Miku AR experience is an entertaining, interactive way of engaging Toyota fans,” says Toyota Motor Sales Digital Marketing Manager, Michael K. Nelson. “metaio is a great partner for Toyota in working towards wider-scale applications of AR in the auto industry. We’re very excited about the future opportunities.”

Toyota integrated the experience into their app through metaio’s junaio Plugin, a way to take content from the metaio’s free mobile application, junaio, and put it directly into an existing Android or iOS app. “The junaio Plugin provides a convenient and efficient solution in taking existing mobile apps and integrating rich, robust AR functionalities like this Hatsune Miku Corolla experience,” says Lisa Murphy, project lead and metaio Sr. Business Development Manager. “I am thrilled that we were able to work with Toyota to take the virtual Hatsune Miku and make her a reality. We look forward to working together with Toyota in the future to make augmented reality an integral part of the customer purchasing experience.”