Noble Transmission uses motion-sensing RealSense camera to change how you view comics

Austin Harrison, head of Noble Transmission, wants to make comics more immersive. And he hopes that the new motion-sensing Intel RealSense camera will help make that happen by using cool technology to get readers of comics to really lean into the experience.

Harrison showed off how the RealSense camera works with a new comic book, Wild Blue Yonder, making the comic book into an interactive experience.

“We want to change the way you experience comic books,” he said in an interview with VentureBeat.

The comic book can reward you if you “mirror” the expression of the characters in the comic book. For instance, if a character is snarling, you have to snarl and reproduce the facial expression as closely as you can. If you do, then you get your reward of extra content.

“It’s a more immersive experience that you can control,” Harrison said.

The camera also senses how far away you are from the computer screen. If you lean closer, the imagery will change before your eyes. You may start out seeing a black-and-white pencil sketch. But if you lean in, you’ll see the colors come to life before your eyes. You can see the art the way the artist sees it as they’re sketching it and then coloring it.

You’ll also be able to use head tracking to fly a plane and shoot at an enemy plane.

Noble Transmission will release the interactive comic book Wild Blue Yonder for the RealSense app store later this year. Wild Blue Yonder is set in a post-apocalyptic future where a fighter pilot and her family try to survive up in the skies after radiation has made Earth’s surface unlivable. Noble Transmission is working with Two Bit Circus to produce the app.

Harrison launched Noble Transmission as a comic book company for the digital age with fellow comic book creators Zach Howard and Mike Raicht.