Augmented reality objects design in augmented story book mobile application for better engagement

International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering (IJECE)
Vol. 9, No. 1, February 2019, pp. 570~576
ISSN: 2088-8708, DOI: 10.11591/ijece.v9i1.pp570-576  570
Journal homepage: http://iaescore.com/journals/index.php/IJECE
Augmented reality objects design in augmented story book
mobile application for better engagement
Sherina Izzaty, Herman Tolle, Rizdania Dermawi, Frihandhika Permana
Computer Science Faculty, Brawijaya University, Indonesia
Article Info ABSTRACT
Article history:
Received Apr 12, 2018
Revised Jul 30, 2018
Accepted Aug 15, 2018
The folktale is a kind of story that has some good points, such as developing
a sense of story and shaping up positive attitudes towards children. However,
people seem to abandon those good points and often give the children
smartphones instead of folktale through the conventional book. Recently,
smartphones’ capabilities have rapidly improved, so that augmented reality
(AR) story books which combine conventional book and smartphone can be
developed. This research is conducted to examine which one from three
provided models that work best for engagement in a folktale augmented
book. Those designs will be discussed in both subjective and objective
approach, correspondingly. The result from subjective approach is the
animated video AR design becomes the most pleasing design. The picture
and narrator’s voice AR design, by contrast, becomes the most efficient
design based on objective approach.
Keywords:
Android
Folktale
Interactive
Mobile application
Copyright © 2019 Institute of Advanced Engineering and Science.
All rights reserved.
Corresponding Author:
Sherina Izzaty,
Master of Computer Science,
Faculty of Computer Science (FILKOM) Universitas Brawijaya,
8 Veteran Road | Malang, 65145, Indonesia.
Email: sherina.izzaty@gmail.com
1. INTRODUCTION
The folktale is often defined as stories such as fairy tales and wonder tales which consist of magical
elements [1]. Older people generally would tell the folktales to children so that the presence of the folktales
will remain to exist as time passes. There are some benefits of the folktales when they are presented to
children. Children who frequently hear stories can easily come up with the right and wrong concept as well
as build up positive attitudes [1]. When the folktales are delivered by storytelling, it might build up the sense
of cultural identity amongst children [2].
However, people these days start to disregard those concepts and benefits of the folktale.
The parents are no longer give their children bedtime stories about folktale. Smartphone seems to take place
in providing children some entertainments so that they are usually seen using mobile devices instead of
conventional books.
Smartphones’ capabilities currently have gone through some enhancements, making augmented
reality books, known as augmented books, which combines the use of conventional book and smartphone can
be developed. Augmented Reality (AR) itself is as a system created by computer graphics that consist of
virtual worlds combined with virtual reality [3]. Various fields have been applying this sophisticated
technology, such as education, tourism, advertising, architecture, and urban scheduling navigation such as
indoor building and bus route guidance [3], [4], [5], [6]. It is worthwhile to implement AR in mobile
application since mobile devices are renowned for the high mobility feature and easy to be used by everyone,
particularly the young people [7].
There are some associated works regarding this topic. Hsu, Chen, and Wu [8] made use of video as
an AR object for teaching the history of computing. They applied thirteen videos of historical figures.

Int J Elec & Comp Eng ISSN: 2088-8708 
Augmented reality objects design in augmented story book mobile application... (Sherina Izzaty)
571
Those videos would be appeared on tablet PC screen based on the corresponding figures in the printed
textbook captured by the tablet’s camera. Eighty-four high school students were involved in the research,
divided into two groups. The data results show that students appreciated the method of learning history of
computing using AR tools. Another related topic is research conducted by Bazzaza et al. [9]. They created
iARBook, an immersive AR application along with a book. They used Vuforia and Unity3D as tools for
creating AR objects. Also, the other related work is about interactive learning using AR book conducted by
Jawad, Habib, and Ali [10]. They used Vuforia as well for creating the AR objects needed.
This research is conducted to examine which AR objects design which is worthy to be implemented
in an augmented book that tells about local Indonesian folktale. In this research, there are three designs of AR
objects, and each of them has their specialties. The first design is AR objects that consist of pictures
combined with the narrator’s voice. The second design is AR objects consist of limited animation and the
narrator’s voice. And the last design is AR objects consist of short animated video based on the scene in the
picture.
These designs will be examined based on subjective and objective measurements, respectively.
The steps of the research are developing the augmented book, performing the subjective and objective
measurements, and discussing the results. Also, this AR book is created in both the printed book and mobile
application for Android platform.
2. RESEARCH METHOD
The primary focus of this research is to figure out which design of AR object that suits best for kids
so that they have interactivity with the book as well as their parents or guardians.
2.1. System overview
The presented augmented book is a combination of printed book and mobile AR application, which
runs on a smartphone using Android platform. The story of this book is about Lutung Kasarung,
an Indonesian folktale which came from West Java. The main idea of the story is a romantic story between a
sacred langur named Lutung Kasarung and a pure-hearted young woman named Purbasari. This folktale is
chosen because, despite its romantic genre, there are some moral values within, such as maintaining a good
relationship between sisters and preventing to judge anything only by its appearance. It also has a happy
ending, which is enjoyable to be read by children.
The physical appearance of the book, which is printed A5 size, is shown in Figure 1. The story is
divided into ten pages for the narrations, as well as the illustrations. As for the narration, exposed in
Figure 2, the pages are designed in vintage style, yet using child-like fonts. All illustrations are colorized in
grayscale as presented in Figure 3. It is widely known that there are two types of AR: Marker AR and
Markerless AR [3]. In this augmented book, the type chosen is Marker AR, so that some markers need to be
created. Illustrations in this book are the markers.
Since this augmented book also contains sounds as AR objects, the narrator’s voices are included in
every page. The narrator read every single line of the narration referring to the markers in the
Indonesian language. As for the mobile application, the augmented reality presentation is categorized as a
handheld display since it runs on a smartphone. The user interface design is simple yet colorful.
Figure 1. Augmented reality story book Figure 2. Narration text in augmented
reality book

 ISSN: 2088-8708
Int J Elec & Comp Eng, Vol. 9, No. 1, February 2019 : 570 - 576
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Figure 3. Marker sample in augmented reality book
2.2. System implementation
There are four tasks of AR system on smartphone. The first task is to capture the markers through
the smartphone camera. The second task is the precise AR objects appear based on the chosen marker.
The third task is showing the specific AR objects (still image, short animation, or animated video) on
smartphone screen. And the last stage is playing the narrator’s voice (excluding the animated video) at the
same time. When all those four tasks were efficiently running in the AR mobile application in the particular
design, that system would be considered successful.
2.1. Tools and technology
The SDK used for handling the markers is Vuforia. It was chosen since it is a steady and proficient
platform for creating AR mobile apps due to its capable technique of the image recognition and the proper
technical limitations-handling [11]. It supports 2D as well as 3D contents and provides 512 unique markers
for tracking use [12]. All illustrations are stored in the registered Vuforia account.
Amongst those well-known engines for creating augmented reality applications, this research used
Unity3D to place the AR objects above the designated markers, processed using a PC. After that, the result
was converted to a mobile application for Android. For the animation, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe After
Effects were the utilized programs in this research. Moreover, for recording and editing the narrator’s voice,
the program used was Audacity.
2.2. Designs of augmented reality object
In this research, there are three designs of AR objects provided. The first one is designed in colorful
picture format within the narrator’s voice at the same time. The other one is conceived in limited animation
format, also combined with the narrator’s voice. And the last one is created in animated video format based
on the scene of the picture.
Figure 4 shows an example of the first AR object design. When the smartphone camera detects this
marker, the AR object displayed on the screen is a colorful illustration of a young man, which is different
with the marker that formed as a grayscale illustration of a langur. It is because this young man is the one
who lived with Purbasari in a body of a langur for the time being. He could transform back into his human
figure because of Purbasari’s kindness. Hence, the marker is created as his former langur body while the AR
object is his actual human figure. The narrator’s voice comes out as well when the marker is detected.
In Figure 5, the AR object design is different from the former one. It is presented as a short
animation of the langur transformation, also contained with the narrator’s voice. The duration of the
animation is indeed short, about 2 seconds, yet colorful, unlike the marker. The animation is played
automatically when the marker is detected.
Figure 6 shows the last AR object design, which is presented as an animation video based on the
story that the narrator told beforehand. The duration of the animation is 20 seconds, showing the langur’s
transformation as well as the other characters’ reactions who saw it. The animated video also contains
background music. Like the second design, the video animation is automatically played when the marker
is detected.

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Figure 4. The first design on a smartphone Figure 5. The second design on a smartphone
Figure 6. The third design on a smartphone
2.1. Participants
Participants in this research were people with wide range of age and consisted of five people based
on usability testing required amount of individuals [13], [14]. Additionally, they were selected based on two
characteristics: adults and familiar with smartphones.
2.2. Measurement
For the measurement, there are some methods regarding AR related research, such as informal
evaluation, subjective measurements, objective measurements, qualitative analysis, and usability evaluation
techniques [15]. This research used subjective and objective approaches, since the results from those
approaches could be compared to each other [16].
The data gathered from subjective approach were counted using System Usability Scale (SUS).
There were ten questions presented, and the average score would conclude the satisfaction degree from each
of three designs. Questions from Questionnaire as shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Questions from Questionnaire
No. Questions
1 I suppose I would like to use this AR book with this design frequently.
2 I found the AR book application unnecessarily challenging to handle.
3 I thought this AR book was easy to use.
4 I think that I would need help from another person to operate the AR book.
5 I found the AR objects were pretty much related to the narration.
6 I thought there were some unnecessary multimedia contents in this AR book
object design.
7 I suppose most people would quickly learn the AR book story created in this
design.
8 I found this AR book is awkward to use.
9 I felt confident using the AR book
10 I should learn many things before I could easily use the AR book.

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These questions were given right after the participants tried each of the design, from only one
illustration in the augmented book. Subsequently, the first thing they had to do was tried the first model and
answered the questionnaire right after that. After they had finished, they were given the second design and
also the questionnaire. The same actions were done for the third design.
After using the augmented book, the participants were asked to complete the questionnaire:
Participants have been invited to indicate their satisfaction toward the presented augmented book. For
answering the questionnaire, the participants were given 5-point Likert scale (ranging from 1 to 5, which
means “strongly disagree,” “disagree,” “neutral,” “agree,” and “strongly agree” respectively) [15], [17].
Meanwhile, the objective approach is calculated based on the mobile application’s technical elements.
There are three instruments: storage, processing or success rate, and resource of the battery. The storage is
counted in MB format while the processing and resource are in percentage.
3. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
The AR application is formed as a mobile application. The mobile device used for this research was
a smartphone having 3GB RAM, 32GB internal memory, and 16MP camera for detecting the markers.
Additionally, the operating system was Android 6.0.1 (Marshmallow).
3.1. Subjective approach
Based on the designs shown in Table 2., this section is used to explain the results of the subjective
approach which used SUS.
Table 2. Satisfaction Result from Subjective Approach
Participant
Satisfaction Degree
Design 1 Design 2 Design 3
1 85 82,5 92,5
2 70 80 90
3 75 80 87,5
4 85 85 87,5
5 85 87,5 90
Mean 80 83 89,5
From Table 2., the scores varied due to the designs. All of the participants’ answers were collected
and calculated with SUS calculation. The scores in Table 2. shows that every participant’s satisfaction degree
has improved from the former design to the next one. The highest satisfaction result comes from the third
design with the average score 89,5. After that, the second design took the second place with the mean score
83. Moreover, the last place is the first design with average score 80. It means that people feel more engaged
if the AR object in the augmented book is designed in third design (animated video and narrator’s voice).
3.2. Objective approach
Based on Figures 7, 8, and 9 this section is used to explain the results from the objective approach.
Figure 7 shows the bar chart of how much AR mobile application consumed the storage space used on a
smartphone when the specific design was applied. The first design, which consists of colorful, still image and
the narrator’s voice, used 106 MB of storage. Therefore, the first design made the mobile application
consumed the least storage space.
Moreover, then, the second design used 110 MB of storage, which made it the moderate one.
The short animations were created in a small size so that they did not consume much storage space. On the
other hand, the third design, which consists of animated video and the narrator’s voice, used 158 MB of
storage. It made the mobile application required space the most when the third design was selected.
Figure 8 shows the bar chart of the processing percentage referring to the AR mobile application.
The application using first design has processing percentage of 80%. It has the highest score because there
was the only minor amount of error. Then, the percentage of the application using the second design is 69%.
It has a lower score from the first one due to some error occurred when the application was running. For
example, the animation did not appear on the screen, and the narrator’s voice came out late. Finally, the third
design has the average percentage; it is 70%. There were some errors, yet lighter than the second design.

575
Figure 7. The Bar Chart of Storage Used
in Each Design
Figure 8. The Bar Chart of Processing From
Each Design
Figure 9 shows the bar chart of how much AR mobile application consumed the battery of the
smartphone based on the designs. The first design consumed 7% of the battery life, which made it the least
one needed resource. The second design used 10% of the resource. It has a higher resource yet still lower
than the third design which used 15%. The third design had the highest consumption.
From the comparison charts in Figure 10, it can be concluded that the first design of the AR mobile
application is running on a smartphone in a better performance than the second and third design since it needs
the least storage, has better processing performance, and consumes the least resource.
Figure 9. The Bar Chart of Resource
in Each Design
Figure 10. The Bar Chart from All Designs
4. CONCLUSION
Augmented reality is an excellent technology to be applied in a storybook so that the children have
the urge to read and know more about local folktales. Besides, the best design of the AR object based on the
result gathered in Table 2. is the third design, which is formed as an animated video and narrator’s voice. The
second best design goes to the second design, which is formed in limited animation and narrator’s voice.
However, the first and second design needs storage, processing, and resource more than the first design.
On the other hand, the first design makes the mobile application running on a smartphone in a better
performance than the second and third design despite the low satisfaction level. Further research is required
for the future works, for example, applying the same methods, yet using different designs of AR object.
Furthermore, the objective approach for the mobile application could be more comprehensive, not only from
storage used, processing, and resource.

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576
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Computer Science Faculty of Brawijaya University, Indonesia, has supported this work. Also,
we thank for the anonymous reviewers who have given some corrections to improve this research.
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