Pre-school physics: App makes animation easy

San Francisco – Creatorverse, the first iPad app from Second Life creator Linden Lab, is a new tool that enables non-specialists to draw and animate objects that interact with each other in believable, physical ways.

Not long ago, game developers who aspired to create realistic movement in the digital world needed to start with a university-level understanding of classical physics. This will seem increasingly incredible for a generation of people who grow up manipulating screens and who register surprise when images on paper fail to shrink and expand at their command.

The aesthetics of Creatorverse, in contrast, make animating virtual objects seem like child’s play. With such a tool, young children will be able to move digital objects along complex, realistic trajectories before they have mastered their ABC. Adults will also enjoy creating and sharing complex moving structures through the app’s community features.

This is a great example of a specialist field moving towards the mainstream with an intuitive interface. Read our Intuitive Futures macrotrend for more.