LEGO is taking another crack at blending real and virtual building with its new LEGO AR-Studio. The iPhone and iPad app lets you build virtual LEGO models and interact with them in real space thanks to Apple’s ARKit.
LEGO AR-Studio is launching on Friday, December 1st, with fire station and police station kits, along with some Ninjago kits, that closely match their real world counterparts. More virtual kits are coming, and LEGO is working on making the app recognize real bricks so you can bring more of your own creations into the virtual world.
The app recognizes the surfaces your iPhone or iPad see through their built-in cameras so models appear to sit on tables and floors instead of float above them. It also blends together the real models you build with the AR versions so it appears as if they’re all on the same surface.
LEGO AR-Studio is free and will be available for download on Apple’s App Store some time on Friday. It relies on ARKit, so you’ll need an iPhone 6s or newer, or an iPad Pro running iOS 11.