Book Comes Alive: How a Tunabee Page Becomes a 3D Scene on Your Phone

Book Comes Alive is a Tunabee story you open on your phone. The book lies on the table. You point your phone at the page and a 3D scene springs up from it, sitting over the open page while you hold the phone.

This post explains what Book Comes Alive is, how it works and who it suits. It is coming soon on aeternusvita.io. You can get notified from the product page when it is ready.

What Book Comes Alive is

Book Comes Alive is a short Tunabee picture story from aeternusvita.io that you open on your phone. The Play listing sums it up as: "Point your phone at a Tunabee page and watch a 3D scene rise." The subtitle is "A Tunabee story on your phone".

The en-GB description gives the shape: "Book Comes Alive is a Tunabee story you open on your phone. The book lies on the table. Point the phone at the page and a 3D scene springs up from it. The scene sits over the open page while you hold the phone." You stay in the room and the scene appears over the page rather than replacing the book.

The listing closes: "Book Comes Alive is for families reading together. A parent supervises the session. It is not marketed to children under 10 on their own. It runs on your phone, from aeternusvita.io."

The feature list is the whole scope:

• Point your phone at the story page
• A 3D scene springs up from the book
• Narration with words highlighted as spoken
• Short questions about what happened
• A recap closes the reading
• For a parent and child reading together

The brief also describes a Chrome Web Store edition that opens in its own Chrome tab. The early edition has three pages: The Reef, The Storm and Home.

How it works on your phone

The setup is the book on the table and the phone in your hand. The brief says: "Point your phone at the story page" and "A 3D scene springs up from the book". While you hold the phone, "The scene sits over the open page".

You move through the narrated pages in order. The description says: "You move through the narrated pages, and a page can raise its scene from the book while you stay in the room." You progress page by page, and a page can raise its own scene while you remain where you are. Hold the phone steady and the scene stays with the page. The book stays open throughout.

How it works in a Chrome tab

The Chrome edition opens in its own Chrome tab. You have two ways to use it.

If you have a printer, use the included sheet: "Print the story pages (a printable sheet is included), hold a page up to your computer's webcam and a 3D scene appears over it."

If you do not have a printer, choose "Try without the book" to read without paper: "No printer? Choose 'Try without the book' to step through the pages on screen with Previous and Next."

The brief is clear on privacy: "everything runs inside the extension. The camera image is processed on your computer and never uploaded. There are no accounts, ads or analytics. Your only saved setting (Auto-read on or off) stays in local browser storage."

Narration that reads with you

The Play listing says: "Narration reads with you. Words on the page highlight as they are spoken, so the line and the voice stay together." You follow the highlighted line as you hear it, which keeps the place on the page clear when a parent and child read together.

In the Chrome tab the brief describes the controls: "Tap 'Read to me' and your browser's built-in voice reads the page aloud. Turn on Auto-read to hear each page as soon as it appears." The text is read by the browser's built-in voice, and the only saved setting is Auto-read on or off in local storage.

Short questions and a recap

After a scene the story pauses. The Play listing says: "Short questions come after a scene and ask what happened in the story. A recap then gathers that reading. You answer with the book still open on the table."

You see a scene, a short question asks about the story, and a recap gathers the reading. The brief does not list how many questions appear. It describes brief prompts about what you just heard and saw, followed by a recap that closes the reading. The book stays open so a child can look back.

Who it suits

Book Comes Alive is "for families reading together. A parent supervises the session. It is not marketed to children under 10 on their own." The Chrome edition adds: "Made for a parent and child to read together." This post is written for the parent.

It suits you if you want a short session at the table with a clear start and end — narrated pages, scenes that spring up from them, short questions and a recap that closes the reading.

It suits you if you want the voice and the words to stay linked. The highlighted words move with the narration and give a child a place to follow.

It suits you if you want the book to stay in view. The scene sits over the open page and the questions happen with the book still open.

It suits you if you already have a phone or a computer. On the phone you use the phone camera. In the Chrome edition you use a webcam and either the printed sheet or on-screen Previous and Next.

A note on limits. Book Comes Alive is a picture story with narration, scenes and short questions. It is not a reading scheme, a phonics programme or a medical or developmental assessment. A short story with questions is a way to talk about what happened, not a measure of ability. If you have questions about reading, learning or development, speak to a teacher or other qualified professional.

Where you can use it

The brief lists the platforms as Android, Web, Chrome extension and iphone-web. That matches the phone story and the Chrome tab with a webcam or on-screen pages.

The build kind is kit-three with a Capacitor Android wrapper, and state is "hosted, smoke PASS" with desktop and iPhone smoke tests passed. Packs listed are a signed AAB for Google Play, a signed APK, an HTML5 zip for itch.io and a CWS zip. Nothing has been submitted to any store yet.

There is no price, release date, rating or review to quote. The brief states: "Release date: not decided (nothing has been submitted or released)", "Ratings and reviews: none exist (unreleased)" and "Price / monetisation: not final. No pricing on disk." Book Comes Alive is made by aeternusvita.io and is listed as Coming soon at https://www.aeternusvita.io/en/products/book-comes-alive. You can open Book Comes Alive to get notified there.

Coming soon — get notified

Book Comes Alive is coming soon on aeternusvita.io. It has not been released yet, so there is no release date, price, rating or review to quote.

When it is ready, the product page is where you will find it. You can open Book Comes Alive and get notified so you hear when it goes live.

If you want a quick summary:

• A Tunabee story on your phone — the book lies on the table, you point the phone at the page and a 3D scene springs up and sits over the open page while you hold the phone
• Narration reads with you — words highlight as spoken so the line and the voice stay together
• Short questions after a scene ask what happened, then a recap gathers the reading — you answer with the book still open
• For families reading together — a parent supervises, not marketed to children under 10 on their own
• Chrome tab — print the included sheet and hold a page up to your webcam, or choose "Try without the book" with Previous and Next; tap "Read to me" for the browser's built-in voice and turn on Auto-read; early edition has three pages: The Reef, The Storm and Home
• From aeternusvita.io, coming soon — follow Book Comes Alive to be notified