How do you transfer the "Maus", which has been lovingly drawn since time immemorial, into the third dimension? The mouse's appearance and character are as famous as they are popular and have created a sense of familiarity among young and old alike for 50 years. This had to be preserved and the arbitrariness of conventional 3D aesthetics avoided.
The simple iconographic shape, the Maus-typical look, the upright gait: We didn't simply recreate and animate all this in 3D, but optimized it for every perspective.
On the occasion of its 50th birthday, the official 3D version of "Germany's most famous mouse" was presented by WDR in Cologne - realized by Machbar.
With its black outline and two-dimensional color fill, the 3D-Maus can be displayed in exactly the same way as the familiar two-dimensional Maus. A representation without outline and with a lit shader that provides plasticity has been created especially for use in augmented and mixed reality applications. And here, too, the outcry from mouse fans has failed to materialize: There is, after all, a lot of Maus in the 3D-Maus.
With the 3D-Maus, we have developed an augmented reality application that allows MausFans to bring the mouse home and take photos with it. All that is needed is to visit the website www.diemausin3D.de with an AR-enabled smartphone or tablet. Since its release, countless MausFans have posted and shared pictures with the mouse from all over the world.
The 3D mouse has even made it into the daily news. Together with Pinar Atalay, it greeted viewers on March 5, 2021 - including an introduction in Turkish.
A 1.70 m tall, colorful Maus-figure was produced especially for the 50th mouse birthday on the basis of our 3D data, and was ceremoniously unveiled by WDR Director-General Tom Buhrow. It stands in front of the WDR building in Cologne and has since become a popular selfie spot for MausFans.
