Dogs’ Dales Augmented Reality App Launched in Skipton

Local artist and filmmaker Virpi Kettu of ‘Kettu Studios’ who previously worked as an animator on both
Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep, is about to launch her new interactive augmented reality (AR) app, “Dogs’ Dales AR”

With the support of a development grant from Great Place: Lakes and Dales, she invited game developer
colleagues from Canada, Rocket 5 Studios, to help create an Augmented Reality phone app linked to her
animation project: Dogs’ Dales.

“Dogs’ Dales” is an animated TV series in the making. It is set on local scenery from the Yorkshire Dales and features characters based on real people in the area. The twist is that everyone is portrayed as a dog.
The series is made with a stop motion animation technique, like Wallace and Gromit, and uses wool as the
main material for the puppets and props.

Virpi exclaims: “I always wanted to meet the characters I had created and with AR it is possible!”

Based on one of her Dogs’ Dales animated characters, Virpi and her colleagues made an Augmented Reality phone application, through which we can meet MARK- The ice cream selling philosopher dog.

The DOGS’ DALES AR App is launching on Saturday 5th of October and, with Skipton’s first AR app
you too can meet Mark by the actual Ice Cream Tug Boat at Skipton canal basin.

The AR app has two functions: it generates a small dog on a postcard of the tug boat AND
a human size dog puppet into the real world on your phone screen: Then you can interact with it and answer
the character’s questions about local history… correct answers are rewarded!

Virpi says: “The aim of my project is to shine a new and exciting light on our historical home through an
alternative reality. The hope is that this will enhance the interest in this area, as well as inform people about
the changing digital industries and its possibilities.

“When I first arrived here it seemed like everyone had a dog. It was like the dogs owned the Dales. Hence the project name: Dogs’ Dales. Along with the TV series, I am planning a full size Dogs’Dales Augmented reality trail where you can meet all the characters from the upcoming series. This project is my homage to the exceptional beauty of this area and the great personalities among us.”