METHOD TO TRANSFORM A VIRTUAL OBJECT INTO A REAL PHYSICAL OBJECT

A method to create a coarse-grained real physical object (RO) from a fine-grained 3D virtual object (VO). The method comprises the steps of selecting (RTVO) the virtual object, e.g. a character, or at least elements thereof (head, chest, arms, legs) in a virtual environment (VE), creating (CRBB) a bounding box for each element wherein the element fits, creating (CRTC) a texture cloud for each bounding box by taking a 360 degree snapshot of the element as delimited by its bounding box, applying (APIS) image stitching technology on the texture cloud for obtaining a distinct texture for each bounding box, printing (PRBB) the bounding boxes with their associated texture, and stitching the bounding boxes together. The printing step may occur on a paper printer whereby a cut-and-glue real physical object (RO) can be obtained, or directly on a 3D printer. The method is possibly completed by encrypting the real object with semipedia technology, thereby bringing the real object into the virtual environment (VE) and allowing a user can to use the real object for controlling its corresponding virtual object (VO).