BINGE here.

In late February 2025, we met Insect Heroes at Japan Camping Car Show 2025, and at their request
our studio, Escentier, has been making all kinds of things for them.

Now that things have settled down, I'd like to write an article showing off what we worked hard on.

Stag Beetle Cards AR App

When we saw the stag beetle cards that Insect Heroes had been handing out as merchandise,
we thought it would be fun to display 3D models like an illustrated field guide, so we implemented an AR feature.

Scanning the QR code on the back of a card opens a website, and when you point the camera at the card, a 3D model appears on top of it.

On top of that, scanning two beetles at once switches to battle mode, where you can play a head-to-head game.

1. Making Stag Beetle Models with AI

I tried out AI 3D model generation, which I'd been curious about.
I used RodinAI, which was getting a lot of buzz back in March.
The free plan can generate a model from a single image, so for starters I generated a giraffe stag beetle.

At a glance it looks pretty good, but…

the legs branched off,

and the face came out weird, so it didn't work.

Since a single image didn't work, I upgraded to a paid plan and generated from multiple images.

Pretty nice, right?

It barely has six legs, and with a little touch-up it looked usable.
I rigged the bones by hand and created animations for four beetles in total.

2. Making 3D Models by Hand

From the feedback we received, we learned that some children felt something was off about the details of the AI-generated models,
so, considering quality and animation, I decided to make the three additional stag beetles myself.

Here are the three models I added.

Here's a time-lapse of making a stag beetle model.
It's heavily condensed and still long, but if you're interested, please take a look (it's 5 and a half minutes).

AI generation keeps getting better, but making models yourself lets you control the quality, so I want to keep choosing the right tool for each job.

3. Displaying the Models in AR

This is web-based image-recognition AR that displays 3D models, using MindAR-js and A-Frame to recognize image markers.
(I also tried AR.js, but MindAR was better in terms of how easy it is to create markers and AR accuracy.)

When the camera recognizes an insect card, the corresponding model appears

4. Building the Game Feature

After all, cards are made for battling

So we implemented a battle feature.

I mostly make 3D models for video, so shrinking the model file sizes was tough.
Hats off to people who make models for games.

Bringing two or more cards close together during AR shows a battle button and switches to a two-player battle game

Demo: Battle Footage

The camera work before and after battles was done with Theatre.js.

5. How to Play

Both players choose one of three actions—attack, defend, or charge—and depending on the result, you can deal damage.

Each stag beetle has its own traits, such as higher attack power or faster charging.

We aimed for a simple UI that children can play and a mind-game battle that adults can enjoy.

Creating all of the design and the game system ourselves was a lot of fun.
This one was on the web, but building a full-fledged game with a game engine sounds fun too.

Summary

That's the behind-the-scenes story of the stag beetle cards.
We handled everything, from creating the 3D data to video and design, and developing the WebAR and game system.
We hear the stag beetle cards are given out free to children who attend Insect Heroes events.

We usually spend our days making things in front of a computer,
so it was wonderful to see so many smiling visitors at the event.

Besides the cards, we also helped out in many other ways, like developing tools for their events and shooting commercials.
Please see our WORKS page for details.

To Those Who Read This Far

Our company, Yogo Management Office LLC, currently creates work under the studio name Escentier.

YOGO - Musician / Systems Engineer
BINGE - 3D Video / Audio Engineer
Sheena - Interactive Art / Live-Action Video

We collaborate with creators around us as needed.

We aim to be the creative team that comes to mind when you think, "I wonder if we could do something fun."
We're happy to help even if you just want to talk through an idea.

If you want to make something exciting together, feel free to get in touch!

Contact Us

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