Inition's web-based augmented reality application MagicSymbol has been used in Audi's latest campaign promoting the forthcoming Audi A1 compact hatchback. Interactive touch-screen kiosks are being installed in Audi centres nationwide to allow customers to interact with a 3D 'photo-real' version of the car before it arrives in showrooms this autumn.

By downloading special software from www.audi.co.uk and printing out a 'MagicSymbol' the same special effects can be replicated at home on webcam-equipped computers. Users simply hold up a special 'MagicSymbol' printed in the A1 brochure or downloadable from the internet, and the technology recognises this and merges an A1 model into real footage in real-time.

Users can rotate the car, expand or contract it, roll it forwards and backwards and pan right into the interior by simply moving the MagicSymbol pad in relation to the web cam. The technology will enable customers to get a real 'feel' for the A1, before it hits showrooms in October.