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Microsoft has announced Actiongram, a new app for its forthcoming HoloLens augmented reality headset that will let users add 3D animated graphics to real world environments via HoloLens, and then record both live and animated content using HoloLens's mixed reality capture feature.

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Microsoft is pitching it as a holographic storytelling tool that you can use to add zombies, unicorns, aliens and special effects to your everyday world. Actiongram provides a pre-defined library of 3D models and visual effects that you can position and direct using HoloLens. "Actiongram allows people to create videos with holograms and advanced visual effects that would normally require expensive software and years of experience to do," wrote Microsoft's Kudo Tsunoda.

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Actiongram was developed by a team of five people in six months as a proof of concept intended to show that the HoloLens development platform is suitable for small teams that wish to create their own, high-quality holographic tools.

The videos Microsoft has released to promote the app were created as part of a closed beta program in collaboration with YouTube content creators.

The app will be available in the Windows Store this summer, but you'll need a Microsoft HoloLens unit to use it. Developers based in Canada and the USA can apply for the opportunity to buy the $3,000 (£2,130) HoloLens Development Edition, which is due to begin shipping on 30 March 2016.