An augmented-reality system interacts with a physical object that has been embossed or otherwise labeled with one or more bar-code identifiers. The system extracts data from each identifier and uses each element of extracted data to select a computer-generated texture or object. When displaying the augmented-reality environment to a user, the system either replaces the physical object with the computer-generated object or applies the computer-generated texture to a region of a rendered surface of the computer-generated object. The application's selection of computer-generated objects or textures may be modified at any time by a user command, a context-sensitive or environmental factor, an occurrence of a certain virtual event within the augmented-reality environment, or a configuration setting. A physical object labeled with multiple identifiers may be rendered in the augmented-reality environment as multiple computer-generated objects or with multiple textures that each correspond to a distinct identifier and that may be manipulated independently.