Hexagon Misfit
Created a massive interactive installation for Intel's Headquarters using LED walls, RealSense Depth Cameras and real-time VFX. Also provided another large scale installation for Intel's CES Performance with trampoline acrobats. Additional projects include real-time VFX, depth cameras systems and VR projects for Tiesto, DeadMau5, Phantogram, Elise Trouw, Giorgio Moroder, Toro Y Moi, Coachella and Ultra Music Festival.
Forbes heralded Intel’s CES show as “the most visually rich performance ... ever seen at a tech show—colorful, complex and stunning.”
Highlighted Projects
Project
Intel's CES Keynote
Deliverables
Real-time VFX Live CES Performance
Role
Creative Technologist
Collaborators
Intel Zero Gravity Arts All of it Now
Brief
We were tasked with highlighting the Intel Realsense cameras in a unique way to push the limits of real-time VFX processing and wow the CES audience before Intel's Keynote by CEO Brian Krzanich.
Early on we knew we wanted some sort of acrobatic performance and were lucky enough to work with the Zero Gravity Arts Acrobatic team. After some early tests using Optitrack motion capture suits to train a machine learning model we found it unreliable at the speed and accuracy we wanted to achieve given the chaotic nature of the lighting from the LED walls, spotlights and LED suits.
We shifted to another approach using raw point cloud data to drive visuals using the VFX graph in Unity and simultaneously output an orthographic depth view of the performers to drive additional visuals created in Notch that could be aligned and blended with the Unity visuals.
During our full scale rehearsal we determined due to the sheer scale of the massive 85’x40’ LED walls we had to adjust many of the visuals to move across the screen slower and sync the visual aesthetic with additional visual teams animating the LED floor based on accelerometers built into the trampolines.
In the end it was an eye popping performance that seamlessly brought together a lot of technology in a flawless execution that showed off some of the possibilities of the Realsense Depth cameras.
Project
Intel HQ Lobby
Deliverables
Interactive Installation Motion Tracking Real-time VFX
Role
Creative Technologist
Collaborators
Intel All of it Now Prefrontal Cortex
Brief
Intel approached me about a project I had long dreamed of working on that I first proposed it back in 2010 to then Senior VP Mooly Eden, reimagine and update the Intel HQ lobby in Santa Clara, CA. Intel was my first big corporate job and I was shocked by how bland and boring their HQ was especially coming from an interactive agency in NYC. I talked with Mooly about shifting Intel's brand and image to be a place where young people would want to work in the future.
Through the Intel Inside internal creative agency we concepted a few options and decided on a Brand Story Wall that utilized the latest Realsense Cameras and a massive digital skylight made of LED walls and ceiling in the main waiting area in the lobby.
As a small creative studio I knew that I wouldn't be able to ramp up quickly enough to take on all the work so I contracted All of it Now to handle the media server and content scheduling system for the LED walls so we could focus on the interactive elements of the project.
After making a physical prototype of the interactive wall with projectors and depth cameras in the proposed positions we also made a VR version that streamed in the live depth data and simulated the LED wall's pixel density to show to Intel. Intel loved seeing their new HQ lobby in VR long before construction and we were able to expand the scope of the project to include more interactive scenes.
Once the installation was complete we provided on-call support 24/7 for 6 months to ensure the systems we put in place were going to reliably stay online and could easily be swapped out as needed with regular maintenance. We gave Intel everything needed to internally manage their HQ lobby installation going forward and anyone from the public can experience it in person in silicon valley.
