Overview

For this cutting-edge project with Nike through OMM Agency, I had the pleasure of serving as the Technical Artist. My focus was on creating an interactive application using Unreal Engine, which featured a digital avatar wearing a custom Nike football kit. This avatar was designed to demonstrate the cooling and moisture-wicking properties of Nike’s DRI-fit ADV technology through a highly immersive and engaging experience.

Role & Responsibilities

As the Technical Artist, my primary responsibilities included:

  • Avatar Creation: Developing a digital avatar dressed in a custom Nike football kit.
  • Cloth Physics: Implementing cloth physics to ensure realistic movement and interaction of the football kit.
  • Custom Shaders and FX: Crafting unique shaders and visual effects to achieve a thermal vision look. This included developing custom Niagara particles to simulate smoke trails emitting from the avatar.
  • UI Elements and Callouts: Integrating custom callouts and UI elements that dynamically tracked the avatar’s body.
  • Blueprint Integration: Utilizing Unreal Engine’s Blueprint system to make all functions and animations easily triggerable. This facilitated seamless integration with the movie.ai system used by the development team.

Project Details

  • Immersive Technology: The project utilized AI-enabled markerless motion tracking technology from Move AI, specifically their MoveLive system, to stream real-time movement data directly into Unreal Engine. This allowed the digital avatar to react instantaneously to consumer actions with minimal latency.
  • User Experience: The setup involved four FLIR cameras for automatic consumer recognition as they entered the space, requiring no special calibration. This ensured a smooth and barrier-free entry into the interactive experience.
  • Interactive Activation: The project was showcased at prominent Nike locations, including NikeTown London, Nike Store Berlin, and Nike House of Innovation in Paris. Consumers could directly engage with the product, experiencing firsthand the benefits of Nike’s DRI-fit ADV technology.

Goal & Benefits

  • Goal: The primary objective was to highlight the cooling and moisture-wicking properties of Nike’s DRI-fit ADV technology embedded in their national football kits.
  • Benefit: By leveraging ambient interactive activations, the project provided a unique touchpoint for consumers to connect with the Nike brand and its product innovations in an innovative and memorable manner.

Technical Breakdown

  • Real-Time Tracking: The MoveLive system enabled real-time tracking and streaming of movement data to Unreal Engine, ensuring the avatar responded with minimal latency.
  • Visual Effects: The thermal vision look and smoke trail effects were crucial in illustrating the product’s performance attributes visually and interactively.
  • User Interface: Custom UI elements enhanced the interactive experience, providing informative callouts that followed the avatar’s movements.

Conclusion

I thoroughly enjoyed working on this project, especially given the tight timeline. The creative combination of advanced hardware and immersive software made it a particularly rewarding experience. Collaborating with cutting-edge motion tracking technology and leveraging Unreal Engine to showcase Nike’s product innovation was both challenging and exciting. This project exemplifies the potential of interactive technology in creating captivating consumer experiences.