QUICK FACTS
Who: Portas Agency for Westfield UK
What: An interactive installation using VR and motion tracking to explore this season’s best trends
Where: Westfield London and Westfield Stratford City
When: 27th - 29th March, 2nd - 4th April
Tech: Oculus Rift, Leap Motion, large-screen video wall, Kinect
Virtual Reality
Brief
INITION was approached by Portas Agency to produce a forward-thinking virtual reality experience to promote the launch of Westfield’s Future Fashion event - two weekends featuring cutting-edge technology combined with the upcoming season’s hottest trends: floral, denim and future modern.
Solution
Using Oculus Rift DK2 head-mounted displays and LEAP Motion gesture tracking technology, we developed an experience which enabled guests to enter one of three virtual, futuristic landscapes where, using specific gestures, they could explore the concepts of the trends and ‘fly’. To fully explore a trend, users adapted a ‘superman pose’ (i.e. hand outstretched in front) so they could navigate around the environment, whilst clapping transitioned the experience onto the next seasonal trend. With a high level of freedom to explore the virtual space, guests are treated to a unique conceptual journey each time.
Results
The combination of Oculus Rift and Leap Motion systems was the first time such technologies had been used together publicly and pushed the limits of what we’ve previously presented to the public. The VR experience attracted over 7,000 participants over the two weekends, an impressive feat given the solitary nature of the installation.
“Over the course of a few weeks we worked with Westfield to create two digital retail experiences. The reactions from visitors were really pleasing, with both experiences having captured the interest of individuals of all ages. It’s really great to be able to interact with the content - we mostly consume content passively by simply watching - but when you’re able to interact, as with virtual reality, it’s so much more meaningful.” - Stuart Cupit, Technical Director, INITION
“Westfield always tries to push the boundaries of fashion and technology and take our shoppers on an incredible virtual journey. Working with INITION, we created a virtual reality live experience in centre” - Myf Ryan, Westfield.
Westfield - Motion Capture
Brief
As part of Westfield’s Future Fashion event, we were tasked with creating a second experience that would require a high level of participation from visitors, whilst highlighting the three key trends - floral, denim and future modern.
Solution
Opting to utilise a motion capture system and a seriously large 5m video wall, we created an experience which, using depth sensing, skeletal tracking and a kinect 2, would track the movement of 4-6 guests and prompt an animated avatar in their shape to appear. As guests moved and jumped around in front of the wall, visual ‘trails’ relating to each season’s trends would follow - glowing lines for ‘future modern’, woven threads for ‘denim’ and garlands of spring buds and descending petals for ‘floral’. Simple gestures such as jumping would result in denim rivets bouncing along the bottom of the video wall.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QsOvF65JEE