Alex K Nguyen

Given free license to design a system from the ground up, I took the opportunity to implement the entire software stack on Linux (Ubuntu) as the core operating system for the first time in a production-level execution.

Renowned for dependable, stable performance for mission-critical applications, Ubuntu provides a complete level control over all aspects of the system along with the ability to leverage high-performance graphics cards for rendering to a massive combined visual canvas.

Using dual NVIDIA Quadro GPUs it was possible to render smooth video playback and control to a 20,280 x 2560 pixel canvas with the HAP video codec in a Unity application.

Unity's support of the .NET framework also allows for integration with Phidgets and DMX over ports, providing remote control over interior lighting and door operation from the tablet controller.

Docents are able to conduct shows and manage the content library, scenes and playlists using a tablet remote controller. The controller also provides real-time info such as playtimes, graphics and system performance statistics.

Built as a progressive web app using open source components, the remote controller is powered by a Node.js backend running on the same computer running the Unity application. Due to power constraints, a single computer is required to handle all computing tasks for the entire experience.

I worked with AUX for project direction and oversight, Buck for content and graphics, and Standard Trasmission for hardware integration.

Originally launched at the 837 NYC experience store in 2016, Social Galaxy has been refactored and deployed more recently at Tokyo's Harajuku Galaxy Store in 2019, the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea and Frankfurt's Zeil district in 2017.

Visitors enter their Instagram handle and enter an infinity mirror tunnel filled with their feed photos and captions rendered on Samsung monitors, phones and tablets. An installation perfectly aligned for the selfie-age, the experience explores the convergence of social technology and the human condition.

As with any bespoke experience, each installation is highly customized due to the physical and technical variables unique to each store and region. Every new version also showcases the latest and greatest Samsung devices and hardware. With each new installation, my team and I work closely with Kenzo's producers, local fabricators and on-site support staff to adapt and implement the system.

Original software developed by Kyle McDonald and Lauren McCarthy.

Consisting of two executions, the first is a Unity application featuring a Leap Motion controller. Running on Mac Minis powered by external BlackMagic eGPUs, the experience allows for uesrs to virtually interact with a deformable ComfyCush shoe in 3D space rendered on 3x4 4K panel arrays in-store.

Users can use one or both hands as controllers to rotate, explode, explore, scale and squish the ComfyCush shoe as part of a core set of interactions; there's also a set of experimental effects including physics, shoes as particles and shoe puppetry.

The second execution is an augmented reality game based on an in-store scavenger hunt. Players use their mobile device as a portal into the in-store space, searching for tappable shoes floating in space that can be squished to reveal prizes, redeemable at the store directly or as part of Vans' royalty program.

Mobile browser-based rather than a mobile app in iOS or Android, the AR game is built on three.js and a custom gyro/orientation engine. By combining input data from the device camera and orientation, we are able to create the illusion of augmentated reality even without the integration of popular frameworks such as ARKit or ARCore, which would have required a dedicated app download for users.

We also worked with eCommerce business owners and engineers from the VF Outdoor organization to integrate Vans' royalty program fulfilment with our game logic via a custom-built contest management system built in Ruby on Rails and running on Heroku. Contest administrators are able to create, edit and schedule prizes and contests for any of the Vans retail stores supporting gameplay.

Working with the design team at Method, we iterated through designs and features using an agile methodology applied to design -- at first with simple interactive prototypes in Sketch and Invision, and ultimately with adh-hoc distributed iOS application builds.

Developing in Swift and iOS allowed for fast prototyping and enabled us to create a versatile process and workflow for designers, producers and engineers alike. Onboarding for new resources was seamless and intuitive by leveraging Github and its project management tools for design tasks in addition to its common use for code control.

The entire facade of the building is covered in a hexagonal lattice of LED lighting; visualizations are handled by transposing the video output from a Mac output to the lighting pixel map via Syphon.

Participants collaboratively interact with the facade from their mobile device browser through an interface created using open source javascript technologies. The controller allows for "painting" color blobs applied via touch pressure and melodic tones generated by those blobs -- the longer/harder the touch, the deeper the resulting color and musical tone.

Using websockets, multiple users can simultaneously interact with the projection; all of the generative audio tones are from the same musical scale, ensuring that the cumulative effect remained pleasing to the ear.

Created in collaboration with the Strangeworks.

My team and I began the auditing process by combing through verbose documentation provided by the Kohler design team, but it became apparent that in the interest of simplicity we should rebuild the user experience architecture from the ground up. Tools like Freehand and Invision helped us speed through the auditing process and rapid prototyping respectively.

Specific interactions such as lighting control demanded a higher level of fidelity in prototyping. This was accomplished with a quick, lightweight mobile prototype built simply in javascript and css. By designing quickly and directly in code, we were able to work in real-time in collaboration with multiple teams and iterate on feedback almost instantaneously.

Staging a 4K display and 4K camera together to create a virtual mirror, we built an OpenFrameworks application using OpenCV to track faces using feature landmark detection and superimposed 2D sprite animations of popular brand icons/mascots right on top of them.

As the installation ran essentially 24/7 over the course of a week at two locations, we implemented application and performance monitoring tools directly in AppleScript and remotely accessed the local rigs via TeamViewer.

The mobile application, built for both iOS and Android with a single codebase in Unity, allows consumers to create their own custom designed Nuckees, but with a twist: sure, they can buy what they design, but they can also win cash prizes, and even possibly rev-share from units sold. That's because the customizer also acts as an on-demand contest application. Users can like, share and submit any design they wish whenever they're notified that a new contest has been released.

Through a robust CMS, Tzumi is able to create design contests of any theme or prize, deploying to and in the process communicating with thousands of users simultaneously. Each contest incentivizes consumers to share their custom design on Instagram, garnering likes in the process, and inching their way closer to a cash prize. And with the click of a button, Tzumi is also able to present these user generated designs as new products in their Nuckees Shopify store, allowing consumers to be part of the retail process, sharing revenue with each design sold.

The Mill brought me and my team on as their creative development arm for these initiatives. Since it was such a nascent platform at the time, we were first asked to evaluate its creative potential by working directly with Facebook engineers while the product was still in closed beta. We then partnered with The Mill to help pitch experiences for each campaign to both Facebook and their end clients.

Working in close collaboration with 3D artists from the Mill and Facebook engineering, we were able to solve a myriad of challenging issues to translate 3D scenes, assets and animations from Maya / Cinema4D to the (then) extremely frugal technical constraints imposed by the Spark platform, all while maintaining a high level of visual quality.

In all, we created AR effects for the promotion of HBO's Game of Thrones, Netflix's Stranger Things and Lady Gaga: Five Foot Two, Lionsgate's My Little Pony, Taylor Swift's Reputation, and Takashi Murakami's exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.

http://creativity-online.com/work/hbo-game-of-thrones-game-of-thrones-night-king-camera-effect/52546

http://www.adweek.com/digital/facebook-night-king-game-of-thrones-ar-camera-effect/

http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/08/26/game-thrones-rolls-out-ar-camera-effect-facebook

The Mill worked with Steven Klein to create 3-D scans of Perry on set at the cover shoot, which were used to produce a series of virtual portraits. The focus was on designing a seamless experience between the screen and the printed page, matching Klein’s aesthetic throughout the CG renderings, and producing a cohesive narrative across the issue and all its AR components.

With Unity editor and Unity remote, we were able to virtualize a 3D framework directly in-app. This enabled rapid visualization and spatialization tests with Steven Klein and Mill artists, enabling a smooth workflow between Maya, Cinema4D and Unity while minimizing the need for lengthy render and build times.

We used the Vuforia AR SDK in Unity which allowed for robust image marker detection and management as well as building and deploying to both iOS and Android platforms with a single codebase. We then worked with Conde Nast to publish the app to their respective app stores.

https://www.engadget.com/2017/08/10/w-magazine-augmented-reality-katy-perry-fashion-cover

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/w-magazine-brings-katy-perrys-world-life-first-augmented-reality-september-issue-1028202

http://wwd.com/business-news/media/katy-perry-w-magazine-september-issue-10959331

https://www.wmagazine.com/story/katy-perry-w-magazine-september-issue-stefano-tonchi-editors-letter

Initially enlisted to rebuild the Garage mobile app to use the Vuforia platform, I collaborated with Mill artists to develop an asset workflow system using levels and asset bundles in Unity, enabling a consistent level of graphics and quality parity from editor to device. Through the use of profling I was also able to work with artists to optimize 3D meshes and shaders for performance and delivery against the challenging limitations of variable connectivity and mobile processing.

In all, we created, coded and shipped 5 issues of AR content for the magazine to coincide with international fashion week timing in the Spring and Fall of each year.

• Fall/Winter 2016: Burberry featuring Rosie Huntington-Whiteley by Phil Poynter
• Fall/Winter 2016: Snapchat featuring Kendall Jenner and Willow Smith also featuring Dior
• Spring/Summer 2016: Marvel Comics featuring Candice Swanepoel, Adriana Lima, Lexi Boling, Cuba Tornado Scott and Karlie Kloss by Patrick Demarchelier
• Fall/Winter 2015: Chaos Fashion featuring Anna Ewers, Tory Burch and Karl Lagerfeld
• Spring/Summer 2015: Beats by Dre featuring Cara Delevingne, Kendall Jenner, Lara Stone, Binx Walton and Joan Smalls by Chaos Fashion

Powered by Node.js and MongoDB, we built a custom CMS to handle content for each aquarium exhibit's kiosk screen along with aquarium-wide signage such as showtimes and general information. In addition to driving a user interface for system administrators, the server also drives visualization content for each exhibit kiosk using webview templates in html, css and javascript; each kiosk in turn consists of a Samsung display running its proprietary MagicInfo system. Due to the limitations of MagicInfo, we opted to simply run each display's system web browser to ingest our webview content accordingly by location.

The tabletop animation is comprised of five HD displays creating a combined canvas of 9600 x 1080 pixels, driven by a single NVIDIA Quadro GPU with Mosaic technology. By using the HAP video codec, we are able to achieve smooth 60fps playback on the display.

Ultimately translated to 15 languages, the Jack Daniel's VR is a privately distributed Android application available as a visitor experience at Jack Daniel's events and trade shows around the world.

The Oculus SDK and Audio Spatializer plugin helped facilitate development and workflow for the immersive experience in Unity. Working closely with the Mill rendering pipeline allowed us to optimize video codecs for performance and battery life with Samsung Galaxy devices running Gear VR.

Built in Typescript using the Pixi.js framework, the experience combines traditionally animated cinematic cut scenes with a series of interactive puzzle games implementing a high-level game mechanic; in order to continue to the next part of the story, users are required to complete each puzzle within a time-limit.

The first puzzle requires tracing shapes with the cursor. The second challenges the player to react quickly and drag and drop objects as they are emitted across the screen. The final stage creates a traction effect with escape made possible by scrolling as fast as possible to escape the Priestess' grasp.

Play online here