Nike Magic: Monolith Screen Grabs

Nike Magic: Monolith_1
No Interaction

Nike Magic: Monolith_2
Start of Interaction with the light trails and Nike tick
reacting to movement

Nike Magic: Monolith_3
Light trail colour variations

Nike Magic: Monolith_4

More Light trail colour variations

The Monolith: The Inspiration behind Nike Magic

THE MONOLITH

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Monoliths are fictional advanced machines built by an unseen extraterrestrial species that appear in Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey series of novels and films. During the series, three monoliths are discovered in the solar system by humans and it is revealed that thousands if not more were created throughout the solar system, although none are seen. The subsequent response of the characters to their discovery drives the plot of the series. It also influences the fictional history of the series, particularly by encouraging humankind to progress with technological development and space travel.

The first monolith appears in the beginning of the story, set in prehistoric times. It is discovered by a group of hominids, and somehow triggers a considerable shift in evolution, starting with the ability to use tools.

Interactive Research: Kinect as you’ve never seen it before...

Kinect as you’ve never seen it before...

Wed Dec 15 05:33PM by Andy McV

Recent articles

• More TV on demand for PlayStation 3
• Xbox 360 – Six essential games
• PlayStation 3 – Six essential games
• Call of Duty spoilsport arrested
• World of Warcraft Cataclysm – A blagger’s guide

Kinect, the motion-sensing camera for Xbox 360 that turns youinto the controller, hides a lot of very clever technology under its sleek black hood. For most of us that doesn’t mean a thing as long it plays great games. For others, though, Kinect represents nothing less than the opportunity to pull the device apart, investigate its innards and put it to new and exciting uses that Microsoft probably never dreamed of.

The speed at which this has happened has been surprising too. Kinect is barely a month old yet the internet is already awash with university projects and madcap investigative initiatives that not only find new ways to flex Kinect’s powerful technology but point the way forward for its future – both within games and, perhaps, beyond.

Put another way, the likes of Kinect Sports and Dance Central are going to look very old fashioned very soon. Here then is a selection of some of the best – or wackiest – new uses for Kinect. It could be taking the dog for a walk in a couple of years. You think we’re kidding...?

Minority Report for real
An enterprising hacker has used Kinect to bring a keyboard-less, multi-touch future a step closer to reality. Just like in the movie ‘Minority Report, in fact. His precognitive crime-fighting skills remain to be proved, but he's a dab hand at manipulating Windows 7:

Kinect takes flight
Strap Kinect to a toy helicopter and what do you get? The ‘Kinect Quadrotor’ from Berkley University’s Hybrid Systems Lab can not only fly around on its own but can see objects in its away and avoid them. It’s either a spooky portent of things to come or a bunch of students larking about. You decide:

Step into a new dimension
Kinect can already track your movements in 3D, but one man has taken things a stage further by linking two Kinects together. The results are a bit ropey, visually-speaking, but are impressive nonetheless – especially when the little monster from Doom appears on his desk:

Virtual Invisibility
You’re not just the controller with Kinect, you can be the Predator! Two Kinects are paired with the freebie ‘openFrameworks’ software to make this user completely invisible. If you don’t like the results maybe you’ll appreciate the cool jazz soundtrack: 

The sound of Music
Clever fellas have programmed Kinect to produce a virtual keyboard that can be scaled in size and played on any flat surface. It’s not as slick as Tom Hanks’routine in the movie ‘Big’, but we wouldn’t be at all surprised if this interpretation of Kinect’s capabilities finds its way into a real game:

No strings attached
Here Kinect picks up hand gestures and arm movements to control a large, comical bird-puppet. Home-theatre applications are immediately apparent, or maybe this is something for budding ventriloquists? Either way, Microsoft needs to start using this tech now!

'NIKE MAGIC' Trainer

The Idea: The Monolith


To create a magical environment that engages the user.

Featured is a Monolith that sits within an atmospheric landscape and acts a generator of Magic…NIKE MAGIC! The idea was inspired by the film, '2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY' produced and written by Stanley Kubrick (1968) and co written by Arthur C. Clarke.

The interaction comes from the 'Light trails', created in 'Processing'. When motion is detected it throws out what almost looks like the 'Northern Lights' dancing across the land creating a real energy and magic.

The 'Northern Lights' have an almost 'other worldly' feel to them.


The Nike swoosh/tick particles created in Photoshop and brought into 'Processing' react to the movement and energy of the 'Northern Lights' .

The Rabbit is a reference to 'Pulling a Rabbit from a hat', often done as a magic trick.

NikeMagic_Monolith