RenderHeads worked as technology partners with Moving Brands to create an innovative interactive installation which made it's debut at Nokia World in Barcelona in late 2008. We worked closely with Moving Brands to realise their design and vision.

A New Interaction
The Nokia Siemens Networks Experience Cloud allows you to explore content based on the movements of a disc, or 'puck'. Each puck is printed with a unique marker, so each user is presented with a different set of content depending on the puck they have in their hand.

Presenting a puck to the screen causes a 'carousel' of content to appear - a mixture of text, images, audio snippets, animated 3D models and videos arranged in a ring. Rotating the puck in your hand rotates the on-screen carousel so you can browse at will. The interaction feels fluid and responsive, and is extremely intuitive.

In addition to displaying content, Nokia Siemens Networks also wanted to convey a sense of connection. To accomodate this we created a system where related content is connected by curved ribbons that grow dynamically across the screen.

The application also features an attractor mode which kicks in when there are no users interacting with the screen. This plays pieces of content pulled at random, as well as an animation inviting new users to begin interacting with the screen.

Content Management
RenderHeads also created a back-end tool which allows artists and designers to control the content that appears in the Experience Cloud. The CMS outputs an XML file which indexes all the content files and assigns properties to them. This XML file is then loaded by the Experience Cloud.

Look out for the Experience Cloud at major exhibitions where Nokia Siemens Networks are expected to have a presence.

Behind the scenes.
Video courtesy of Moving Brands.


The debut appearance at Nokia World 2008.
Video courtesy of Moving Brands.

NSN Experience Cloud was written in C# using the .NET framework. We developed the graphics rendering engine using the XNA 2.0 framework. We used our own QuickTime .NET wrapper for multiple concurrent video to texture playback, and the BASS.NET library to create a custom multi-channel panning audio system. Marker interaction was built around the ARToolKitPlus 2.1.1 library, which is available under the GPL. We developed a seperate CMS application for Moving Brands to be able to integrate and control their own content quickly and easily. We used the universal FBX model format for all 3D models, with support for hierarchical animation. All the software was prototyped, designed and written within six weeks. Three weeks were spent working from our offices, three were spent with Moving Brands for initial planning and final prototyping.

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