Stream Me Up

Six seconds for an alien world.

A four-camera Depthkit system turned SXSW visitors into volumetric messages for imagined planets.

Period
2014
Status
Complete / Archived
Form
Interactive installation
Project film

The project

At SXSW 2014, visitors stood inside a four-camera Depthkit rig and recorded six-second gestures for imagined extraterrestrial recipients. The captures appeared as volumetric figures on a spacecraft platform in Microsoft Studios’ installation.

Experience notes

Visitors entered an illuminated space station, where four calibrated Depthkit rigs captured them from four sides and reconstructed them as a full-body volumetric image. The teleporter flashed, prompting a six-second gesture—a Vine for aliens—before the avatar was beamed away. At an Oculus Rift station, visitors sent themselves to several other planets and left with an animated GIF of the journey.

The four camera systems streamed simultaneously. Their combined views made a three-dimensional recording that could be seen from more than one side.

Production interface showing four aligned depth-camera views around a captured Stream Me Up participant.interface
Four-camera capture interface
First-person VR view of a volumetrically captured participant standing inside the Stream Me Up spacecraft environment.
Participant inside the spacecraft

My role

Production / Event Design

Specular

Co-Founder / Creative Director

I worked on production and event design, helping shape the capture-to-spaceflight encounter and its operation at SXSW.

Selected credits

Alexander Porter
Production & Event Design (per developer Charlie Whitney's portfolio, sharkbox.com); broader Scatter co-founder meta-credit also applies

Links & presentations