Google Shadow Play

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In 2015, bit.studio developed an AI installation called ‘Shadow Play’ which won an award from Google Hack Fair Bangkok 2015. A few years past, we have continuously upgrading the ‘Shadow Play’ and, in 2018, we have been commissioned by Google to push it further.

‘Shadow Play’ is a series of interactive installations that celebrate the ancient art of Chinese shadow puppetry. The installations use AI and TensorFlow to create magical experiences transforming users’ hand shadows into digital characters and creatures in interactive shows. Shadow Play is inspired by tradition and powered by AI.

These installations allow people to use their hands to create a shadow and morph the shadow into a different character based on the shape of the shadow. Once the character has been created, it will animate telling the story of the character and how it interacts with other characters. The input is very intuitive, so it is suitable for people of all ages.

We decided that we want to open source our work, so you can find the source code and all the technical details from here:
https://github.com/thebitstudio/zodiac_google

We exhibit the installations at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference 2018 and Google Developer Days China 2018 both in Shanghai and, in the upcoming months, ‘Shadow Play’ will exhibit in many cities around the world.

If you are interested in this experience and would like to know more, feel free to contact us at contact@bit.studio.