Intel helped create a digital avatar live on stage at The Royal Shakespeare Company. It took over three years to bring the technology to the stage, enabling the avatar to perform Shakespeare’s Ariel, a spirit-like character who shapes and shifts depending on his emotions. The technology Intel deployed was incredibly ambitious—a true world first. Live motion capture and projection of facial expression has never before been achieved in the theatre. Real-time data from a motion capture suit and rig were mapped to a complex digital avatar. That avatar was morphed and transformed into many different characters throughout the performance and then projected through 27 different projectors on stage. This live projection required immense amounts of processing power, which would not have been possible without Intel technology. Intel custom-built a processing stack for this project. The result was a dream-like world that was constantly transforming in front of the audience’s very eyes.

Intel helped create a digital avatar live on stage at the Royal Shakespeare Company. It took over 3 years to bring the technology to stage, enabling the avatar to perform Shakespeare’s Ariel, a spirit like character who shapes and shifts depending on his emotions. The technology Intel deployed was incredibly ambitious—a true world first. Live motion capture and projection of facial expression has never before been achieved in theater. Real time data from a motion capture suit and rig was mapped to a complex digital avatar. That avatar was morphed and transformed into many different characters throughout the performance, and then projected through 27 different projectors on stage. This live projection require immense amounts of processing power which would not have been possible without Intel technology. Intel custom-built a processing stack for this project. The result was a dream-like world that was constantly transforming in front of the audience’s very eyes.

The project led to the creation of a three minute film and over 25 short social films—documenting the “making of” the Royal Shakespeare Company performance of The Tempest. The content resulted in over 84 million impressions around the globe with 9 million views across Intel social platforms. Comments such as:

“Absolutely amazing performance! Well done Intel, The RSC and Imaginarium for creating this ground-breaking production.?”

“We saw the play on Wednesday and all loved it - perfect blend of cast performance and tech to create the magic that is The Tempest. Well done to all involved!?”

It also lead to an entirely new way of experiencing a theater performance.

The use of a live facial capture avatar has never been used in theater prior to The Royal Shakespeare;s performance of The Tempest. It took huge amounts of computing power to create and manipulate our digital avatar as well as capture the inputs of our actor's live physical performance. The synthesis of technology, data collection, and performance art helped us bring Shakespeare's work to life like never before and pioneer the future of theater performances.

Intel and The Royal Shakespeare Company collaborated on the world’s biggest theatre stage—The Royal Shakespeare Company’s—to demonstrate how technology can push the boundaries of creativity in the performance arts. We optimizazed the software pipeline (UnReal engine) and Vicon cameras to enable real time facial capture and performance. We used 27 projects in order to capture a the actors live performance and implemented a

Grand MA Theatrical software adaptation to allow for real time avatar controls integrated into existing theatrical control resulting in a magical experience.

Intel technology lives inside many household items we use on a daily basis—our computers, phones, appliances, etc.—yet Intel’s products themselves aren’t sold directly to the general public. And so it’s understandable that many millennials don’t know how much Intel powers their lives. Because of this, Intel doesn’t receive the credit it deserves as an exciting, innovative, and relevant company.

To change this perception, we set out on a three-year journey, partnering with The Royal Shakespeare Company. Together, we used creativity and technology to reimagine Shakespeare’s masterpiece The Tempest. Along the way, we did the impossible—giving a digital avatar the power to live and breathe, in real time, in front of a live audience.

Night after night, Shakespeare’s imagination was brought to life like never before. Intel documented the story behind the most technically advanced live theatre performance ever attempted and shared it with the world.