Clif Mantra Maker is an interactive running installation by Red Paper Heart where you can run through a generative landscape based on your drawing.

Mantra Maker

A running mantra is something to tell yourself while going up steep hills or long distances, it’s a reason to keep pushing through challenges. We were asked by AnalogFolk to turn marathon runners’ mantras into a dimensional art experience for Clif. So we went for a run and then ate 1000 Clif bars for inspiration. Ultimately we fell in love with the idea that all of the art in this experience would be a play between flat and dimensional.

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We tend to think of writing as 2 dimensional, but there are dynamic shifts in speed and angle as you form letters. We saw an opportunity to use these shifts to generate elevation, where fast lines became mountain paths and curves became paths around ponds. This project is for runners, so the natural pay-off is to run through the resulting landscapes.

Clif Mantra Maker Art Direction: Computer generated summer landscape in 3D using threejs and webgl
Clif Mantra Maker Art Direction: A stylised 3D generative summer landscape created in threejs and webgl
Clif Mantra Maker Art Direction: A colorful computer generated summer landscape in map view
Clif Mantra Maker Art Direction: A computer generated winter landscape seen in map view. Created with three.js and webgl
Clif Mantra Maker Art Direction: A generative desert landscape based on your handwriting, seen in map view. CReated in three.js and webgl
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The art direction is a play on the central idea of flat writing becoming dimensional. In the same way the flat shaded environment is vector like from above and then takes on unexpected depth when the camera shifts perspective.

Clif Mantra Maker: write on an iPad

The Experience

Add your Mantra to the screen by writing on an iPad, and then watch as your personal mantra becomes a running path through the mountains, desert or snowy night. The best part of the experience is that you can literally step up and run through what you wrote by stepping on a custom built sensor driven game pad.

A custome drawing engine allows you to write or draw your mantra on a touch screenThe drawing turns into a generative 3D landscape that you dive intoRun through a computer generated landscape in this experiential art installationA interactive and customized Dance Dance Revolution sensor mat let's you run through an artfully generated colorful worldComputer generated landscape based on your writing - map view
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After your run you can print out a poster of your mantra landscape and send the whole journey to yourself for social sharing.

Clif Mantra Maker: Printed posters that show individual computer generated artful landscapes

Mantra Maker is an interactive installation, a website and mobile experience in one. The application was built in WebGL, so not only does the installation run in a browser, you can experience the whole 3D run experience in real time on the phone. Mantra Maker was installed at both the 2017 Boston and LA marathon for runners to explore their mantra.

Team

  • Zander Brimijoin - Creative Director
  • Pedro Piccinini - Art Director
  • Daniel Scheibel - Technology Director
  • Adrià Navarro López - Creative Coder
  • Matt Kenefick - Web Developer
  • Lisa Walters - Executive Producer
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  • Plan 8 - Sound Design
  • Boxman Studios - Fabrication

Created for Clif

  • In collaboration with AnalogFolk - Agency