Interactive art installation featuring a stationary bike connected to a digital screen with ai generated abstract, colorful visuals that respond to the cyclist's movements, creating a dynamic and immersive experience

Cycling Dreams

Reimagining a Classic with Generative AI

At Red Paper Heart, we’re always pushing the boundaries of creativity and technology, and Cycling Dreams, is no exception. Revisiting one of our earliest works through the lens of generative AI, Cycling Dreams blends nostalgia with innovation to create an immersive, interactive experience. As users cycle through an endless, evolving landscape, the environment responds in real time—shifting and transforming in unexpected and delightful ways, making each journey unique.
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Dynamic Environment

The world is designed to be in a constant state of transformation. As you pedal, watch as the fuzzy, abstract surroundings shift and change, creating a unique sensory experience every time.

Interactive art installation with a stationary bike connected to a digital screen displaying ai generated abstract graphics that change in response to the cyclist's movements, set in a dark environment with a futuristic, immersive atmosphere. The graphics depict white fluffy cotton balls on a light background.
Interactive art installation with a stationary bike connected to a digital screen displaying ai generated abstract graphics that change in response to the cyclist's movements. The graphics look like a long string of pink cotton candy on a blue background.
Interactive art installation with a stationary bike connected to a digital screen displaying ai generated abstract graphics that change in response to the cyclist's movements. The graphics show shiny, colorful donut shapes.

Interactive Elements

The experience isn’t just about the journey. You have the ability to interact with your environment—ring a bell to trigger new visual events or leave trails of animating fur that dance and shimmer as you speed through the landscape.

A closeup of the bikes bell. When the bell is rung, the ai generated graphics change.
The rider on the stationary bike in fornt of a large projection lifts his hands in the air. A kinect sensor is mounted above the bike to track the rider's movements, triggering additional animations based on the position of the rider's hands.

Endless Exploration

Each ride culminates in the emergence of a special shape, marking the conclusion of one adventure and the beginning of another. These shapes stand as milestones in a world that never stops evolving.

Cycling Dreams Idle state. The image shows a minimalist scene with a white bicycle featuring a brown leather seat and golden-rimmed wheels in front of a white wall displaying ai generated abstract pastel pink and white bubble-like shapes that circle around the bike.

Real-time interactive Gen AI

We employ a technique known as "Image-to-Image" AI generation, where the AI takes an input image and transforms it by altering colors, styles, and subjects to create something entirely new. While this technique is commonly used, what sets our approach apart is the speed at which the AI operates. By leveraging StreamDiffusion, a real-time interactive pipeline, we elevate the process from "Image-to-Image" to "Video-Stream-to-Video-Stream," enabling seamless, dynamic visuals.

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The environment is shaped by the speed of the bike, where we first generate a simple 2D parallax using basic shapes and colors. This is then fed into StreamDiffusion, which we "condition" to achieve the specific content and style we envision. By guiding the AI with text prompts and depth maps, we reduce the typical flickering and disjointedness, resulting in a fluid, cohesive visual experience rather than a series of fragmented images.

A Nod to the Past

Cycling Dreams is a modern reinterpretation of Cycling Classic, one of our earliest and most beloved projects. While this new version is focused on generative AI exploration and real-time interaction, we’ve woven in subtle references to the original—keeping the spirit of the classic alive while embracing the potential of new technologies.

Ongoing Experimentation

As generative AI technologies evolve, this project gives us a great platform to continuously experiment and apply new techniques. We have exciting plans to expand and refine Cycling Dreams, introducing new features and experiences that push the boundaries even further.

If you’re intrigued by this ongoing experiment and want to learn more—or even collaborate—we’d love to hear from you. Let’s explore where the next ride might take us.

Team

  • Zander Brimijoin - Creative Director
  • Daniel Scheibel - Technology Director
  • Lisa Walters - Executive Producer
  • Greg Schomburg - Lead Developer
  • Mingxi Xu - Developer
  • Jiwon Ham - Senior Designer

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Ecolab
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