Have you ever imagined running away with the circus? (It’s Monday, so who hasn’t?) Now you can, though there’s little running and you won’t have to learn how to walk a tightrope. The experience is thanks to a new Google Chrome experiment called “Movi.Kanti.Revo” (Esperanto for “moving, singing, dreaming”).
The project, which was put together with the help of Cirque du Soleil and Subatomic Systems, allows users to navigate a surreal online landscape using their voice and gestures. (“Gesture Awakens the Dream” is the project’s tag line.)
The computer’s Web cam and microphone capture user input, and a mysterious character guides them through various scenes and performances. Using mixed traditional HTML and CSS with 3D transitions and HTML5 APIs, the project’s creators hoped to bring the wonder of the circus to a Web page.
Google says the experiment is a groundbreaking step for alternative Web page navigation. The company described the site’s development on its blog.
“Movi.Kanti.Revo breaks with the tradition of keyboard or mouse navigation; instead users navigate through an interactive Cirque du Soleil world with their gestures. To accomplish this, the experiment asks users for permission to access their Web cam using the new getUserMedia API. With this new API, the experiment renders the camera output to a small <video> element on the page. A facial detection JavaScript library then looks for movement and applies a CSS 3D transform to the elements on the page, making environment move with the user.”
Find the Movi.Kanti.Revo website here. (Though your co-workers may wonder if you’re OK when they catch you waving your hands around in front of your computer.) If you’re interested in how the project was accomplished, you can find a technical description of the development here.
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Edited by
Brooke Neuman
