Become Iron Man

We were extremely privileged to have Disney come direct to Apache after them hearing about our work in augmented reality.  They asked us to create a cutting-edge Augmented Reality experience to allow users to suit up in the new Iron Man 3 armour.  I worked with the client directly to flesh out the storyboard, creating a fun and memorable experience.

Taking the role of Tony Stark’s technician you were tasked with testing out the new Mark XLII armour from the new Iron Man 3 blockbuster movie.  What made this armour different from previous versions is its ability to fly in separate pieces and wrap itself around Tony’s body, piece by piece.  This ability made it a perfect fit for our experience allowing you suit up piece by piece in Augmented Reality to Become Iron Man.

Once suited up you control your Iron Man avatar via Kinect body tracking, performing actions such as shooting the repulsor weapons and flying around the lab, as seen in the movie.

As well as managing the project I undertook designing the graphical user interface for the experience and iPad controller app.  The aim was to make it look as much like the HUD in Iron Man’s suit whilst making instructions easy to understand.

I also did all the audio work for the experience, sourcing sound effects and creating new ones when the exact sound we needed was not available.  The highlight was easily being included on the call with Paul Bettany (who plays J.A.R.V.I.S. in the movies, Tony’s artificially intelligent computer) to record the instructional audio tracks.  It was fantastic hearing him interpret the scripted experience instructions I had written for him, he is an extremely funny guy.

Touring the unit around the UK and Ireland prior to the films release the experience has been extremely successful.  I have since been lucky enough to travel around the world doing additional installations for events and exhibitions including a permanent install on the Disney Magic cruise ship.