INDE’s AR Technology Featured at Adidas Tango League Events Worldwide

Published: June 21, 2018

A custom large-screen Augmented Reality experience developed by INDE allowed Tango League participants to impress – or alternatively, disappoint – Brazil and Real Madrid football star Marcelo Vieira with their football tricks, bringing him to life at multiple locations worldwide.

The first Tango League event featuring this one-of-a-kind BroadcastAR Augmented Reality installation was launched in Los Angeles on June 12, and was followed by events in Milan, Madrid, Berlin and Paris, around the kickoff of the 2018 FIFA World Cup which is taking place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July, 2018.

Players stepped in front of a giant AR screen where they were challenged by Marcelo to show him something impressive within a given time limit. Once their tricks were complete, Marcelo expressed his opinion – by either giving a thumbs up, or with a clear sign of “this could have been better” –, after which he posed for a photo with the player. The picture of the freestylers and Marcelo, along with a video of the entire performance, were automatically captured by the AR system, so they could easily be shared online with just one click.

French freestyle footballer Melody Donchet showing her skills to Marcelo at the Adidas Tango League in Paris

What makes this fully immersive, live AR experience particularly unique is that the INDE team needed to incorporate a 2D character into a setting that usually operates with 3D animated characters. To offer participants a highly realistic encounter with Marcelo, it was the actual football star that they got up-close and personal with in Augmented Reality. Marcelo’s movements were captured in a green screen environment, and the different scenes were seamlessly blended together to achieve a continuous flow.

“This is ground-breaking work with a massive global brand and a sporting superstar. This kind of project inevitably has its challenges, but INDE’s team has delivered a stunning solution on time and on budget. INDE’s ability to operate at this level – from a quality and operational perspective – shows how effective our market-leading technology is, and is evidenced by the roll out of this campaign worldwide,” said Alex Alanson, INDE’s COO.

Watch this video to learn more about how the AR experience was created, and how it works: