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[Exclusive] The Making of Viral Sensation 'Love Has No Labels'

45 million YouTube views later, here's how Mindride created the video's X-ray illusion.
Photo: Brian Emerson

By now, you’ve seen Love Has No Labels, the 45-million-Youtube-view viral video that features diverse couples and families interacting behind a massive X-ray screen. It's a clever metaphor for the fact that underneath our skin, we're all the same. But, what you might have missed is that the X-ray effect wasn't actually made with X-rays—it was crafted through motion sensor data, virtual avatars, and real-time 3D animation. In the short documentary above, you can see how technology team Mindride designed the live experience.

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First, they suited up the actors in Xsens body gear embedded with 17 sensors to measure movement and placement of body joints. Then, the human movement data they captured was streamed real-time to a rendering computer which animated the corresponding 3D skeleton created by a CGI artist on the team. To make the skeletons more human-like, Mindride augmented the performer’s hands and jaws with special midi-controllers. Also as the performances were happening, they continuously modified the skeleton models to make them look more X-ray like.

“My biggest mocap [motion capture] challenge was how to get the most human performance and how to produce these skeleton avatars in this live experiential setting,” says Yehuda Duenyas, Chief Creative Officer of Mindride in the documentary. “The digitization of the human is a really interesting space to be in.”

Re-watch the original campaign below, and see what went on behind the scenes:

Photo: Roberto De Jesus

Photo: Roberto De Jesus

Photo: Mindride

Photo: Roberto De Jesus

Photo: Roberto De Jesus

Love Has No Labels project was created by AdCouncil and R/GA and produced by Persuade Content. Mindride, who is represented by Persuade Content, designed the production, the live experience, and the technology.

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