Behind The Atlanta Tech Bringing Local Stars To AR Stages

Fans at a recent Atlanta Hawks’ game were wowed by more than just Trae Young’s moves, thanks to Atlanta’s growing base of AR technologists.

Many of those technologists are housed in YAH (You Are Here) Agency and Georgia State’s Creative Media Industries Insitute (CMII). Those two groups were looking for ways to engage fans at State Farm Arena in a new, interactive way. They decided to “virtually transport” Atlanta-based hip-hop artist Latto into State Farm Arena for a halftime performance as the Hawks took on the Celtics. 

The tech that made it all possible hinges on CMII’s volumetric capture stage and YAH’s team of experts, builders, and coders. CMII is home to a 32-camera volumetric capture stage, which brings AR projects to life with the creation of “digital clones”.

Ricardo Olivo, YAH’s VP of Innovation Technology, told Hypepotamus the technology has been used by the firm for many “entertaining and marketing” experiences over the years. But a project that brings together the Atlanta Hawks and the Coca-Cola franchise through homegrown technology is particularly exciting. 

“Atlanta has been a pioneer in many ways in the AR space,” added Olivo. “We’re taking risks on this technology. We’re dependent on the West Coast for development [of the technology], but when it comes to actually utilizing the technology, the Atlanta community is pretty creative. The city has developed great technologies for motion capture and virtual reality,” Olivo said. 

He noted that Atlanta’s college tech talent is also an important source of innovation in the growing AR space. Olivo said the AR technology has developed leaps and bounds since his team first developed an AR project that brought the Coca-Cola logo to life. 

The Latto experience will now live on a different Coke product. Those who weren’t at the game will still have a chance to see the performance by scanning Sprite products in metro Atlanta. That scan will “transport” Latto right to consumers.

“We have seen firsthand how uniting sports and entertainment engages people through shared passions,” said YAH’s Ryan Duffy in a statement. “Augmented reality is one of the most valuable and exciting tech trends right now — and for good reason. We’re excited to marry our commitment to our clients with ground-breaking technology.”