Presenting: my final project for Introduction to Computational Media (ICM), Paper Dolls! In this interactive virtual closet, the user can swap clothing on and off the model, customizing her outfit. The model then reacts to whatever outfit she is wearing. The final version of Paper Dolls has forty-six unique outfit combinations, and nearly four hundred different video clips.

Please enjoy the videos of Paper Dolls in action that I have placed throughout my final write-up. If you would like to create your own version of Paper Dolls, or to receive the full version, please contact me at themattlondon@gmail.com.

It is not hard to think of commercial applications for Paper Dolls. It could be an interactive billboard, an in-store shopping interface, or an online shopping tool — either browser-based or as a downloadable app. Clothing looks so different on a person than it does on a hanger. Paper Dolls lets you see how the clothing looks on a person, and what pieces go well with others, before you buy it. You can also click on the model’s face and the model will give you more info about each outfit.

A more advanced version of Paper Dolls would include multiple models of various body types, so that users could choose the person who most looks like them. Each article of clothing would also contain data that tells you where you can buy the clothing and how much it costs. Imagine if, while playing Paper Dolls, you could double-click on your favorite shirt, and the program would automatically know what size you are, and send you directly to check-out.

When Paper Dolls debuted at the ITP Winter Show, the thing that surprised me most was the interest from children. There was a little girl (AND BOY) who had to literally be dragged away from my station by their mother. This experience demonstrated that there is a market for video-based interactive gaming. It’s like playing with a Barbie doll or G.I. Joe, but with a real-live person instead of a cartoon or plastic facsimile. Imagine Disney Princess Paper Dolls, or Justin Bieber Paper Dolls, and you start to get the idea of where this could go.

There were two criticisms of Paper Dolls that I heard during the show. Please allow me to respond to these observations now.

1.Users want to be the model on the screen, and have clothing projected onto them.

A quick internet search will show many ways designers are taking advantage of customizable digital models and the body mapping technology pioneered by the Microsoft Kinect. Some programs allow you to put computer-generated clothing on a CG model, others allow users to paste two-dimensional photos of clothes onto pictures of themselves. There is a Kinect program that allows users to project CG clothing onto a live video feed of themselves. The problem with all of these projects is that the results are clunky, ugly, and unrealistic. In Paper Dolls, the slick interface allows you to instantly change clothes on a video of an attractive model. The user experience is seamless, and although the model is not the user exactly, it gives users a clear understanding of how the clothing rests on the body, like in a runway show, or television commercial.

2. Paper Dolls is not scalable.

While it is true that users are somewhat limited in the number of clothing articles any one version of the product may have, there is no limit to the number of versions of Paper Dolls there could be. The demo I created has five tops, two skirts, two pairs of pants, five dresses, a jacket, a belt, and three pairs of shoes. There are hundreds of unique video clips, and the entire production only took us six hours. How did we do it? Careful planning, a clear script, and finding ways to limit access to certain articles of clothing. For example, we made shoes unlockable, so that if users found specific outfit combinations, the game would open up the shoes to try on. This way, the user can still find shoes, but we only had to film the shoes on a few of the outfits.

While this may not satisfy some retailers, who have hundreds if not thousands of different articles of clothing for sale, consider the following. Does a television commercial for a clothing store feature every piece of clothing that store has available for sale? Of course not. The commercial highlights the best and newest items. The beauty of Paper Dolls format of interactive ads is that users can learn what pieces of clothing go the best with others, encouraging them to buy two or three new pieces instead of just one. Retailers would want to make a new version of Paper Dolls every time they release a new line of clothing, highlighting the best items from that line.

Paper Dolls was an incredibly fun project to work on, because it incorporated many of my creative passions, including film, writing, games, programming, and working with actors. I was a one-man band on this one, hanging lights, aligning microphones, and writing the code. I would love to make more Paper Dolls videos, and also use the system of video loading and my custom drag-and-drop interface to create other interactive video projects.