Case Study

TIKTOK ANNUAL SHOWCASE CHINA 2021

Pixel World uses mapped visuals to create striking performances at the 2021 TikTok showcase in China.

TikTok’s 2021 annual showcase in China saw two acts use Notch as part of their performances. The theme for both Jackson Wang and Roy Wang’s performances was “Everyone Is Someone’s Light”, as they wanted to showcase ordinary creators who enlighten others with beauty and passion. The choreography and music cues had to be rehearsed and set in place before any visuals were planned out, and as it was essential for the 3D mapped visuals to fit the performance, Notch was chosen as the creative tool and the real-time engine for both performances.

Featuring two distinctly different virtual sets (including a multi-performer stage piece and a solo performance featuring a real-time shadow puppet theatre), Notch’s real-time capabilities were put to the test, and several key features including real-time lighting, shadows and reflections were used to give both performances a high-end rendering look.

Using Notch’s built-in animation playback features and real-time tweakability, we could easily make adjustments to the performance and pre-made, imported animation sequences. Without these features, the show could neither have been completed in time nor executed as flawlessly.

Pixel World

The ability to adjust the timing of the scenes in real-time using the time stretch feature during the performances was essential to allow both performers to play both to and with the audience (which was both live and watching on the live stream). The show was a huge success for TikTok, reaching over 3 million simultaneous TV viewers, with a total exposure of 13.5 billion, and ended up producing 120 trending hashtags for the social media giant.