Flow
“Traditional Chinese Folklore Meets Cutting-Edge Immersive Tech”
Project Title: Flow
Team Members: Nina Wang, Ashling Tu, Christine Jung, Laura Yang, Shih-Hung Liu, Jiajian Zhang
Faculty Advisor: Ralph Vituccio, ETC Teaching Professor
The Idea
In early 2024, ETC student Nina Wang set out to explore the creative potential of the CAVERN: a 270-degree stereoscopic 3D environment designed for interactive, multi-user experiences that’s been referred to as “VR without a helmet.” Built by the ETC Technology Team in 2022, the CAVERN had impressive hardware but lacked content that could show off its potential.
Wang, who led the team, pitched a project that would marry emerging immersive media technology with traditional Chinese dance, folklore, and culture through movement and narrative. Inspired by Wang’s 20+ years of experience in traditional Chinese dance, Flow reimagines traditional Chinese culture. Flow follows a deer and a dancer, who meet and become friends in an intricately rendered world inspired by classical Chinese art. Players help them overcome obstacles by mirroring dance-like gestures tracked via motion sensors — a duet between the user and the technology, rather than a solo performance.
Nina and her team were able to pitch the ETC faculty a clear, beautiful artistic experience, reimagining a traditional Chinese story into a new interactive media space. It was the perfect marriage of traditional storytelling with emerging mediated narrative technology.
Ralph Vituccio
ETC Teaching Professor
The Process
The team behind Flow called it an “immersive art piece” — one where users would stand inside the 20-foot space of the CAVERN and advance the story through simple motions drawn from Chinese dance. But it took a lot of thought and many, many iterations and playtests to get there.
The team started with just a single motion-tracking sensor, but over the course of 70+ playtests with more than 100 guests, they refined the interaction model — adding two more sensors, responsive lighting, and sound cues to guide audience attention.
The team also:
- Choreographed and performed Chinese dance in CMU’s Motion Capture Lab, using the footage as a basis for the animation and the gestures necessary to advance the story
- Developed a custom-built motion tracking system, using multiple sensors installed around the CAVERN and one inside a lantern the team built as an interactive prop
It’s very, very easy to just whisper ‘hey, just move your hands now’ from the back when testing. But they held steady, and that discipline is a huge part of their success.
Steve Audia
ETC Director of Information Technology
The Impact
- 2025 finalist in the SXSW Innovation Awards
- Winner of the 2025 Communication Arts Award of Excellence
- Presented as the ETC’s go-to CAVERN demo for visiting VIPs and industry partners
When Sony Pictures Entertainment SVP Yoshikazu Takashima visited the ETC in 2024, he experienced Flow firsthand. Takashima was impressed — not just with the technology but also with how intuitively the experience taught guests how to participate.
It’s making waves internationally too. In China, Zunzheng Digital Video replicated the CAVERN environment using a curved LED wall and installed Flow in their corporate space to showcase their screen technology. The project has also been exhibited at the Sea World Culture and Arts Center in Shenzhen, China.
I can’t express enough how much Flow has given me. It led me to so many possibilities and taught me more things than I could ever expect; it connected me with industry experts who were invited to see our work, and brought together a team that is now like a family. It will definitely act as a blueprint for the future.
Nina Wang
Flow Producer