T. rex ALIVE

NINA DEMIRJIAN

A life-size interactive projection of a T. rex in a Cretaceous environment. Created for the American Museum of Natural History's 2019 special exhibition, T. rex: The Ultimate Predator

T. rex Alive displays a life-size animated T. rex model that interacts with visitors as it paces around its Cretaceous environment. The T. rex responds to visitor activity by moving its head to follow them, and occasionally biting at them. The T. rex’s behavior is influenced by the quantity and location of people standing in front of the projection. For example, when no visitors are present, the T. rex will walk towards the back of the scene and lay down to nap, only to be awakened when a visitor steps in front of the screen. The scene also includes a small hatchling - or baby T. rex - wandering around and looking curiously at the visitors.

The piece is a part of the American Museum of Natural History’s special exhibition, T. rex: The Ultimate Predator, which opened in early March of 2019.

I worked on a small team at AMNH to create T. rex Alive. I worked in Unity, using C#, to develop the T. rex's behavior and patterns based on user presense and location in front of the screen.