COMPANY

PROJECT

DETAILS

RTFKT / Independant

Project Phoenix

Project Phoenix is a standalone real-time 3D application built in Unreal Engine 5 that empowered the RTFKT Clone X community to fully visualize, customize, and interact with their digital identities. Designed as both a utility and a showcase, the experience allowed users to connect their wallets, load in their Clone X character avatars, and explore an expansive set of features, from a fully interactive wearable locker and dynamic photo studio to a full 3D Clone X gallery.

Project Phoenix offered an accessible and polished window into what digital ownership could look like when brought to life in a real-time environment. It was a major step forward in community engagement, unlocking new tools for storytelling, expression, and immersive exploration within the RTFKT ecosystem.

I led the design, UX, and development efforts in Unreal Engine 5, building the entire experience from the ground up. This included crafting UI systems, creating real-time rendering environments, integrating wallet-based asset requests, and developing tools that enabled the community to interact with their avatars and collectibles in meaningful ways.

CONTRIBUTIONS

Developer

Creative Direction

UX Design

Design Director

3D Design

Interaction Design

Research

ABOUT

Project Phoenix

Project Phoenix was more than just an app; it was a platform that unlocked an entirely new layer of interaction for the Clone X community. The experience brought digital identities to life in real time, allowing users to pull in their own Clone X avatars directly from their connected wallets and customize them with a wide array of wearables.

One of the standout features was the Locker System, a fully interactive wardrobe tool with over 400+ items, including detailed footwear options. Users could try on different combinations of wearables and see changes reflected instantly on their Clone, bridging utility and self-expression.

The app also featured a Studio Mode with dynamic lighting environments, an Advanced Photo Mode for capturing cinematic visuals, and a Quick Capture function for easy content sharing. These tools empowered the community to create and share high-quality content featuring their own avatars.

In the Gallery, users could explore the entire Clone X collection in 3D, complete with rarity and trait data, right inside the app. And for those looking ahead, a dedicated Experimental section offered early access to control systems and hinted at future interactivity, storytelling, and gameplay elements to come.

Design & Features

Project Phoenix was designed to feel like a high-end, immersive showroom, equal parts functional toolset and cinematic experience. From the moment users launched the app, they were dropped into a sleek, stylized environment where their Clone X avatars took center stage. Every interaction, camera move, and UI transition was built with intention: to showcase the power of digital identity and ownership in real-time.

Wallet Integration & Avatar Pull-In

Users could connect their wallet directly through the launcher, allowing them to seamlessly pull in their owned Clone X avatars. For those who didn’t own a Clone, a default avatar—Clone #1651—was made available so that everyone could participate.

Wearable Locker System

A major highlight was the Locker, an interactive wardrobe system where users could browse and equip over 400+ wearables, including rare sneakers, clothing, and accessories. Equipped items appeared instantly on the avatar in real-time. This system was designed to reflect the potential of digital fashion and personalization.

Real-Time 3D Customization

The app supported both masculine and feminine body types in dark and light mode, with real-time rig switching and animation compatibility baked in. Each change was reflected instantly, thanks to the optimized asset pipeline and UI structure.

Studio Mode & Lighting Environments

The Studio offered several custom lighting environments, including a clean Dark Mode, to photograph and stage the avatar. This included:

  • A Quick Capture system for instantly snapping screenshots.

  • An Advanced Photo Mode with camera controls, DOF (depth of field), and focal tweaks—built to give users full control over their final output.

Clone X Gallery Browser

Users could search and view any Clone from the entire 20k Clone X collection. Each avatar was rendered in 3D with trait data visible, letting users explore rarities, compare aesthetics, and even zoom in on details. This transformed static NFT viewing into a dynamic, tactile experience.

Animus & Workerbot Display Characters

While not pulled from wallet data, pre-loaded versions of the Animus and Workerbot characters were included for display and atmosphere, offering users a taste of upcoming RTFKT storylines and companion experiences.

Experimental Features Section

The Experimental tab in Project Phoenix offered users early access to features in development, giving the community a glimpse into the future of interactive digital identity. One of the most forward-looking tools was Live Link integration, which allowed users to puppeteer their Clone X avatars using facial motion capture directly from their phone. This opened up exciting possibilities around vTubing, performance capture, and real-time character control, giving creators new ways to express themselves with their digital identities.

Another key feature was a Character Reference Capture system. Users could generate detailed reference imagery of their Clone X in various poses and lighting setups. These images could then be used as training data for creating custom LoRA models, personalized AI models that mimicked their avatar’s appearance for image generation, storytelling, and more. This dramatically lowered the barrier for content creation, making it easier than ever for community members to bring their avatars into other creative tools, AI workflows, and visual narratives.

The Experimental section was about exploration, innovation, and creator empowerment—giving early adopters access to the cutting edge of what's possible with avatar-driven storytelling.

EXPLORATIONS

This section features a series of concept explorations focused on how Project Phoenix could evolve and expand. These videos explore new directions for interactivity, character control, content creation, and deeper avatar integration, showing possibilities of what the platform could offer in future updates.

Dynamic Theming - Dark Mode

Dark Mode is a dynamic lighting preset inspired by Doodles’ “make something: dark mode ● - ●.” It was designed to instantly transform the look and feel of a character. With a single toggle, the environment and lighting shift to a sleek, moody aesthetic, highlighting how quickly characters can be re-themed to reflect new styles, moods, or cultural trends. It served as a visual proof of concept for how adaptable the platform could be in supporting seasonal drops, community challenges, or cinematic storytelling moments.

Character Continuity for Gaming Experiences

This exploration focused on preserving character identity and loadout across different maps and levels. By extending the CLX Assembly System, characters and their equipped wearables could be saved and seamlessly transferred between environments, enabling a more cohesive and persistent experience.

The system was enhanced with third-person camera and movement controls, making interactions feel more immersive and game-like. Built to be modular and scalable, it can dynamically assemble any of the 20,000 Clone X characters on the fly. Thanks to its architecture, updates to the system automatically apply across the entire collection, ensuring continuity and consistency at scale.

LiveLink Character Control

This exploration showcased the use of Live Link to bring real-time facial motion capture to Clone X avatars using a mobile device. By linking a phone to the app, users could puppeteer their characters with their own expressions, unlocking new possibilities for vTubing, storytelling, and performance-driven content creation. It demonstrated how Project Phoenix could evolve into a creator-first platform, where users could become their characters in real time

VTubing Proof of Concept

This early prototype explored how users could bring their pre-configured Clone X avatars into a virtual scene for VTubing. Using Live Link facial capture and basic camera controls, the setup allowed a user to drive their character’s expressions in real time while interacting in a stylized environment.

Though still rough, it was proof of concept for how Project Phoenix could evolve into a creator tool for streaming, storytelling, or digital presence. Built on the CloneXAssembly system, this concept could be expanded to support all 20,000 Clone X characters with plug-and-play simplicity.

CONCLUSION

Project Phoenix unlocked a new level of digital identity interaction for the RTFKT community. By bridging the gap between collectibles and real-time immersion, it gave users the ability to personalize, visualize, and share their Clone X avatars in entirely new ways. It created space for community-generated content, storytelling, and future interactive narratives, laying the foundation for what digital ownership and self-expression could look like in the metaverse.

It also served as a major technical and creative milestone, one that demonstrated how web3 assets could evolve beyond static visuals into living, breathing experiences.

Additional information, such as downloading the standalone version or getting started with the open-sourced branch, can be found here: https://project-phoenix.gitbook.io/documentation

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