Mirage

Specially commissioned by the City of Santa Monica, California, for Glow 08, Primal Source was an all-night performance/installation brought to life through the active participation of festival-goers (estimated at approx. 200,000 over the course of the night).





Located on the beach near the Pier in an area that had been specifically landscaped over the course of several days, and making use of a large-scale outdoor waterscreen/mist projection system, the mirage-like installation glowed with colours and ebullient patterns created in response to the competing and collaborative voices, music and screams of people nearby.

Responding to sounds emanating from the crowd, the system's modes changed every few minutes depending on how active the crowd participation was (more quickly when there was more noise). Each mode responded in a slightly different way to the individual voices and sounds picked up by 8 microphones distributed towards the front.

Some modes created "creatures" whose colour, shape and movement followed the frequency and amplitude dynamics of individual syllables and sentences picked up; other modes responded to wider collective phenomena, e.g. distorting a grid in response to the crowd volume, or creating a rush of wind through a wheat-field landscape.

Multi Touch Music Wall

Just another music wall I found. I can't find much information online about it but it is just something I thought was pretty cool.

Evoke

Evoke specially commissioned for the city of York, is a massive interactive projection that animates the facade of York Cathedral.



The facade is designed to orient the gazes of passers-by upwards. As an attempt to continue this tradition, the patterns of Evoke are generated in realtime by the words, sounds, music and noises produced collectively by the public, determined by their particular voice characteristics. The colours will skim the surface of the Minster, pour round its features and crevasses, emerging finally near the top of the facade where they will sparkle high overhead.

People with voices of different frequencies, rhythms or cadences will be able to evoke quite different magical patterns upon the surface of the building - a staccato chirping will result in a completely different set of visual effects to a long howl for example, blending old and new to continue animating the facade of the Minster.

AudioPad

Audiopad is a composition and performance instrument for electronic music which tracks the positions of objects on a tabletop surface and converts their motion into music. One can pull sounds from a giant set of samples, juxtapose archived recordings against warm synthetic melodies, cut between drum loops to create new beats, and apply digital processing all at the same time on the same table. Audiopad not only allows for spontaneous reinterpretation of musical compositions, but also creates a visual and tactile dialogue between itself, the performer, and the audience.





Audiopad has a matrix of antenna elements which track the positions of electronically tagged objects on a tabletop surface. Software translates the position information into music and graphical feedback on the tabletop. Each object represents either a musical track or a microphone.

Audiopad was created and developed by James Patten and Ben Recht for Ars Electronica in 2003

Touch Wall/Music Game

Music game is an interactive installation based on our multi-touch wall project. People generate music by hitting music instruments icons with rubber balls. As well we control concert lighting equipment via MIDI.

This solution is based on our GPU-accelerated computer vision technology called ACV. It allows to process a 4096x4096 px frame in just 5 ms (200 fps) utilizing a standard nVidia 9800 GT card. We use high-speed Fire-Wire cameras to feed our tracker at such a high data speed.

Light bead curtain

The Light Bead Curtain is an interactive musical installation that can be freely played by person's touch. The installation takes the form of a beaded curtain; strings of simple clear beads. Each bead, on a users touch, lights itself and emits a unique sound. People play with the curtain by weaving their hands through it, touching it with their faces, and moving through it with their body. An environment of light and sound is created when people engage with the curtain.

Cool Photography Site

Mark Jenkins is the name of this photographer and I just stumbled across his site and thought he had a few very interesting pictures.
The main theme throughout his work is the creation of tape sculptures and placing them in unusual places. These sculptures range from a giraffe down to a leaf.

I just thought that some of these were pretty cool and worth a look.

Hello World

These abstract lines and shapes were created by programming code based on the creative approach and certain data which we recorded the ways of greeting from five persons who are from different countries - such as Denmark, India, Italy, Korea and USA. They were drawn in different colours and shapes depending on not only greeting data but also the gravity physics functions. I find it intriguing to explore the use of concrete data to create abstract drawing as well as paying with programming as a creative tool. Used program : Processing, Photoshop.

The new Nintendo 3DS

The new Nintendo 3DS is due to be released in the next year. Using the same type of technology as Boffswana do in a previous post, Nintendo have managed to incorporate a 3D element into their new console. It will be capable of producing 3D graphics, without the need for 3D glasses. They will also have to include a sensor in it to track users movements completely. This is just a sneak peek at one of its uses.



Not much information has been provided, but here is what has been explicitly stated, via Nintendo's press release:

1. A new handheld, called the Nintendo 3DS, will be released sometime between April 2010 - March 2011.


2. Nintendo 3DS will produce 3D graphics, no glasses necessary.


3. Nintendo 3DS will be backwards compatible with the entire line of Nintendo DS products.


4. It will be revealed at the Los Angeles E3 trade show this coming June.

The World's Deepest Bin

To throw rubbish in the bin instead of onto the floor shouldn’t really be so hard. Many people still fail to do so. Can we get more people to throw rubbish into the bin, rather than onto the ground, by making it fun to do?

The Fun Theory is an initiative started by Volkswagen. They aim to solve common problems using simple Multimedia solutions. In this example they have rigged a bin with a set of speakers and a simple sound effect of something falling from a long distance. This solution seemed to be rather effective in the area it was collecting almost 41kg more rubbish than the nearest bin.

Scratch Mat

Most people enter a building without cleaning their shoes, often resulting in dirt all over the floor.
Could this nuisance be removed by making the activity fun to do?

This crowd were able to rig a welcome mat to work as a turntable of sorts. By wiping their feet on the mat as they enter, it recreates the circumstances as thoough someone were scratching on a record.

This is a fun and interactive way to tackle a common proble using the digital arts.

funtheory

thefuntheory.com is a website setup by Volkswagon. They aim to solve common problems using simple multimedia solutions. There is nothing to complicated on this site and nothing I really feel is out of my own capablities.

They have have created a wide number of pieces such as the piano stairs which increased the number of people who used the stairs compared to an escalator by almost two thirds.



They propose a vending machine that doubles as a slot machine for empty cans to encourage recycling.



A pinball machine that uses a small excercise machine to operate the paddles within. All in an attempt to make exercising more fun.





This is a site which I found really interesting because the content is very heavily idea based with some really clever implementations of some fun concepts

Chritmas Lighting Installation

This is an installation created by Michael Pendry along with Siemens in Munich. It is meant to replicate the star on the eve of Christmas. It was lit above the city of Munich at the Northern gateway.

He fastened 9,000 high powered LED's to a wind turbine and used almost 400 metres of cable, the same length as the height of the cable. The project was about the promotion of renewable energy to run the LED's used only the same amount of energy as boiling a kettle would.



Because of the wind turbine’s prominent location next to the A9 autobahn – a main traffic artery not far from the airport and used by well over 150,000 motorists a day – it was considered to be ideal for the lighting installation from the very beginning.

Multi Touch

I've been looking into Multi touch technology lately and found some of it really interesting. So far I've seen how to create my own multi touch surface using two different methods on instructables.com but some of the most interesting things that I have seen so far are the practical implementations of it.

This is a really useful piece of Microsoft Presentation software which is well worth a download at http://www.so-touch.com

Really Cool Robots

The Personal Robots group presents a scenario demonstrating mixed-initiative human-robot teaming for disaster response.

This is a really cool video of a robot using what I think is an Arduino. I don't really know much just think it's pretty class using a Flash like interface to control a robot.


Well Worth a look!

Project Stuff

Just looking for a place to put up a couple of links regarding my project ideas.

Interactive storybook

This is another type of example where the user reads a story first then goes on to play a game concerning the previous story
Clifford

This one has sound effects as well
Captain Pugwash

Open Frameworks Project

Portrait Machine is an interactive photography installation that visualizes the connections between visitors. It makes these connections based on a number of features, such as clothing choice, hair color, facial expression, and composition within the frame. It presents both similarities and differences in these characteristics, remdining us of our connectedness and uniqueness, creating strong visual patterns and playful juxtapositions.
By placing a camera above the picture frame(TV screen), and openframeworks, this is able to pick up motion within the frame. Then using this knowledge the camera takes picture and using similarities between the various pictures is able to pick the ones that will go well together.

Really Cool Photo Lighting Effect

This is a group called Lichtaktor who use torches and lights to create some really interesting effects in their photographs and videos. Their aim is to explore all aspects of lightwriting and to develop it further. The Lichtfaktor crew intentionally uses the entire space in which a particular work is produced and integrates it into their photos and animations in such a way that it's not just a backdrop but part of the work itself.

They uses all sorts of lights from torches to bicycle lights to LED lights, anything that is mobile. They then set up thier cameras on tripods, set the exposure for about 10-30 secs and the ISO to 100. To ensure the area they are shooting is dark enough they use an nd filter on their camera also.

This is my favourite of my entries so far and fully intend on making my own attempt at doing something just like this.

More OSC

is a video showing how you can use the app Mrmr for VJing. Mrmr is an app that “Lets DJ’s and VJ’s mix audio and video directly from their iPhone.” It pretty much allows you to wirelessly control and mix audio/video based on the interfaces you create in the app…making it perfect for VJingMrmr Osc is a free app used to control the output of the screen. In this example the author has created a multi user VJ tool where the users control the output of the screen using Mrmr on their iPhones. He then went onto set it up in a real nightclub allowing the customers of the club to affect the visuals supplied behind the DJ.

Cool Arduino and OSC project

In this article the author describes how he was able to create a lighting rig out of an Arduino. The code he uses for it seems to be pretty basic but has rather powerful actions, what makes this example more interesting than the others I've come across is that it can be controlled using OSC. With an application on your iPhone or iTouch, you are able to change the colour of the lights using sliders supplied by the iPhone app. 

Cool Arduino Clock

Here is a pretty cool clock done using a platform similar to the Arduino, all of the software and code is open source and available on their site. A fully functional clock with all of the regular features of a normal alarm clock such as:

• Cool glowing blue tube with 8 digits and alarm on/off dot
• Adjustable brightness
• Alarm with volume adjust
• Precision watch crystal keeps time with under 20ppm (0.002%) error (<>
• Clear plastic enclosure protects clock from you and you from clock
• Battery backup will let the clock keep the time for up to 2 weeks without power
• Selectable 12h or 24h display
• Displays day and date
• 10 minute snooze

Just something I thought was interesting. The plans are a bit more complex than anything we've looked at yet, still something I thought was interesting.

Augmented Reality

Boffswana are a digital advertising agency that are inclined to come up ratehr innovative solutions. I was looking over their website when I" found this really cool example of Augmented Reality. Using Papervision 3d and the FLAR toolkit they created this monster type character which appears out of a 'glyph' (shape) when held in front of your webcam. I think this topic is extremely interesting and definitely something I would have interest in looking at for our Avant Garde Project.

We found this when we were looking for inspiration for our project. I think it is a brilliant use of the arduino. VandalSpray is a digital spray can specifically designed for this purpose. It implements the attributes of a real spray can or at least trys to achieve them as natural as possible. Except a turnable bottom for changing the color. In addition to this Martin Radlinger, the creator of VandalSpray, created an Adobe Air application using either your mouse or a nintendo Wii-mote. You should check out the videos on his own site, the results are amazingly realistic and successful.

Parrot AR.drone

The parrot AR.Drone is an unbelievable use of Augmented reality. They have gone a nd developed a fully working quadricopter equipped with two cameras and controled by an iPhone or an iPod Touch.

Using the accelerometer within the iPhone the user steers he copter by tilting his iPhone from side to side and by pushing forward you accelerate. this allows for a very intuitive gesture to operate the device.

There are two cameras in the device, one underneath to track the ground, this allows the helicopter to know where in relation to a space it is situated. The second camera is on the front of the copter, this camera provides the iPhone with the feed it is receiving and it is also critical for the gaming features too.

There are a number of different game modes available with the drone. The user can play single or multi-player games via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The copter uses the front camera to pick up 2d targets and rendering its enemies using Augmented Reality.

Mouse tracking drawing

This post isn't exactly cutting edge technology however I thought it to be an interesting concept and also thought it to be relevant to my end of year project. The program runs in the background of your computer and it then traces the movement of the mouse.

The lines show the actions of the mouse and the larger circles show the spots where the cursor was left to rest for a period of time.

Futuristic User Interface

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Futuristic User Interface

I found this article about a device which this particular blogger believes is within our technological means combining a number of existing technologies into one mobile device.

"Touch screen, built in camera, scanner, WiFi, google map (hopefully google earth), google search, image search… all in one device."

Based on the principle that wireless internet is available everywhere this device will be able to give you all the necessary information in regards to an office building, or a plant like demonstrated in the picture below.



















He also imagines that companies would be able to use this device to market their products. Picking an excellent example he demonstrates this very well in the third image below. Stores would be able to keep 3d models of their products in online catalogues and show how they may look with their possible uses. I also think that this is very clever feature.