Done.

Final installation. Show on Friday. Can't believe that's the year over.

Finally......

The final patch.

Installation begins....

Finishing off the installation today. Got the plinth and equipment set up, need a dongle for the Imac though but I think everything else is done. Just need to get ready for the presentation on Monday now.

Eye tracking

Eye tracking is working better now. Face detection has been no problem and triggers instantly in Max/MSP but eyes were a little bit more difficult to pinpoint. Seems to be a bit more stable today.
Also made an outline mode capture too. I like it as it's simple but retains the idea of computer and person mixing, but not sure where it would fit in with the rest of the installation. Might become overkill.........

Augmented Reality working

Phew - got my code working better for the augmented reality material.

Back to reality

So after a very nice break in California - where I saw lots of great design, interactive work and art (so it wasn't just a holiday...!) I am back into the reality that there are only a few weeks to go until my Masters assessment - and the exhibition is breathing down my neck. Got the majority of it sorted, but now just need to tweak some areas and add the finishing touches....

Data moshing

Having fun now that I have processing and Max talking, and also downloaded some samples from JMyron too to add to the whole process. I'm currently building a patch to include datamoshing, so that when people interact it will look just like a live image capture, however as they move around there are glitches applied so that the image slowly deteriorates and changes, but, as you stay still, it returns back to it's original image. This ties in nicely with my mirror metaphor and also the surreal idea that when looking in a mirror are we really seeing the real image - what happens when we look away or move - does the image have a parallel experience?

More inspiration

I love the insecurity camera, and this great shadow monsters installation using Processing, and JMyron. Everything is not always as it seems............!

Max/MSP and Processing

After quite a few hours I have got Processing and Max talking to each other so I can manipulate my Processing files via Max MSP and vice versa. So I can now put the finishing touches to altering the visuals that a user will see as they interact. Randomly, different images will appear, as a visual journey unfolds which in turn will be different for each individual and every interaction.

Unfolding Landscape

Jenny Brownrigg gave me a link to this which, although slightly different from what I am currently working on still creates a visual experience for people who interact with the piece.

"The dramatic natural land formation of The Old Man of Storr in Trotternish on the Isle of Skye was transformed through illumination and sound throughout the months of August and September in 2005. For forty two nights this award winning installation The Storr: Unfolding Landscape brought an audience of six and a half thousand people, equipped with headlamps, guides and walking sticks on a strenuous walk to witness one of Europe’s most dramatic and inspiring landscapes at midnight. The massed pinnacles and buttresses were illuminated while powerful soundscapes drifted down from the ridges above."

TheCreator

Looking at some of the information Karl-Petter Åkesson has sent me from SICS, based on pervasive gaming - as mentioned in an earlier post. The interface looks good. The ideas on authoring etc are still in development but hopefully in the Autumn this can be further explored!

MaxMSP

Working on a bit of Max/MSP Jitter material today to try and get the AR material and the processing files all working in synch.Tricky stuff.

Pervasive gaming

Recently, in exploring interaction, augmented reality and visual cognition Gair had mentioned the collective 'Blast Theory', who, through further exploration I found, worked with IPerG, a group whose aim has been the creation of 'entirely new game experiences, which are tightly interwoven with our everyday lives through the objects, devices and people that surround us and the places we inhabit. The approach has been through the exploration of several showcase games which come under the description of “pervasive games” - a radically new game form that extends gaming experiences out into the physical world. To achieve a high quality of interactive experience for these games, new technologies and methods were explored for the creation of novel and compelling forms of content. Their web site documents the main findings of the project and its public documentation - publications, deliverables and dissemination materials.' On investigating further I contacted Karl-Petter Åkesson, at the Swedish Institute of Computer Science (SICS), and he then suggested beta access to their new pervasive gaming authoring software called TheCreator. It sounds really fascinating, and although it will probably not be completely up and running before the end of my MSc I want to continue researching and being involved in this area of digital media and interaction, so I'm looking forward to exploring further in the near future.

photo's © SICS and IPerG

We are autobots.......

Really like this AR piece 'We Are Autobots' set up for the new Transformers film! Aiming to include this kind of face tracking in my installation, alongside the element of pervasive gaming. Want to keep the idea small but have some impact, and be intuitive for the users.

Next project.....?

After last nights seminar - I want one! - So I can do this!

OKN04

Had a great evening yesterday at Peacock Visual Arts 'OKN04' - Open Knowledge Network. Ewan McIntosh from Channel 4's 4iP was there,with a really great talk on innovation and digital media's future etc, along with three other guest speakers, including Bill Thompson who did a great live demo on circuit bending and music making from an old 'Major Morgan' toy! Really liked the open stack info too, and Jono Sandilands stuff was great. Fascinating and great fun. Will definitely be at their next one. The red wine was good too. ;)

Books

I ordered some books which have proved incredibly helpful in my work Visualizing Research, (Which gets a bit of a knocking from some, and loved by others - I enjoyed it after being unsure initially and then revisiting it a couple of times) offers students and supervisors guidance in the planning, execution and communication of research in Art and Design. It's well structured and concise, and gave some some food for thought while writing my earlier reports, and undertaking my research. The others such as 'Visual Intelligence: Perception, Image and Manipulation in Visual Communication' posed some interesting topics and questions that helped inform my actual practice.


Have been really enjoying exploring the theory and philosophy behind my work, and have uncovered countless interesting topics and tangents as I have delved further into the factors. I think this is a definite route my work will follow for sometime.

Relief!

Phew! - the results came in for our post grad diploma and I passed thankfully - now to tackle the 7,000 word dissertation.

Fake Model Cities

Been playing around with this idea - but finally got a decent one with an old Tokyo holiday snap, taken from the Tokyo tower. Almost looks like a little model city! I like the fact that similarly to the trompe l'oeil paintings it tricks the eye, just by adjusting lighting and adding a slight blur etc.

Markers

This is becoming heavy stuff, with all the augmented reality software - Artag, Artoolkit, FlarToolkit, Papervision etc, and then creating markers etc. Thought about making a puzzle of some sort which involves folded markers which when opened up create an optical illusion or something similar, I'm also loking at fake model photography, which fascinates me as another spin off from the whole visual perception project.