Too often are virtual artifacts lost in the abyss of the internet never to be realized in our physical world. By rendering a simple array of about 100 tetrahedrons in 3D modeling software and bringing that virtual artifact into a physical reality, I welcome our culture’s modern day fusion with technology.
Before
After
With subtle hints at our society’s dependance and perhaps, overuse of technology such as smart phones, I invite the user to take a glimpse at themselves as they search for art in this augmented space. By mimicking the likely physical gestures of someone viewing their portable smart phone, e.g., someone holding up their phone pointing, the spectator becomes part of the piece as they repeat into infinity. The viewer sees the piece of art, which is looking at it’s replication, which in turn is also looking at another replication, so on and so forth. This idea of the infinite suggests that the viewer is the art in which they search for.
Augmented Reality Project. UARART
Jeff’s Webby
My final project is based on the systems concept of feedback. In this video installation, the participant is able to manipulate the contents of the imagery and the audio through various gestures. The idea here is that the participates chooses what movements to make, the media then reacts to the movements. In theory, this reaction will then feedback to the participant. Since the piece also reacts to sound, this adds another dimension of reaction. As the participant make her gestures, the sound reacts, which then causes the imagery to react.
The most intuitive is the x,y, and z movements of the arm. I played with various other attributes such as the head and legs but it didn’t seem to fit well in this particular piece. This time around I wanted to keep everything super simple so I decided to only use the arms to control the x,y and z values of the sphere and the cube.
For the audio, I had trouble making it convincing that the particular sounds are emanating from their respective shapes. Ideas that occurred to me were matching the speed of the video to the rate of the synthesizers. Although this does work it seems to be missing something; the speeds are not synced. After coming to that realization, that’s when I decided to make the video reactionary to the audio. This serves as a quick fix but is limited. I also had issues with the internal microphone’s sensitivity. I’m still troubleshooting the right amount for various locations and sound systems. It mostly reacts too much creating an undesired effect when little sound is heard or the hum of my laptop starts to get louder.
The project could definitely benefit from some fine tuning. Like mentioned earlier, It would have been nice to implement emerging behavior based on data gathered from the participant. The audio could be more cohesive with the imagery. And also the video could be more sleek and the projection mapping could be more precise. Overall I believe I was successful. Some parts of the project I feel as if I failed and some turned out, more or less, the way I wanted. But as long as I take notes on what worked and didn’t, it helps me grow, which is a success in my opinion.
At the beginning of this year I would have described this piece as “interactive.” I’ve realized what it take to make something truly interactive; which is probably not too far away insofar as I learn more Max. As Jo-Anne Green describes this type of reactive art as a fixed, first order cybernetic system. In “interactive” or second order systems, the dynamics not only allow the participant to input, but the class of the input and output may change. As this was one of the topics that interested me the most, I will, in the future, take a stab at self adjusting systems. I like the idea of gathering input of the prior participant/s and using the averages to have an effect on the output or even input. I aspire to thing and will investigate further.
I’ve decided to use Max for live for this project. Ryan Challinor, the creator of synapse, has created some great patches that map parameters to the kinect via OSC. It’s fairly straight forward; Just drop in a Max dial, plug in the appropriate values, and then map it to a parameter in Live. I chose to use Live because there is a lot of flexibility. I seen myself using more of Max for live in the future. Somethings you don’t need to recreate. There’s a sequencer and an endless array of tools I can twist and tweak.
So for the square I decided to use a square wave and a sine for the sphere. I’ve mapped parameters such as, rate, frequency shifts, feedback, panning, with tools such as reverb, chorus, phasers, EQs, and a few other tools.
I believe I have not quite connected the audio with the visuals for a more cohesive form. This was my first attempt at designing synths for visualizations and I am still learning what goes together. I would have loved to used strictly Max MSP for my audio but I am not yet confident in my abilities in the area to form cohesiveness. It was hard enough listening to different synths tones and daisy chained through various effects. For future projects I will use Max MSP for sure.
I’ve made a slight miscalculation on the mapping of the sculpture. Since I have a cube hanging on the wall in line with the projector, it is nearly impossible to map the whole box with just one projector. I would need one of those top of the line projectors with 10,000 lumens, or I would need two projectors at about 45 degrees angles from the front of the sculpture. Lesson learned.
I will create three basic animations: the background, sphere and cube. For the background I decided to make a fly through in space that transports the participant fro their currently everyday life into the inter workings of this piece. For the cube I decided to use cinema 4d so I could embedded a cube within a cube. In addition, I added light tracers that flow around the contour of the cube. I also added light tracers circling the sphere. For the sphere, I created more organic shapes that are reactionary to the ambiance of the room. I wanted to go in completely difference directions with the animations of these two objects to separate these objects from each other. This perhaps adds contrast and also visual variety that keeps the attention of the audience, yet they are still bound by the space and are able to coexist in a whole.
Tools: After Effects, Cinema 4D, Photoshop.
Finding a sphere has been somewhat difficult. I’ve spend days searching for the right piece and yet nothing. I’ve went to target, walgreens, various flea markets around the bay area, party stores, dollars stores, thrifts stores, urban ore and plenty of other locations-nothing. I was thinking of using light fixtures but those are made out of glass and isn’t portable or cheap for that matter.
I finally came to the conclusion that I must take matters into my own hands and build it myself with paper mache. The perfect size would have been a beach ball, but due to the fact that it is winter it proved impossible to find. After searching 10+ stores for this obscure item, I decided to just use a basketball for the base. A bit smaller than desired. After applying about 20 layers of paper with my paper mache mix which consisted of an equal distribution of water and flour, I let it dry next to the heater. The next day I spray painted it white along with my card board box. The cube is a bit bigger. I’m dissatisfied with the size differential but it will have to do.
The piece is partly about balance exemplified by these, more or less, opposite shapes. The spheres curves represent a more organic naturalistic paradigm while the cube is inorganic. I will mount the sculpture with nails and hooks on to the wall. More to come stay tuned.
I have been successful at getting two separate animation to be controlled via Modul8 with two separate sounds in ableton live. I’ve decided it would make more sense if I used a sin wave for the half sphere and a square wave for the square. I’ve been going to flea markets, searching the net, home depot, dollar stores etc to find the materials I needed for the sculpture. I am finding it is rather difficult to find a sphere. Bowls are almost spherical and would work for this project but I’d like to be more round. i was thinking of creating the sphere out of paper mache by molding it on top of my basket ball, adding several layers then sanding it down when it drys. After it is nicely sanded I will spray paint it white. For the square I will simply use a cardboard box.
I will have three separate animations: the sphere, square and the background. I have yet to start the animation process. I will proceed when I finish the physical aspects of the sculpture. After the animations are finished I will then add the audio.
That is it for now.
So pretty much my idea is pretty much the same. utilizing a Kinect motion sensor, in conjunction with various software, I will create a feedback loop having the audience complete the circle. I’ve decided to go more minimal on the sculpture aspect. Here I have a mock up of what it might look like. Ideas for materials are cardboard boxes for the cube and a salad bowl for the half sphere.
The Idea here is to make a 3 dimensional screen for this audio/visual installation. Depending on computer processing I will try to use Ableton live for the audio and Modul8 for the visual. So far ‘ve been able to create a daisy chain of software one communicated with the next to route OSC messages from the kinetic to modul8. I have not yet done so For Ableton live so I am not able to see weather or not my system will be able to handle All those programs running. The software chain has not changed much since the last proposal; running synapse and max to route OSC through OSculaor to modul8.
Ive also been playing with the idea of having the audio also affecting the piece’s visual output being color luminosity etc.
jeffyipster 