For my Nature of Code Final, I continued some of the elements for my thesis.

1.   Mapping the major factors of Craig Reynold’s steering behaviors to theater terminology, using the 8 Laban efforts (LabanEfforts)

This was done by using Dan Shiffman’s flowfield and flocking examples as a reference tool.  And then building controls into ControlP5.

In the code attached here, it draws the results directly into the sketch. In the version for my thesis, it sends the drawing through Syphon.  Also included is my openNI tracking code, which you can work with.  It is built to track up to four users at a time, and color code them for recognition.  It is also built to calibrate quickly with any projector.

I should note that the tracking code also sends a calibrated image of any users infront of the Kinect over Syphon.  When interfaced with software like Isadora this can be used to provide an alpha mask, and project black over the users’ bodies to avoid spill and protect their eyes.

2. I continued my work with the textured cloth.  I made it so that the images could be changed out while the code is running.  I also made it easier to restart the animation to allow for a more iterative rehearsal process with less setup time.

Again, In the code attached here, it draws the results directly into the sketch. In the version for my thesis, it sends the drawing through Syphon.  This code is greatly indepbted to the toxiclibs library for Processing, and the 3d cloth example.

These two screenshots are from  a patch I worked on, using video from an excerpt of a piece with an aerialist I am working with.  This would actually be used with a live input, but for classroom reasons I went with a recording.

The primary goal of my final is to explore two main questions:

1. How do qualities of movement help define characters’ personalities, and internal states in a given moment?
2. What are the benefits (for live performance) of exploring movement through code rather than rendered assets?

Drawing from the world of performance theory/training, I want to explore Rudolf Laban’s “8 efforts” of movement through code.  You can find my breakdown of Laban’s efforts in the attached PDF here:  Laban Movement Notes

The simple version of my final would be to:

• Create a class of moving objects
• Have system of the class relate to a specific person/character on stage
• Be able to change the Laban Effort of each system while the program is running.

The more complex version is to build it into different methods of interacting with the characters onstage.  These include:

• Having the objects respond to multiple performers’ bodies as attractors.
• Placing moving elements onto the bodies of the performer
• Having the physics of the external world respond to a given characters internal state.

I would also like to build in ways of changing the images of these objects via key commands, or gui buttons.  Lastly I would like to explore using Syphon to “export” tge visuals from my Processing code into Isadora to allow for scalability/combining sketches.

You can view a video of my initial experiments here:

Mainly I explored variations in speed and volume.  I also wanted to play around with using the spectrum to change the RGB valuse via the char map.  And maybe it’s just my affinity for object oriented programming – but I wanted to  explore the “cordless” method of sending and receiving signals.

Click here to download my patch

 Week1Pt2.maxpat

Jitter Patch Week One

One element we talked about was an interactive animated music video.  Another element we talked about was folding images/moments from that into a flash animation for their website’s landing page.   That is what I’d like to focus on for this assignment.  Taking a small moment, and animating it in flash so that it can be suitable for the web.

Below is a storyboard for the begining of the video for their “Dismemberment Song.”  I am not sure if I want to include this whole first page in the flash animation.  Or just cut to “Blue Kid” walking onto the gears, and standing on them as they rotate.

As mentioned in previous posts, my direction with this assignment was to create a study for my design of an upcoming opera, The Proof.

The goal here was to offer a visual reference for my idea of what could eventually become a fleet of glowing surgical gloves.  I also used this project as a way to work on learning the intricacies of human movement in the hand.

I ran into several frustrating steps along the way, due to issues with iStopMotion.  However, after a 3rd reshoot I was able to get some footage working with the LEDs inside of the hand (without crashing my computer). The movement is not as intricate as it was at previous stages, but it does give a fair sense of where the idea can go.

The video can be viewed on vimeo:

I decided for this assignment to focus on the most challenging moment of the story for me:  The point in which the husband is diagnosed with a fatal illness.  I chose this moment precisely because it scares me the most.

I knew that I wanted the world, and objects in it, to come to life in this section of the story.  After watching several stop-motion examples last week I started sketching a few images.  The ones that stuck with me was the image of glowing latex gloves.  I decided that I wanted a fleet of them to enter the scene.

Below you will see the story boards I am currently working with, and a super rough rehearsal recording of the track.   I have also begun several demos at creating the glowing hand.  Sadly, I haven’t achieved it yet.  But I made another trip to Compleat Sculptor today.  A women there was extremely helpful, and helped me come up with another method of attack.  I have also reached out to a few friends of mine who work with puppets for their help in crafting the first hand.

My aim is to have at least two working before the shoot.

Two more things with noting: I plan on pixilation as my main approach to this video.   And so the ‘set’ will be a primarily white room.  With projections on the wall, as we shoot.  The other thing is to note that this is not necessarily part of the design that will be in the opera itself.  Rather it is an exercise and experiment with an aesthetic.  The main goal here is how to capture what a moment feels like to the characters, and portray thefeeling visually.

Lift Me Rehearsal

So for this assignment, I decided to focus on one small segment of the opera, which they have been working on this week as well.  A sequence like this  might not actually be projected in the final performance.  But at the very least, I think it will help us find some of the magic and beauty that can exist here.  And I know it will help my work in finding the right aesthtic for the overal projection design.

The context of the scene is that our protagonists are a young married couple.  The moment before this sequence, the husband has just been diagnosed with a fatal illness.  And is given roughly 6 months until his motor system shuts down.  The goal of this section is to show how his wife views the moment, and to create the sensation of what her response must feel like.

The basic gist of the movement is that she watches as her husband’s clothes (ie identity) falls away away. Off of his body.  At a certain point in the music, she really feels the pain and faints.  His clothes (which come off on their own.) end up under her.  And they lift her up.  So that she hovers momentarily before gravity kicks back in.  At which point she falls back into the chair.

Below is a png showing the progression of movement:

Note: I am just getting back into the habit of sketching.  So please pardon the quality of my drawings here

ICM Final proposal:

In mid-December I am going to design a CD Release loft party for the band Teen Girl Scientist Monthly.

There are a five elements I have been playing with, (or in some cases struggling with,) while creating the programming side of this project.

1.  Playing with a WiiMote attached to the 2nd singer’s mic.

I have been trying to work with motion tracking via infrared.  Which has proven to be a little difficult.

However, recently I started messing with a few of the Nintento Wii libraries.  And I’m really interested in drawings and particles appearing in response to the singer moving her mic around during a few of the songs.

2.  Automated waves responding to the music:

I downloaded the ESSr 2 library, and have been poking around with it.  I have found some interesting stuff by importing MP3’s and having sketches play.

What I haven’t been able to do yet is have Processing respond to sounds coming in through my computer’s mic.

That’s something I’d like to figure out if I can.

3.  A HUGE challenge for me is going to be finding a way to work around the file-limit size within Processing.

Right now I have different images that I’m using as alpha maps to go over the live-feed in my design.

I am also interested in using After Effects to make a few particle emitter based PNG sequences that I can drop in during the performance.

The thing is, importing those into Processing takes up a lot of the program’s memory.  I think that’s because it stores each imported image into the program itself.

I am sure there has got to be a javascript that can tell my program to locate the files in my directory—which should free up more memory within my program.  I just haven’t found it yet.  Any advice there would be really helpful.

4.  I’m also interested in seeing if I can import two camera feeds at the same time.  Have one on my screen as my reference, and have the other at hand to use as life-feed projection material of the performance.

5.  Last but not least, I have been poking around with OSC.  I haven’t made much headway here because I am trying to stay within Processing.  However, here is a program, Isadora, that I am familiar with. It is made for live-performance video manipulation.

If I cannot work around the memory issues within processing, I think I’ll use OSC to let processing send data to Isadora.

Here is a sample of their music:

Can’t Sleep – Teen Girl Scientist Monthly

Safari – Teen Girl Scientist Monthly

I feel like we zeroed in on our concept.  Essentially we are looking at creating a moment that most of our users can identify one.  One that creates a sense of nostalgia for time spent with family, or loved ones would have happened outside of New York City.

To do that we decided to create an outdoor setting.  Unsers will climb into a tent.  The tent will have physical designs inside that point to different moments one might have outside with someone else–literally different seasons.  In the middle will be the set-up for a campfire.

Each “season” will be represented by physical objects that are linked to different sensors, based on how we expect users to interact with them.  This will cause two things three things to happen.  1. An interactive narrative will take place over a voice over.  2. A soundscape related to those sounds will play.  And 3. Different scents, stemming from that moment, will begin to fill the tent.

When the campfire is triggered, we obviously cannot start a fire inside the tent. Instead we are aiming to infuse the space with the smell of marshmallows.  Also, we are hoping to wire small LED’s into the ceiling of the tent which will turn on to make stars.

I am incredibly excited about where this piece is headed.  Beyond just prototyping and testing our coding/electronics, I would also like to demo how users can interact with hit.  And also, to test our conceptual model several times.

The goal for me is not just to make the interaction intuitive.  It is mainly to create moments that give the users’ senses enough to respond to, yet remain open enough for them to experience their own associations.

Below is a quick mock-up of the current design for the tent.

(Note: for some reason, the thumbnail stretches and cuts off the image.  When you click on it, it should show in the original scale.)