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INNARDS
LEE's Content Development Journal for Project Luminance
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fall quarter
12/16/04
DRIFT Whatever transformations are created on screen by the user, there needs to be a constant impression of movement > the illusion of being "alive" that we saw in the random bubbles of our initial prototype tests.
It may be that this illusion could be merely a drift in the last changed visual elements, that is, a slower-paced moving of those elements rather than the continued change at the pace set by the user's actions.
Example of drift = slight tap on an untethered balloon. Example of continued pace: one billiard ball hits 3.
This differentiated pattern of movement would create an immediate and clearer feedback to the user as to the consequences of his/her actions WHILE giving the impression that the installation is alive.
12/12/04
The more I consider the puzzle of more complex content, the more intriguing the use of VISUAL REVERSALS appears.
Assuming we stick with the Faces concept, the visual drama alone will have impact and instant recognizability. There are ancient resonances of the dark side (gee, even before Star Wars) that this pattern evokes: our darker nature, the devil within. Three quarters of Bergmann movies …
The most Suzy Creamcheese persona will appear transformed compellingly if seen in reverse. Below on right = "Staffenbergblock I" from "Katharina Sieverding: Close Up" and my reversal to the left, posing as the original image.
ATTRACT MODE:
These bring up 3 graphic design considerations:
A. color of changes = color of main image > like handmade art B. color of changes = different than main image > greater sense of feedback and powerful transformation. Might also convey an impression of REPLACEMENT, which could be good or bad.
The second can work to our advantage> so simple to create a tight physical border to the marker data received. But a good bang for the buck on the resulting effect.
The third can prove quite tricky - especially when the stand-alone aim is included.an>
12/10/04Tried several suppliers and zeroed in on a possibility for our rear projection (capture) screen:
Billingsly & Brown Audio/Visual Services 1727 MLK Jr.Way #217 Oakland Ca 94612 Contact :Otis Brown use Mike's name, WonderCon 2001
12/3/04PRESENTATION NOTES from Phil's response to email:
How much was achieved in terms of significant breakthroughs? Our most crucial breakthrough was achieved: the combination of tech choices we made proved to be successful in demonstrating screen video tracking which results in realtime, interactive image manipulation.
[Mention contrast w/ C++ users here?]
C. How much was achieved in terms of improved quality? (?) Progress advanced from the theoretical to the real, however basic that "real" is.
OTHER POINTS RE OUR EFFORTS THIS QUARTER:
Increased knowledge of users' perception of moving, responsive, rudimentary images & users' assignments of identity to those images.
Increased knowledge of current interactive artists' attitudes toward their work, users' responses to it, what technology others use. [Scott; your chat room exchanges as well?]
Increased knowledge of role of playfulness in current interactivity universe.
D. What are your plans for Winter Quarter
Explore increasing sophistication of movie clip possibilities: color density of clip images perceived by tracking as shadows ability to add images that track AND "stick" on screen ability to manipulate "stuck" images
Develop/expand video tracking marker/data flow parameters.
Relate the increasing possibilities of visual results/movement to varying subject matter.
Evaluate the physical elements of installation on effectiveness of Luminance: rear projection screen types, angle/ distance of video tracking camera & projector to best implement experience
Begin recorded user testing, moreofficial than our spring quarter's informal instances.
12/2/04
checking out more on direct play experiences.
http://www.yugop.com/ CLAYGRID + great variety
http://www.joshuadavis.com/pound.html
What makes play in its physical form? Direct engagement, handling, hands-on
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_manipulation
http://commtechlab.msu.edu/publications/files/LookFeel/
Computers as Theater - Brenda Laurel > check out classic again
11/26/04
Investigations continuing re NATURE OF PLAYFULNESS. Especially interesting = role of TENSION in play. Terms used constantly at various journals and sites:
Engage - to get the attention of /to induce to participate Involve - to take part Engross to engage as a participant To commit to emotionally Play voluntary activity with pleasureable feelings - fundamental human activities JOY, RELAXATION, EASE, NOVELTY, IDLE Fun whatever gives feelings of amusement, enjoyment (keen satisfaction) Frivolous, Diversion
Johan Huizinga http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/huizin.htm
Homo Ludens (1938), focusing on the element of play in human culture. "When the world was half a thousand years younger all events had much sharper outlines than now. The distance between sadness and joy, between good and bad fortune, seemed to be much greater than for us; every experience had that degree of directness and absoluteness that joy and sadness still have in the mind of a child. Every event, every deed was defined in given and expressive forms and was in accord with the solemnity of marriage, death - by virtue of the sacraments, basked in the radiance of the divine mystery. But even the lesser events - a journey, labor, a visit - were accompanied by a multitude of blessings, ceremonies, sayings, and conventions." (from The Autumn of the Middle Ages)
Homo Ludens examined the role of play in law, war, science, poetry, philosophy, and art. Huizinga saw the instinct for play as the central element in human culture - all human activities are playing: "Now in myth and ritual the great instinctive forces of civilized life have their origin: law and order, commerce and profit, craft and art, poetry, wisdom and science. All are rooted in the primaeval soil of play."
PLAYFORMS IN ART
11/20/04
Found source very near to what's intended re subject matter! His levels of product design awareness = ii to our discussions re interactive content ** REFLECTIVE** aspects.
DON NORMAN http://www.jnd.org/ The Design of Everyday Things
EMOTIONAL DESIGN these different aspects of a product were identified with different levels of processing by people: visceral, behavioral, and reflective. These three levels translate into three different kinds of design. Visceral design refers primarily to that initial impact, to its appearance. Behavioral design is about look and feel -- the total experience of using a product. And reflection is about ones thoughts afterwards, how it makes one feel, the image it portrays, the message it tells others about the owner's taste.
Expectation Design: The Next Frontier
Good designers already know how to make products attractive (visceral design) and how to appeal to self- and brand-image (reflective design). Good behavioral designers know how to make products usable and understandable--indeed, that's the focus of most of this conference. It's time now to turn our attention to pleasure and fun. Here, the challenge for designers is behavioral design, where expectations drive emotions. This is where hope and fear, and satisfaction and anger reside. Deliver on positive expectations and people experience pleasure. Deliver something different than expected, but equally satisfying, and people have fun. Fail to deliver, or leave people feeling out of control, and you get a wide range of negative emotions.
Expectation-driven design marks a new dimension for our discipline and provides a new framework for design. It shifts the emphasis from pure function to an emphasis on designs that both function well and offer people pleasure, enjoyment, a sense of accomplishment, and yes, even fun.
11/17/04
LIFTOFF!! EyesWeb data speaks to Flash-drawn circle, that boogies around!!! Beers!!
11/12/04
Attended "Reactive" pre-opening panel discussion at RX Gallery, found by J.J. Good short chat w/ Camille Utterback, who's showing her Untitled 5 piece. Valuable to get current snapshot of this video-tracking universe. She & 2 others exhibiting think of their work as playful, but seems so only in context of a heavily academic artsy milieu.
Utterback : very friendly, left card for future exchange. Never heard of EyesWeb, etc. Self-taught programmer. Followed years of painting training w/ years of programming attempts, feels her work's depth exactly echoes her growth as a programmer. Now that she's "found my aesthetic", wants to work w/ other programmers.
All the artists seem to conceive content from their own backgrounds, of course: painter, chemist, programmer who loves movies.
Evening's offerings > reinforcement of necessity to create a default, attract state for Luminance. Should convey an impression of BEING ALIVE, pulsing, cycling in a non-obvious pattern.
Idea from Untitled 5: creating more than one effect from a gesture/movement intensifys feeling of interaction.
Check out Alexander Johnson's work. Sorry that 4th artist, veteran Stelarc's "Proethestic Head" wasn't installed yet. Seemed most intriguing from description:
Embodied Conversational Agents (ECAs) are about communicative behavior. It has an ultra-sound sensor system that alerts it of the user's presence, enabling it to initiate a conversation. With a vision system, The PROSTHETIC HEAD will also be able to detect the color of the user's clothing and be able to analyze the user's behaviour. This information would then be used by the PROSTHETIC HEAD to make its conversation more interactive and convincing
11/8/04
Checked over the bit-101.com Flash tutorials re motion variables ( easing, gravity, etc) from J.J. that I downloaded week before last. Before the Á#%+#!! Election. Ggrrrr can't go there.
REALLY really appreciated them. Yea, charts! I understand what's going on … especially good are details like in "Perspective.doc":
One thing to watch out for is that the horizon/vanishing point is at 0, 0. In other words, as objects go further away, they will approach 0, 0. In Flash, this is the top left corner of the screen. So you want to add a center value to each to put it near the center of your screen.
His pseudocode is quite clear for newbies.
http://www.levitated.net/ from "Nodes.doc" = quite yummy
Hatching Computational Creatures Artificial Life Programming Techniques in Macromedia Flash MX is stunning.
"Even matter called inorganic, believed to be dead, responds to irritants and gives unmistakable evidence of a living principle within. Everything that exists, organic or inorganic, animated or inert, is susceptible to stimulus from the outside." - Nikola Tesla
"We adore chaos because we love to produce order." - M. C. Escher
#5.Grotesque Walkers = excellent timing on transformations:user action + a trailing effect that degrades!
D. Code Strategies and the ActionScript 2.0 Class1. Code brings a static graphic to life 2. Code can be placed in (way too) many places in Flash 3. Multiple ways to approach the same problem
4. Basic Class syntax
So, what is a node? It is simply a unit, an entity that can contain certain behaviors. Nodes can connect, interact, and communicate with other nodes. A node by itself generally does not do too much that is very interesting. It is the interaction of the system as a whole that draws you in.
Find the node capabilities very interestink - but data based mandalas boring > obvious where the designs are growing > beautiful, but so what?an>
Checking out code has often given me a familiar frustration feeling, but a very old & vague one. Figured it out tonight. It's exactly my feeling from when I was in kindergarten, running up against words & sentences I didn't know: OK, OK, OK …blank! Damn! Just when it was getting good …what the hell is Spot doing now?
"Easing.doc": can follow due to animation knowledge. This behavior does more than most other principles to convey a liveliness, a life, to moving objects. As though the object had a connection to physics.
11/5/04
Despite his corn ball term "emotioneering", I'm exploring David Freeman's book on emotions in games to see what might apply to Luminance content. Creating Emotion in Games
His seminars are entitled "Beyond Structure", certainly non-linear, so could relate to nonliteral emotional involvement by users¥
When a character has a false emotion (in this case, serenity) which covers a real emotion (in this case, apathy), this gives the character depth. It's a "Character Deepening Technique."
REVERSALS: perhaps having there be a (visually) reverse effect on the screen activity would trigger not only more graphic complexity, but elicit the yin/yang viewer reaction mentioned by Matisse in switching to cutouts. Viewers said the cooler sections were BELOW the warmer sections when it was a mere color inversion. It may be that establishing color ranges & inversions can deepen the impressions even literally - "automatically" give the user a sense of the z axis. pan>
http://www.menil.org/twentieth.html
The impression of one type of activity in Utterback's work (painting on) that can/does reverse (erasing & revealing) could serve us well.
When you create a symbol, you're not trying to create an intellectual "puzzle," where the gamer tries to "figure out" what the symbol means. Such an intellectual exercise would work directly counter to the goal of increasing emotional immersion.
Instead, symbols, when employed artfully, should evoke emotions - even though, when you do your work well, most of the gamers won't consciously notice the symbols you use. It's not necessary for a gamer to notice a symbol in order to be emotionally affected by it.
Or notice the effect of certain shapes, which even within the pattern of the face, can evoke powerful feelings. Photoshop filters can create a turbulently moody scene out of the blandest photo. By transforming any captured image into rounded or angular shapes > convey an emotional attitude toward those shapes. Same w/ degredation or distortion of image. POSSIBLE Secondary Effect = Just that transformation of rounded to angular, flat to textured.
10/26/04
created .fla file of tonal face to set up more exact readings of EyesWeb recognition parameters. Scott's initial test range of 60% as possible darkest image tone, enabling the user's shadow to be differentiated, > too pale to give us good dynamic range on graphics¥ Hate drawing graphics in Flash - too literal & restricting. Best for geometric shapes.span>
FACETEST_greys2A.fl
10/13/04
Phil: end of quarter presentation = 5-10 minute pix of what we're doing • descript. of path to get there: + here's where we wanted to go + here's where we are + here's where we are going
10/12/04
considerations for best possible screen fabric: + Rear capture of projection > must be taut AND translucent for sufficient resolution to be accurate in data capture + Translucency = enough to reveal necessary info, BUT not so transparent that user's actual body image, rather than only the shadow, is registered + Important that user isn't distracted by what's behind the screen. + Should be stretched rather than hung < user's movements shouldn't move the screen. Meeting: Scott: Projection capture by video camera will be skewed - can be compensated for?span> Primary variable for hardware choices = CPU clock speeds? Processor caches size? Still OK for laptops.
10/11/04
checked out J.J.-recommended Camille Utterback's work in more depth. Absolutely, by far nearest to what we desire to do. SO impressive and evocative. By far the most sophisticated of installations in this arena.
Blurred edge large "brush" moves across surface in response to user's walking. Speed alters the effects. Sometimes screen is filled by movements, sometimes cleared by same. http://www.camilleutterback.com
Untitled 5 Camille Utterback, 2004
The goal of these works is to create an aesthetic system which responds fluidly and intriguingly to physical movement in the exhibit space. The installations respond to their environment via input from an overhead video camera. Custom video tracking and drawing software outputs a changing wall projection in response to the activities in the space. The existence, positions, and behaviors of various parts of the projected image depend entirely on people's presence and movement in the exhibit area.
Untitled 5 creates imagery that is painterly, organic, and evocative while still being completely algorithmic. To create this work, Utterback first develops sets of animated marks whose parameters and behaviors are controlled by people's movements. Then, out of a working 'palette' of these animated marks, she composes an overall composition. The composition balances responses whose logic is immediately clear, with responses that feel connected to viewer's movements, but whose logic remains complex and mysterious.
Integral to the piece are the animated mark's cumulative interaction with each other over time. As a person moves through the space, a colored line maps his or her trajectory across the projection. When a person leaves the installation, their trajectory line is transformed by an overlay of tiny organic marks. These marks can now be pushed from their location by other people's movement in the space. Displaced trajectory marks attempt to return to their original location, creating smears and streaks of color as they move. The resulting swaths of color occur at the intersections between current and previous motion in the space, elegantly connecting different moments of time. This is just one of the behavioral elements of the composition.
While the specific rules of the system are never explicitly revealed to participants, the internal structure and composition of the piece can be discovered through a process of kinesthetic exploration. Engaging with this work creates a visceral sense of unfolding or revelation, but also a feeling of immediacy and loss. The experience of this work is the experience of embodied existence itself - a continual flow of unique and fleeting moments. The effect is at once sensual and contemplative.
LAYOUT FOR LUMINANCE SITE: Short blurb + video doc + "more"> to next page: longer blurb + series of pics + repeat of video doc + quotes from users ( or quotes on first page?)
10/4/04
Scott & Lee: Scott messing w/ EyesWeb, hooked up camera: patches = modules > realtime effects 1.) "Silhouette Extraction Enhanced" - light source diffuse span> 2.) "Background Subtraction" – grabs first frame & subsequent frames' images reverse b&w over it > what the computer will see, not the user. 3.) "Silhouette Extraction with Area Detection" - won't workspan> 4.) " Silhouette with Shadow"
possible concern: EyesWeb & others manipulate on the pixel level, Flash controls at object level.
Planning/Record: + photog doc. of all activity + blogs + outline of what we want to happen + procedures for testing
9/20/04
J.J. & Lee: J.J. lunch w/ Ian: EyesWeb yes> has examples physics > calculating speeds vector DON'T be exact in x,y > won't work.
Speed - where are things from one frame to next? Response time vital.an>
Phil: for thesis, emphasize EXPLORATION, do process in detail Assessment = benefits of discovery and exploration why explore = good in itself Informed by response. Model: defending painting
9/15/04
what elements of content are engaging? · Transformations, i.e. stuff changes · Provocative subject matter · Surprises · Variations in the timing of whatever happens · "push" events that call for response
One trick pony art = engaging initially but · doesn't "take" user anywhere past 1st surprise · uses one illusion/metaphor only · repeats & repeats which is good for youngsters
SOME repetition = necessary for learning & comfort of user
9/13/04
Role of music or sound. Do we just use ambient tonality? Serves to create a ZONE. Could reveal user's physical distance from installation Or various effects keyed to particular activities? Abstract sound effects that echo the activity, i.e. brushing, or striking. CAUTION: whole other project to develop sound completely - must be only an adjunct.an>
Most important use = feedback reinforcement.
9/3/04
Scott & Lee: Presented FACE idea. as content: we shoot a close-up of the user, which is instantly translated onto screen to be manipulated. Scott: could save final version of face > group them @ top in a fade-back for some amt. of time = a come-on for next user And/or Me: Have "floatings": last cycle of large face transformations on screen, waiting for next user.
Check out EyesWeb, Scott's preference. Can download & start testing - n source. Faces could be abstracted, a la "Waking Life" > more evocative than realistic + shapes = easier to manipulate.
8/25/04 Meandering through saved sites of past enthusiasm and checked out Bob Sabiston's - programmer of "Waking Life" movie by Richard Linklater @ an>
http://www.flatblackfilms.com/
Idea was to release that software as a property, perhaps it could be used to abstract shapes for us. The most compelling part of that movie was its graphic look rather than the philosophy.
This ignited a trail of ideas: have the initial image be a face and have the user transform it. A face would be evocative, mesmerizing to people.
8/16/04
followed up on www.mine-control.com
COMPLETELY blown away by a few sites from the art projection/installation zone All = one trick ponies, but what fantastic tricks!
Interested in the predilection of people to "make sense" of anything, to try to connect the dots. Discussions/findings from some anthropological types: once our survival depended on pattern recognition (in combat or heavy auto traffic, it still does) \ we instinctively try to mentally make something out of what we see, no matter how abstract.
This could mean a dual level possibility for any content we create, if it has compelling elements, whatever the hell they might be. If we want to make an experience w/ deeper meaning, what can the subject matter be? Are complex shapes enheritly MORE interesting? Is more lively interactivity more interesting?
8/15/04
Team Trio: Scott from SIGGRAPH: pattern recognition • projector projects impressive • train that's virtual
social justification aspect ? just art = OK J.J.: projector poss. - ld play level 1.) breakout wall: LED bricks 2.) moving ball by heart rate
Lee: working up a story - what kind of experience do we want? Playful, easy to do an>
SCENES> heartbeat monitor - er gets angrier
Metreon floor system; transforming shapes. Cascading environments change every few minutes > entertaining 2 layers: images themselves = evocative how is just what's HAPPENING interesting
J.J.: maybe outside tunnel as surface? Get out of museum environment
INTERACTIVE DRIVE-IN
8/13/04
LEMMINGS game levels: "Fun, Tricky, Taxing and Mayhem" = good categories. Couldn't find any recognizable mention of Swong's interactive version.
From J.J. : http://www.uni-weimar.de/~bimber/research.php
Superimposing Pictorial Artwork with Projected Imagery
Pictorial artwork, such as paintings and drawings, can tell interesting stories. The capabilities of museums to communicate such and other information, however, are clearly limited. Text legends and audio guides can mediate facts, but offer little potential for presenting visual content, such as embedded illustrations, pictures, animations, and interactive elements. Also due to the difficult economic situation, edutainment is becoming an important factor for museums. By applying new media technologies - such as computer graphics, virtual reality and augmented reality– exhibit oriented information might be communicated more effectively, but certainly in a more exciting way. We describe a novel technological approach, a mathematical model, a real-time rendering algorithm and examples of presentation techniques for integrating almost any kind of visual information directly into pictorial artwork. It allows displaying such information while keeping the observers' attention on the original artifact, and does not require additional screens. an> Special thanks to the Museum het Rembrandthuis, Amsterdam for their support.
http://www.acm.org/sigs/sigmm/mm2004/acm_mm04.htm looks delicious! would LOVE to go, probably juicy proceedings papers to be gleaned here as well as valuable contacts.
http://www.testsite.org/testsite/_projects/index.html much READ as intriguing, but nada moving.
http://www.unfinished.com/index.html
Recent Discoveries from The Dept. of Shape Research
The Dept. of Shape Research showcased representative Instances of 4 recently discovered Types: 028, 029, 030, & 035.
The Dept. of Shape Research, founded in 1995 in Oakland, CA, has been chartered with the research, development, synthesis, and categorization of unique, original and in many cases entirely new shapes. Occasionally, through its outreach program, the Dept. makes limited numbers of its shapes available to the public-at-large. Its engineers are currently developing a state-of-the-art digital repository to house these legacy shapes as well as the many hundreds of embryonic shapes discovered and/or developed yearly. Privately owned and funded, but with a determined, philanthropic mission, the Dept. of Shape Research holds itself, whenever possible, to the highest professional, ethical and scientific standards, during the course of its manifold activities.
Experiential Modifiers
like idea of physical alteration as aide to The Experience
Giveaways
Noodlings
Following up on formal experimentations under the alias of the Dept. of Shape Research, I began to be interested in exploring systems of interaction, using the line as the starting point. I was interested in that point when aesthetics becomes, or begins to hint at, information. visited several of sites to checkered results
now I'm REALLY envious of Swong . . .
quite interesting, although I was disappointed to not be able to view examples & there were no contemporary project links, no matter whose button was clicked. I used a version of the time map circles for healthcare site in 2000 - folks LOVE it as an info design.pan>
Berkeley multimedia, interfaces & graphics seminar Terry winograd 12 .2.98
http://graphics.stanford.edu/projects/iwork/papers/humcent
Body location, posture, limb position, motion Standard gestures (pointing, sweeping, ...)
The primary mode is a single user operating with a single display device
What kind of context influences interpretation and behavior?
8/9/04
meet w/ Scott & J.J.: brainstorming on NEW PROJECT IDEA. Here we go again.
THOUGHTS: · Scott's original game engine · Multi-user rather than sole > connected · Off-screen activity - run around to do thingsan> · Some version of story - stuff that people CARE about/ are connected toan>
Lee: simple concept, fast for user to do, no/little learning curve NOT prosaic like a video game.
Scott: really enjoyed "Lemmings" game whereby players use shadows to form bridges to get critters across chasms • physics simulation + use body movement • J.J. & Lee: yes to that physicality
J.J. : interactive sculpture, something just FUN, Making Things devices > photos that are wired example • SF MOMA > emotional achievement rather than technical ¥ check out Media Lab @ M.I.T.
+ + + Flash > HOW to create the illusions • use software that's already developed so can concentrate on artistic content
LATER, PHIL ATTENDS:
Completely onboard re emphasis on CONTENT rather than technical attempts at originality w/ little budget/time/resources • Will's project w/ great newsreel footage that was never seen due to tech glitch • sad to not get chance to observe content • before , "mere content" = not enough, but for Phil no more. Content = perfectly fine
Traditionally, history grad thesis: take source material > create a NEW synthesis of old material \ proposal must be strong statement of new synth.
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