Realtime interactive live-input video sofware ????

[J0L0]

I'm not sure if it even exists but i am looking for software that makes it possible to make beamer projections interactive.. I mean that the software reacts to a motion or action in a pre defined and preprogrammed grind (via live video input?). And if at possible with a realtime controlable live-output.

So if this is understandable... and you have an idea or tip or what ever please let me know.


cheers

jon

[hamageddon]

you checked out that eyesweb soft?

[elbows]

movement tracking, gesture recognition etc via live video input is similar to speech recognition - it seems to be taking years to perfect. There are many Universities and Corporations working on it to one degree or another.

Intel for example produced a variety of development libraries designed to help kickstart more software development in this area. Modern computer power has reached a level where hardware sure isnt the limiting factor.

Eyesweb is one such program for the PC platform, there is one called bigeye for macs I believe. This stuff isnt for the faint-hearted, its modular stuff and not for everyone, and its buggy.

http://infomus.dist.unige.it/eywindex.html

So far all Ive done with it is to crudely modify one of the example patches so that it detects the vertical position of a person/object and outputs midi control signals which then go into another pc with VJ software that responds. Its still fairly crude but thats largely because I havent learnt things properly yet.

Then there is a company who tried and failed with little games which put you into the action via camera and you directly hit objects on the screen and they respond.

http://www.realityfusion.com/corp/products/

Check out Ghost Lab, Variety Pack etc from that page. Such technology has potential with VJ stuff I think, in terms of crowd participation etc, but its not being done by anyone as far as I can tell.

Other thoughts:

These things are very sensitive to image quality & lighting/shadows etc, not too easy to control in clubs :(

Need a dedicated PC to do the image processing really, eyesweb etc can do visual output but one PC is not a good plan, I think eyesweb has network facilities cant remember, use midi if not.

For precise control I dont see video cameras coming of age in the near future. For high res capture pro animation systems used by Holywood etc use multiple special cameras, body markers etc, and are possibly not realtime either.

Ideal compromise in my eyes is to use physical sensors for all the variables in the show that need to be precisely triggered. Various people attempting to work on cheaper versions of things like the ICubeX (http://www.infusionsystems.com/) to bring interesting sensors to VJs for crowd participation and VJ controlling show in a more physically apparent way to the audience etc.

[J0L0]

Thnks a lot at least I have some were to work from !!!!

I'll let you know if I find anything that's any good.


cheers

jon

[okot]

what about the vivid groups mandala system.
i think the URL is
http://vividgroup.com othwise use google.


Thaey built this stuff on amigas in the late eighties early ninties. They had one at university that was used for ART style performances. IT was 256 colour and 2d now they run on WINDOWS and are in 3d.

[burstingfist]

Originally posted by hamageddon
you checked out that eyesweb soft?


I have been playing around with the eyesweb program for a while (a few hours). It is a modular style program much like MAX or Isadora (perhaps a distant relative of vJo). I feel pretty comfortable making compositions in Eyesweb now. It is really easy to translate the motion and position of objects into MIDI output signals or other modulation parameters. I haven't tried to get precise control. If you want really precise control, you would have to do a blue screen and convert the video to B/W.

[infopocalypse]

called type-zero... building really interactive stuff... they have a prototype of the system.

[Anyone]

if you've got director, try this:

www.setpixel.com

simple elegant interactivity between webcam and beamer,
downloadable sourcecode...

enjoy, NE1

[J0L0]

http://www.mine-control.com/

also an amazing site / project !!!


Jon

[hyperdimensional]

check out steim.nl, they've created big-eye which can be used in conjunction with LiSa & Image/ine to create some exciting stuff. If you know how to LINGO then trokiatronix (http://www.trokiatronix.com) do a midi plugin for director -> thats when the world becomes your oyster.

[J0L0]

New link (provided by "apoll001") check it out >> http://www.monzy.org/audience/ (audience interaction)


cheers Jon