many2
16th March 2004, 02:31 PM
Here is some information about my latest project :
Ars Natura (formerly known as the Rotonde project) is a 360 degrees interactive panoramic video installation in the Montreal's subway, more precisely at the Square-Victoria station. Yan Breuleux (with whom I also did the Black_Box project), the artistic director, and myself, the technical director, have been working on this project since october 2003 and we celebrated the official launch last week on march 11th 2004. This project has been done in collaboration with the SAT team under the direction of Luc Courchesne.
Goal
1. Bring the natural marvels from Montreal's scientific attractions into a subway station to create an oasis of nature.
2. Convince people to go see these places by themselves using the subway. The scientific attractions featured in the installation are the Biodome, the Botanical Garden, the Planetarium and the Insectarium.
System
1 ring of textile screen suspended from the ceiling on a circular rail
1 big cement cylinder serving as a circular screen for the interface
6 projectors, each providing one sixth of the final panoramic image
1 projector beaming the interface image
1 camera to analyze hand gestures over the interface
2 net-cameras connected by fiber optic cable from the Biodome
7 Hippotizer prototype machines, one for each projector
1 sound system for the ambient sound effects (made by Sebastien Blais)
Experience
When you come close to the installation you gradually hear the ambient nature soundtrack and then you begin to see it from the outside. You discover it's a 360 degrees panoramic image displayed on a ring. The images are those of the scientific attractions in Montreal, animals and live images from the Biodome, galaxies from the Planetarium, insects from the Insectarium and flowers from the Botanical Garden. You also discover there is a pod in the center and that it bears a pie chart like interface. If you wave your hand over any subject displayed there you trigger a sequence of information and images both on the pod and on the panoramic screen. If you don't do anything the system will display forever changing images by itself.
Design tools
Hippotizer customization and show programmation : visualJockey R3.5
Content creation tools : visualJockey R3.5, photoshop, after effects
Content acquisition tools : digital camera and a custom panoramic lens, video camera
Pictures
Here is a link to a temporary online gallery containing pictures of
the rotonde video installation, officially named Ars_Natura. They were taken just before the official launch party by my parter Yan Breuleux.
http://www.purform.com/arsnatura/gallery_004/index.htm
I am on the picture you'll find using the next link. I am the tall
guy at the right and at the left is Yan Breuleux, the project's art
director. Basically we created the most important parts of this project
together - I designed the whole system and he created the images.
http://www.purform.com/arsnatura/gallery_004/pages/ArsNatura%20081.htm
Here, from a different gallery, is a picture of the interface. It is
projected and all you have to do is move your hand above the subject you want to trigger it.
http://www.purform.com/arsnatura/gallery_003/pages/Ars091.htm
Official Information
official website :
http://www2.ville.montreal.qc.ca/ses/ars_natura/ars_natura_cred.htm
complete projects credits (thanks to all the people !)
http://www2.ville.montreal.qc.ca/ses/ars_natura/en/ars_natura_cred.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Big thanks again to the Visualight team and the Green Hippo team for helping us on the Ars_Natura project.
Comments are welcome !
Many-2
Ars Natura (formerly known as the Rotonde project) is a 360 degrees interactive panoramic video installation in the Montreal's subway, more precisely at the Square-Victoria station. Yan Breuleux (with whom I also did the Black_Box project), the artistic director, and myself, the technical director, have been working on this project since october 2003 and we celebrated the official launch last week on march 11th 2004. This project has been done in collaboration with the SAT team under the direction of Luc Courchesne.
Goal
1. Bring the natural marvels from Montreal's scientific attractions into a subway station to create an oasis of nature.
2. Convince people to go see these places by themselves using the subway. The scientific attractions featured in the installation are the Biodome, the Botanical Garden, the Planetarium and the Insectarium.
System
1 ring of textile screen suspended from the ceiling on a circular rail
1 big cement cylinder serving as a circular screen for the interface
6 projectors, each providing one sixth of the final panoramic image
1 projector beaming the interface image
1 camera to analyze hand gestures over the interface
2 net-cameras connected by fiber optic cable from the Biodome
7 Hippotizer prototype machines, one for each projector
1 sound system for the ambient sound effects (made by Sebastien Blais)
Experience
When you come close to the installation you gradually hear the ambient nature soundtrack and then you begin to see it from the outside. You discover it's a 360 degrees panoramic image displayed on a ring. The images are those of the scientific attractions in Montreal, animals and live images from the Biodome, galaxies from the Planetarium, insects from the Insectarium and flowers from the Botanical Garden. You also discover there is a pod in the center and that it bears a pie chart like interface. If you wave your hand over any subject displayed there you trigger a sequence of information and images both on the pod and on the panoramic screen. If you don't do anything the system will display forever changing images by itself.
Design tools
Hippotizer customization and show programmation : visualJockey R3.5
Content creation tools : visualJockey R3.5, photoshop, after effects
Content acquisition tools : digital camera and a custom panoramic lens, video camera
Pictures
Here is a link to a temporary online gallery containing pictures of
the rotonde video installation, officially named Ars_Natura. They were taken just before the official launch party by my parter Yan Breuleux.
http://www.purform.com/arsnatura/gallery_004/index.htm
I am on the picture you'll find using the next link. I am the tall
guy at the right and at the left is Yan Breuleux, the project's art
director. Basically we created the most important parts of this project
together - I designed the whole system and he created the images.
http://www.purform.com/arsnatura/gallery_004/pages/ArsNatura%20081.htm
Here, from a different gallery, is a picture of the interface. It is
projected and all you have to do is move your hand above the subject you want to trigger it.
http://www.purform.com/arsnatura/gallery_003/pages/Ars091.htm
Official Information
official website :
http://www2.ville.montreal.qc.ca/ses/ars_natura/ars_natura_cred.htm
complete projects credits (thanks to all the people !)
http://www2.ville.montreal.qc.ca/ses/ars_natura/en/ars_natura_cred.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Big thanks again to the Visualight team and the Green Hippo team for helping us on the Ars_Natura project.
Comments are welcome !
Many-2