interactive audiovisual project

[F1X]

currently working an on interactive audiovisual project. a fake floor is constructed in a quiet room, preferably a gallery(), 5 inches above the existing floorboards. microphones are placed at 2m intervals to pick up the vibrations of onlookers footsteps. the intensity of the viewers footsteps are translated into videoclips (between 1 and ten seconds long) and still images. The greater the intensity of the footstep the more telling the images. ie, a soft tap produces a small video in the corner of the room of waves breaking , a loud group jumping up and down creates a rather chaotic scene. There would be four levels of modulation from soft to loud.

Ive been looking at pure-data (www.pure-data.org) but it looks way too complicated for my dealings. Ive recently been led to software like vvvv developed by meso (www.meso.net) is much more user friendly. I really need some guidance or even better a programmer who knows a great deal more than me above converting audio into videos. I plan on using four projectors. One for each wall and the ceiling.

I havent exactly decided on the audio content as of yet. I thought maybe a 10 minute loop would be appropriate, considering that would roughly be the same amount of time, a viewer would spend with the installment. Or alternativly. If the footsteps trigger audio samples as well. That I havent really thought through. My main problems are involved with how I would convert the intitial footstep into a 5 second video clip in a designated area of the wall.

Thanks a lot.


Will.


F1X : www.wildsheep.tk

[Kevin]

What coding experience do you have? Most of my experience is with directx. If you want to go this approach, take a look at the MultiVMR9 project that comes with the SDK. It could be modified to do exactly what you are discussing. Then do a simple audio buffer capture and calculate the sound amplitute. That part should be simple since you don't need to do any frequency analysis.

[sleepytom]

why use microphones??

we've done some installations very similar to this using pressure sensors and a midi creator box that converts the sensor output to midi which we then use to trigger VJamm 2 pro

see the shamefully out of date website from the instalation at www.gridio.com

[F1X]

ive got no coding experience kev. im a chef actually. just looking to do something different.


tom, yeah the pressure sensor idea seems a lot more sensible... say ive got 12 of them in a room(pressure sensors), can they project video clips in specific places on the wall? also, can they be projected in different shapes like semicircles, rectangles, circles, triangles etc with vjamm?


thanks for helping out the newbie.

[vjpixylight]

Why not use something like the laser harp? http://www.andrewkilpatrick.org/mind...ectronics.html
Instead of concentrating the laser triggers in the form of the harp, put them in the floor where you had mentioned placing the microphones..
The sensitivity of movements, within the laser beams could send midi coutinous controllers to a variety of softs that would trigger visualz..
I would then add microphones around the room, (not in the floor), to pickup ambient sounds from the participants, as they create what is playing on the walls..

[sleepytom]

you can pick up pressure sensors for next to nothing (you actually only need a contact switch)

it is very easy to do non square video in vjamm 2 pro as it supports 8 bit alfa mattes so you can have video clips any shape you like (with softly faded edges if you want) also you can run the display area in super high res and then span it across multiple projectors allowing you to use relitivly high res video clips and have full control of where they will appear.

we have run installations for months at a time with very few problems and no rebooting

you can download a demo of the latest version of vjamm 2 pro from http://www.camart-downloads.com/vjam...latestdemo.zip

[sunit]

any ideas on easy ways to convert an analog signal to digital? i've also been looking at pure-data and a sensor tab system here in san fran for some upcoming performances....

cheers,
sunit

[sleepytom]

you can get a number of diffrent devices that convert analog voltage range to midi info

the atomic pro is the best featured one with the midi creator being my favorite for ease of use and decent construction. the icubex is also ok allthough its badly constructed and somewhat flimsy
see this thread for more info

[F1X]

ive been discussing this with some friends, and I guess the midicreator is the perfect answer. that or the PE which looks pretty nifty at 80 euros.

the only problem i have with the midicreator is the price. 400 pounds??? for an australian student, thats pretty much like buying a house.

is there a psuedo-midicreator for around 150-200AUS dollars?
really like to know if there was.

being electronically challenged, is there a walkthru that anyone knows of an how to make sensors? again, 60pounds a sensor, is a bit raucous.


thanks again.

F1X

[sunit]

i don't know if you've checked these guys out for fsr's

http://www.interlinkelec.com/indexf.html

cheers,
sunit

ps. where in aus are you?