Monday, June 25, 2007

vvvv: a multipurpose toolkit : vvvv : a multipurpose toolkit

vvvv: a multipurpose toolkit : vvvv : a multipurpose toolkitIt is designed to facilitate the handling of large media environments with physical interfaces, real-time motion graphics, audio and video that can interact with many users simultaneously.

vvvv uses a visual programming interface. Therefore it provides a graphical programming language for easy prototyping and development.
vvvv can simultaneously handle a large count of objects, either graphical or data, without a significant effort by the user. With vvvv it is just as easy to control a single instance of a graphical object (e.g. an image) or 1000 without a significant change in the user interface. We call this technique "spreading".

Spreading is an abstraction that refers to the act of distributing different values across a set of objects. Setting a table is essentially "spreading" a set of dishes out across the table, as each one has a different position on the table. vvvv contains many spread generators that make it easy to program complex behaviours for a large group of objects.

Seamless Multi-Projection Setups with Boygrouping

There are applications where one will need to use several PCs to achieve the desired output/screen count. In those situations it could become quite messy to deal with all the PCs individually. Instead, vvvv is suitable to control any amount of client computers from a single server with a technique called “Boygrouping�?.

Boygrouping lightens the effort involved in creating multi-screen systems or seamless multi-projection setups. It allows to set up a render cluster, where one can individually select which nodes will run on the server and which nodes will run on the clients. The ability to control which data needs to pass the network and which data is better individually computed on all the clients allows to manually optimize a setup. No magic involved.



vvvv is real time. where many other languages have distinct modes for building and running programs, vvvv only has one mode - runtime.

Friday, June 22, 2007

White Noise - Music, Games, Graphics: Diffused Illumination

White Noise - Music, Games, Graphics: Diffused Illumination

Diffused Illumination


I've started taking a look at what would be necessary to start implementing support in touchlib for what I am hereby naming the 'diffused illumination' approach. Someone else proposed Rear Illuminated but it can also be front illuminated so we need a name that works for both. The picture is a test run doing a 'front illuminated' setup. I just pointed my screen towards the window and recorded a test movie. I've developed a simple algorithm that I think will work well for front and rear illuminated setups (front illuminated setups just need an extra step to invert the colors). Basically the algorithm is to blur the image then subtract the blurred image from the original. I believe this is how Photoshop's high pass filter works. I then also blur the image again to get rid of noise. What you are left with is the parts of the image that are sharp and in focus and the blurry parts are removed, which is exactly what we want.

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KHRONOS PROJECTOR - Alvaro Cassinelli

KHRONOS PROJECTOR - Alvaro Cassinelli

Technical Considerations

The deformable screen is made from a thin, translucent elastic fabric (e.g. spandex-based fibers - better known as Lycra). There are several ways to "scan" this surface in order to extract its depth characteristics. A rather conventional technique would rely on a 2D scanning rangefinder. After giving the problem some though, I decided to study a cheaper technique not relying on any laser scanner. In fact, a a conventional CCD camera and a special illumination configuration will suffice: using an on-axis infrared source (such as a LED ring) and a conventional CCD camera (with an IR filter), it should be possible to acquire a gray-scale image indicating, at each location in the surface, the actual inclination between the illuminating ray and the surface-normal; if both the camera and the light source are relatively far from the screen, and placed so as to share the same optical axis (see figure), then it is relatively easy to compute the actual deformation of the screen from the gray-scale map data.To enhance infrared reflectivity and disminish the eventuallity of projector hot spots, the spandex-based fabric is plastic coated on the inner side.

Click on image to lauch video [WMV- 9.4MB]


Medallia Blog: dyeSight $2 Multi-Touch Pad Archives

Medallia Blog: dyeSight $2 Multi-Touch Pad Archives:

dyeSight $2 Multi-Touch Pad

By Erling Ellingsen on June 12, 2007

I guess most of the people reading this will have seen some of the multi-touch demos by Jeff Han, Apple and Tactiva. I wanted to play around with some ideas that required a multi-touch pad, but there aren't any devices available (Tactiva aren't shipping...)

Long story short, I made a simple one from a plastic bag, some dye and a camera:

Thursday, June 21, 2007

IEEE Spectrum: Mobile Domes: Coming to a Parking Lot near You

IEEE Spectrum: Mobile Domes: Coming to a Parking Lot near You

Click here for a slide show of the mobile planetariums

The room is suffused in shades of gray, except for a bluish computer monitor to one side. From its glow, I can make out a circle of smooth curved walls arching upward almost 3 meters and meeting in the center overhead. A fan whirrs in the otherwise quiet interior: a blower is inflating this perfect nylon dome. In the darkness, I get the illusory sense of a vacuous sanctuary.

Sanctuary until a flap opens and a man ducks in on a shaft of light, followed a gaggle of chattering sixth-graders. He invites them to find a comfortable spot, and they happily flop to their backs, sending up a mix of bubblegum perfumes and sweaty sneakers. One boy whispers, “This is cool.”

“Hi,” says Joel Halvorson, program director for the Minnesota Planetarium Society. “What we’re inside is an inflatable dome, what we like to think of as a mobile planetarium.”

Moments later, his assistant, Sally Goff, works the laptop. She douses the lights, and giggles percolate instantly. She clicks a few more keys, lighting up a small, fish-eye-lens projector in the middle of the room, and suddenly the Earth appears directly overhead, three meters wide in all its luminous glory. A chorus of “oohs,” and a girl spontaneously reaches her hand skyward. Another click and we’re coursing to the edges of the galaxy. More “oohs.” The kids are hooked....

Welcome to the Molecularium™ Project

Welcome to the Molecularium™ Project at RPI: "The Molecularium™ Project is an entirely new way to learn. Our mission is to excite audiences of all ages and sizes to explore science in the world around them.

Our premiere attraction, Riding Snowflakes, the award-winning Digital-Dome experience, is a science lesson, a thrill-ride, and a magical musical adventure in a world of atoms and molecules. "

Absorbing the Big Picture: Immersion and Interactivity in Science Education

Affiliation: The Elumenati
Event Date: Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Location: NASA GSFC, Building 33, Room H114
Time: 12:00 PM

Absorbing the Big Picture: Immersion and Interactivity in Science Education
...new technologies too often provide little more than temporary novelty if they're not thoughtfully integrated with other pedagogical elements to create meaningful and compelling experiences.

In this lecture/presentation, David McConville will illustrate the ways in which new interactive technologies and spatially immersive displays can be utilized to more fully engage students and the public in the science education process. Applying findings from cognitive psychology, gaming theory, and experiential education research, he will demonstrate how new collaborative and socially-oriented visualization tools have the potential to enable more intuitive and self-directed learning for students, scientists, policy makers, and the public.

About Our Speaker
David McConville is a media artist and researcher focused on the development of the most compelling uses of immersive virtual environment displays. He is the co-founder and Director of Noospheric Research of The Elumenati,

Off Site Access
This talk will be Webcast at: http://mediaman.gsfc.nasa.gov/asx/Public/Live/Building33Live.asx

NOTE: You will need to have Microsoft MediaPlayer installed to view this Webcast. Alternatively, folks may tune in via telephone for audio only by dialing 1-866-819-9680; passcode = 990261.

Current ETC Projects

Current ETC Projects
Art Studio
CasualCore
Game Innovation
The Game Innovation Database (GIDb) aims to be the definitive source for innovations of every kind throughout the history of digital games. We are connecting the growth of innovations in games through our branching "Game Innovation Tree." The tree will develop further as digital games continue to grow and blossom in new and creative directions. Our website is both a resource for those interested in studying the history of digital games, as well as a place of exploration for the casual gamer.
Immunology
The Immunology Video Game Project seeks to use the medium of video games and entertainment to teach and generate interest studies in immunology.

ORB - Project

ORB - Project

List of links, information and technologies associated with this project.

Related Projects

Software

Hardware

The Interactive Dome Project

The Interactive Dome Project:

Goals
Process
Technology
Pictures
Presentations
Team
HOME

The Dome and Projector

We have a 5 meter inflatable dome. Inside, in the center, there is a modified Epson PowerLite 715c projector fitted with an Elumens lens for spherical projection.

Technology

Watch TV On Laptop or PC! Sabrent USB 2.0 TV Tuner / Video Capture Box with Remote Control

Watch TV On Laptop or PC! Sabrent USB 2.0 TV Tuner / Video Capture Box with Remote Control

this plus a VGA to Svideo adapter equals...?
http://www.google.com/search?q=vga%20svideo&sourceid=mozilla2&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8


International VR Photography Conference › UC Berkeley, March 2007

International VR Photography Conference › UC Berkeley, March 2007

Conference VR gallery

Microsoft Live Labs: Photosynth - Collections

Microsoft Live Labs: Photosynth - Collections: "Fly. Zoom. Explore. View photos as you've never experienced them before.

Here are some collections we put together using Photosynth's scene-recognition technology. Clicking on a collection will install the Photosynth Technology Preview if you don't already have it.
Piazza San Marco, Venice

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

StreetDeck Features | streetdeck.com

StreetDeck Features | streetdeck.com: "

video demo

  • Navigation (no internet required)
    • Navigation for non-connected use
    • Supports 2D and simulated 3D view
    • Will use cached satellite imagery if available
    • Gesture based address entry

A DIY Dashtop Computer - Popular Science

A DIY Dashtop Computer - Popular Science: "



A DIY Dashtop Computer
Why settle for the standard stereo or a GPS unit when you can have an in-car PC running off your car's battery to guide the way, watch the engine, and download tunes?

damien stolarz blog � Blog Archive � Modifying ultra-mobile PCs for sunlight readability

damien stolarz blog � Blog Archive � Modifying ultra-mobile PCs for sunlight readability:

One of the biggest challenges to “mobile computing” (besides battery life) is outdoor readability. (If you’ve ever squinted through your sunglasses trying to dial on your windows mobile phone, you know what I’m talking about).
Recently I had an old EO 72xx UMPC upgraded to a transflective screen by Advanced Link Photonics. It cost a few hundred dollars for them to treat the LCD with some sort of new surface and then replace the touch panel with another type with some sort of glare reduction. I then brought up google maps on both units and took them outside to get a comparative.

In the picture you can see the top, washed out picture is the normal LCD, and the bottom picture is the transflectivized unit.

100 8716

transflective unit in sunlight

100 8717

O'Reilly Media -- Bookstore: Car PC Hacks

O'Reilly Media -- Bookstore: Car PC Hacks

Car PC Hacks

Car PC Hacks
Tips & Tools for Geeking Your Ride

By Damien Stolarz

Friday, June 15, 2007

Goromi

Goromi
very elegant.
check for new version in a few weeks

ORCHID Projects

Team Storm










Collaboratorium software?

Thursday, June 07, 2007

the Ghost Map

O'Reilly Radar > Where 2.0: Outside.in's New Features and the Ghost Map

Steven also spoke about his book The Ghost Map and how it inspired Outside.in. The book covers the infamous cholera outbreak of London in the 19th century. The outbreak was stopped by two men (Whitehead and Snow) who used their social network to create a map of the cholera deaths. Through this work they identified an infected water pump and saved many lives. If you want to learn more quickly here's a video of Steven talking about Ghost Map.

Snow and Whitehead would not have been able to actually solve the mystery if the following circumstances hadn't occurred:

  • Open data archives - They had access to the local death records and were able to create a "Victorian Mashup".
  • Density - London and its neighborhoods were dense. This density allowed the disease to spread. The density also allowed a pattern to emerge that ultimately led to stopping the pandemic.
  • Local Amateurs - Snow was a physician and an amateur cartographer. Whitehead was a local vicar, but he knew everyone. Many bloggers are today's local amateurs.
  • Pattern Recognition - Plotting the data on the map was obviously key. Without it they would not have been able to center in on that single pump.

neighbors