Maybe this is possible, if so using the same tactics within the immersive vision theatre could be key to providing an increased sense of immersion.
Archive for the '4D' Category
Now that I’ve managed to separate out the data accordingly from the python script used to make biotrace and PD communicate, i can alter colour levels. Another option is adding in other layers, to increase the meaning within the piece.
Thankfully biotrace (the software i’m using to gather biosignals) has feature that let you customize a screen, depending on your needs. The screen shot above is one i have made, that tells me what brain waves are most active at time. This is the screen im using in conjuncion with my Pure Data patch
This is a sound sample of the ambisonic recording, it is severely reduced in quality, as it needed to be compressed before uploading it to my site. This is a sound sample of the ambisonic recording, it is severely reduced in quality, as it needed to be compressed before uploading it to my site:
A note book i have been using note important PD information, it involves syntax and patch info. By no means is it an exhaustive list of what i have learnt and am continuing to learn. However it gives a general overview of topics i have had to cover to make this project possible.
Click image above to view notebook pages
When working with ambisonic files it is necessary to convert them from B format (the raw ambisonic) into microphone signals, or different mono wavs. This way the file can be utalize full ambisonic sound, filtering out unwanted sound depending on its spatial location.
The software to do this?… VV mic
Below is a screen shot of this software i used to convert my recording:
Its been slow progress, but progress none the less. My project now consists of a animated fish eye shot, for playback inside the Immersive Vision theatre on campus. It also successfully gathers data streams using OSC and the software Biotrace. Using these values i will be able to alter colours of the visuals, I will first record the bio sensory data from the immersant, then use this data to change the second viewing.
Today i have been looking more at PD (pure data) and especially Open Sound Control (osc), allowing me to send a data stream (bio-sensory data) from one pc via a python script to another. The other pc in turn picks up the signal with PD and OSC. There is a successful (yet seemingly temperamental) connection, providing everything is set up right.
My next plan of action was to get the data stream controlling some visual element; GEM is the visual element that is built into PD and having not really managed to get the stream to control much other than the pure data terminal window it would seem i have an awful lot to learn, and not a huge amount of time to learn it.
I started experimenting with GEM, this patch below i built using DjCypod’s tutorial on video mixing:
It plays two separate movie files, one is a Tomb Raider Underworld advertisement, one is me on a bmx jumping into lake Taupo, NZ. The central slider fades between either one. Certain more usefull aplications of this patch could include fading between live video and pre-recorded video, as a way to blend the past and the present, or the real and hyper-real etc…
Below is a screen shot of the GEM window in action:
I have 69GB worth of tga’s rendered out for my 4d project, and 61GB of space on this mac…delete 8GB!?… nope, the drive is an NTFS partition.. meanining that on a mac its read only. What about the other partition the fat32 partition on my external HD?… again, nope… you can’t write more than 4gb to a fat drive at once, else it will break….
Options remaining:
- copy files to the raid via the mac?: Nope, the mac no longer see’s the raid
- copy over the network?: Nope, annoyingly enough the mac can see other computers, but not access them
- find an external mac (hfs+) formatted external drive? Nope, windows cant read hfs or hfs+, and i need windows to write tga’s to 7th format…..
This computer has a windows partition (with 11gb free) if i reboot in windows and go on a delting mission maybe i could copy files to the NTFS partition from the mac, or render out the tga’s in after effects again, then finally write them to my external NTFS external HD….
This is where my time goes! doing trivial tasks like this!
My project so far is focused on a specific time and place, that i consider to be conducive to peace and relaxation. My back yard, or more specifically my old back yard… I’ve since moved out and no longer have the sounds of the birds whistling and the breeze blowing through the trees. For me it was a good space to go and sit and take in the sun, and the fresh air.
My old back yard is a place that i considered inspiring enough to try and represent. Also inspired by talking to a friend at work last winter, the dome could be used as a space to meditate in, listen to ambient sounds or music, and watch pictures or video of nature (what with not being able to go outside due to rain and cold). In terms of immersive vision or dome masters i don’t really think that video would do it justice therefore i have tried to take alternative measures with creating a dome master.
I took a 6min sound sample from the space at the back of my old house last spring, the birds are out, the sky is blue and the tree’s are blossoming. I took a few 180 degree fisheye images at the time.
The sound sample is ambisonic, its recorded using a midi device and a TetraMic the using Plogue Bidule i have converted the raw sound to B format, then renamed it as a wav, in B format is possible to do all sorts with.. which i may look into later down the line.
(image: core-sound.com)
My idea progressed from these thoughts last spring to what would give this dome master another level, or another experience to the viewer? When i came up with the idea that the audiences reaction, could be embedded back within the video.
It ties in with bio-sensory equipment and visualizing peoples mind, if i can visualise brain waves and overlay such visuals then the next set of people to watch it will have information from that six minutes i spent recording the bird song last spring, as well as a visualisation from the six minutes it takes to watch/listen this winter!
Equipment running, signals being gathered… Seems to make sense… now for the (first) hard part, putting it into PD/Processing.
I downloaded ‘Pure Data’ this evening, which is an open source application that is similar to max MSP… I have done one video tutorial. For a start it sounds atrocious, as expected to be honest… but it barley does what its supposed to according to the tutorial either… So headache inducing all round! Oh dear, still a long way to go!
Subconscious activity, interactive architecture and temporization.
“your concious life in short, is nothing but a post-hoc rationalization of things you really do for other reasons” (2004, Vilayanur S. Ramachandran)
Recently I have been looking into developments within neuroscience and the subconscious mind, something else that had interest’s me is behaviours of people within a given space. Its originally one of Sigmund Freud’s theories that people act on mass, for subconscious reasons, his nephew Eddie Bernaise was the first to capitalize on this theory, by inventing public relations and exploiting people subconscious desires. So maybe it exists on a smaller scale… The table below is an example of different spaces, where behaviours are ubiquitous:
| Space | Common Behaviours: |
| Tube, London underground | Unfriendly, no eye contact for long periods, morose, reserved, seemingly formal, quick movements |
| Football stadiums | Loud, friendly, a certain animality present, chants, celebration, team spirit |
| pub | Loud, friendly, drunk, relaxed |
| Student library | Quiet, busy, less fast movement |
| Meeting room | Formal, talkative, reserved |
| Gigs | Singing, dancing, friendly, screaming, throwing underwear on stage |
So…. my point is that people in groups act exactly the same; there is a well established etiquette for certain
spaces/activities, but why? For example, many students go to the library to work due to less distractions, furthermore if everyone else in the library is helping create a distinct atmosphere then it is easier to do as the others and behave similarly…. Football stadiums is another example where two lots of people will act exactly the same…the people wouldn’t be anywhere near as excitable and boisterous if the game they witnessed was in with significantly smaller group and setting….the park perhaps, with only a few people watching! There are seemingly obvious reasons why people act a certain way in a given space, but how did it this space develop over time, how do architectures alter peoples subconscious behaviours?
In my work I wish to look at this idea, especially within the Immersive environments, and find out whether I can measure peoples behaviours or emotional states over a given time frame, to later visulise this, potentially measuring peoples reactions to certain content, what variables are there? Age? Seating position? Context?
“My plan is over the next few weeks to establish how I could transform visualisations on a dome screen using nothing but the people in there watching; along with their emotional and behavioural states.”
Inputs might include a galvanic skin response, movement or heat sensing… the data and scientific findings are secondary; my aim is not to prove a sociological theory (primarily) but instead to explore different avenues of various developing technologies, interactive architecture and the subject of temporality within the aforementioned context.
My plan is over the next few weeks to establish how I could transform visualisations on a dome screen using nothing but the people in there watching; along with their emotional and behavioural states.
In the next few weeks I have various people to contact about my idea, and find ways of using the inputs to control a visualisation… this could be pre-recorded data or perhaps, real time. I also need to look into technology required to implement such a thing.
This module explores the impact of digital media technologies on traditional video, film, and audio-visual presentation forms. Through practical group production work students develop projects which explore the new temporal opportunities opened up by interactive multimedia technologies, such as digital television, streaming media, and video on demand.
