Create Digital Motion

reacTIVision is able to work thanks to these alien-looking markers called “fluidicials.” Karsten Schmidt aka toxi has developed software for creating more of these markers, and it generates characters like this “teddy bear” seen here.Computer vision for tracking movement is cool. But add the ability to track actual objects, and you can extend the possibilities [...]

Anyone for a game of Harmonix Mime Hero, with the Marcel Marceau expansion pack?We’ve seen simple computer vision applications, “augmented reality” systems and object tracking schemes that use specially-printed tags, 3D tracking using IR emitters, and specialized motion detection sensors (most notably Nintendo’s Wii). But the holy grail, of course, is getting tracking [...]

Philia 01 Support Video from Lia on Vimeo.Artist Lia has created her first piece of art for the iPhone and iPod touch, something called PhiLia 01. It’s a quirky, gorgeous generative sound and visual app activated by movement, one that encourages users to save their own artwork.http://www.iphoneart.org/philia01On the iTunes StoreComposer Morton Subotnik used to talk [...]

Microsoft’s Project Natal unveiling for Xbox 360 was no question a blockbuster of technology presentations, nothing short of sheer magic in a games industry that has lately looked somewhat backward-looking. The combination of a 3D-capable camera with facial and object recognition and vocal recognition and mic interaction takes already-smart elements and puts them together into [...]

Ohm64 Backlight Control from Livid Instruments on Vimeo.It’s been a long time since I touched Livid’s VJ software. But when it comes to hardware, they’ve been doing unbelievable work that could have Resolume and VDMX and Processing and vvvv and Max users turning their heads.The Ohm64 looks simply fantastic. It’s got an ideal configuration for [...]

Kamel Makhloufi posts this appetite-whetting image of the “augmented reality” ARToolKit working on the iPhone platform. Sure, Microsoft and Sony may be hard at work on computer vision applications that don’t require tags, but for mobile applications, tags seem perfect. This is just a preview, but it already suggests some interesting art applications, as well [...]

Shamus Young’s “Pixel City” feels like flying in a helicopter into the art from Ghost in the Shell, or discovering a metropolis inside your computer. The latest work from an undiscovered YouTube talent, the software itself will be released under an open source license. I don’t need to tell you this could inspire other experiments [...]

Squarely in the “because you can” category: YouDisco is a research project at New York’s Eyebeam that simultaneously streams up to eight YouTube videos onto a rotating virtual disco ball. Frame rate is … well, impressive given what it’s doing. The project is the work of Jennifer Jacobs at Eyebeam “with the help of [...]

2009 will be remembered as the E3 game event that embraced computer vision. Far from me-too answers to the Wii’s gestural controllers, we saw remarkably different visions of how computer tracking might work.As expected, Sony had their own motion tracking system to unveil at their press conference. But unlike Microsoft’s 3D camera, Sony opted to [...]