I talked to Jeff Mann today in regards to the screens we are building with Gordon Brand. Jeff is based in Berlin. He is an artist who developed a lot of work around machines, society, technology – more sculptural machines. He is also a great maestro on max msp/jitter and he has built a pretty dependable patch that creates the video engine for the Chameleon project – from prototype 07 onwards. Today, I discussed whether we can have the one mac-mini running two screens. This is mainly to cater towards the tech budgets limits of the project. For example, I’d like to have 12 projections, but not need to have 12 computers. I might be able to run two copies of the Max patch, with low-resolution video. If that works, is it possible to run two separate copies of the face reader, each with its own camera? Or, can you make one face reader able to accept connections from two clients, and just send the same emotion data to each client? We could have two screens for one machine? It would save a lot of time (installing preparing machines), money, freight, instal.
I am shooting High Definition for all footage – and an aim has been to show the project HD. We have managed to get a mac mini triggering real time HD footage (at this stage 1440 x 900) with the emotion face reading technology (the emotion reading technology is quite processor heavy, but Rana El Kaliouby from MIT Media Lab and Youssef kashef from the American University in Cairo have managed to really lower the CPU, meaning we can still trigger HD footage.
… but getting hold of enough HD video projectors isn’t easy, or cheap. Few galleries have HD projectors. I have two HD monitors to test upon in the studio- but an aim of prototype 08 is to try to break beyond screens and move into more sculptural dimensions. So – can we bring the resolution down ? – between 480 x 360 or 720 x 576 pixels – will we see the break down, will this effect the way we read the image? will it be distracting?. Can the balance of the bluring of the screen balance with the slight pixelation? I have asked Jeff to render two sizes out and see how the processing power is. We then need to get it working with the face tech. By Tuesday. ;).
In the afternoon we had a session discussion about the next screen. Its all running behind schedule – but now we get to see what does and doesn’t work with the screen. I like the volumetric part of the screen and the image – the face feels holographic in some way – like its some sort of ghost image or something. Natacha doesn’t think it works that well. I discussed ways that it could escape from its ply-wood background. we talked about hanging it, with leads. We talked about creating a ‘curtain’ like screen that you could walk through. I think touching and walking though the screen would be fantastic. Natacha has asked me not to call it a screen, but call it a pixy.
And I guess its this – the more sculptural elements that would be great to explore. how the work views from all angles. The pixy wants you to touch it walk through it. It would be nice to explore it – but the current iteractivity demands that you stay near to the camera that assess your facial expression – here there is a disconnect – and one that we can’t work out over this residency.
We talked about hanging it from a sort of wire, weighting it with leads, finding a rubber tubing. Creating more of a curtain. Its the time to test these things – so that seems great. It would be great to further extend – in a direction that suits natacha and michael. Micheal seems excited by the curtain idea and natacha felt it would work better for the image. I think it would be good to explore. They both say that it will be easier to install – which would definitely be great.
We have the pixy screen working and my first thought is that is looks great. This is exciting.
Karl has arrived. We are putting a black background up. I am going to look at the ratios of the video.
Re – look at edit points.
then placement of cameras.
Trying to get the timings worked out for this residency has been consuming…when will things be finished by? Natacha and Michael don’t really know. I am trying to push things back, but still trying to push things ahead. Now that the first screen is working we can take a breath – but everyone has been working hard. Really hard.
I didn’t realise the screen ran with 240 volts of electricity running through it – if you touch it your zapped. It feels dangerous with my little son running around!
For some reason Natacha and Michael haven’t bought the plastic tubes that were used when I saw the screen built in Canada. This poses a huge health and safety issue – and I don’t want to show it until its worked out. Natacha and Michael agree. I hope today we can work through it, – Natacha has bought plastic sheeting to wrap around it. I imagine that this will need to cut and wrapped around the length of pixels
I was hoping the screen may have been released from its plywood backing, and you may have been able to walk through the screen – but this is not possible for this screen. However, the screen has much more resolution to it. I have created a lot of video to test on it – have done one shoot for the screen and then spent some time in aftereffects playing with different scales – a video more focused jut on the eyes and mouth, a video focused on head and shoulder, and then a video shot from the waste up. I have chosen the portraits that talk a bit – to get a secondary channel working.
I am now thinking it would be great to have the Pixy project run from one screen. Jeff’s email mentioned the one computer runnig two cameras. This is exciting.
So, all is good ,really. Things are running. It feels like a big step forward. We are seeing the potential of something beautiful. more seductive.
Its been a really busy time – today is Friday, the 6th Day of the residency. I have a fantastic time yesterday with Gordon – working through ideas, playing, experimenting. Gordon is a great person to discuss ideas with and work through how to make things happen. He is informative, inventive and also passionate about what he is doing. I wish I had more time to spend at the Rapid prototyping lab. The possibilities are exciting. The results are exciting – simple but seductive – feels perfect for the portraits, they reveal themselves and blur war – they look like they are peering in from a misty window. . We hope to move to the second sage of the rapid prototyping on Tuesday – maybe hanging the work next week and bringing the HCI guys in to test it out. Jane, Gordon and I spent quite a few hours discussing size, placement of camera, lighting, shape, projection placement, and creating a more, sculptural screen. The results felt good – like these portraits were revealing themselves and hiding themselves. It really suited the thematics of the work.
We talked about introducing touch to the screen – but how to go about it – I am at a stage where I need to simplify this project, not introduce more elements into it. But the way we were grabbing the screen – Reaching forward with two hands to touch it – in that action of intention – there was something really beautiful – I will discuss it further today with Jeff Mann who is building the video engine. I am also discussing with Jeff the option of using two screens running from one machine. It would really cut the tech costs of the project. Hopefully we can start doing tests by next week.
Jeff has written a patch so the work talks to the pixy project. He has done a great job of it.
Michael Roy, from EE was here all night last night trying to get the pixy screen to work. We are running about two days behind schedule. Its been difficult – first was hung and then with the worng view point – to view it you needed to be in the other room. Then getting it to work properly has taken a lot of dedication from Micheal and natacha. However, now its running it looks good – we are just about to connect it to the Chameleon video engine. I hope it works OK. Michael has been tired – he seems and a little stressed about it all, but now its running, he seems to have relaxed. He is laughing now, smiling.
We have had a lot going on, and making sure everyone feels included in the process has been at the forefront of my mind. We are hear to experiment and play, and keeping the ‘environment’ happy is crucial to people feeling like they can explore and share ideas.
