A few students have questioned how to control disguise from Isadora. OSC is the best way I’ve found. Below is a short but hopefully easy to follow way of setting this up.
Category Archives: Interaction
Isadora +Ni-Mate + Kinect
Leap Motion, Isadora and OSC Motion
Isadora + Processing + Kinect
Makey Makey GO
So I bought a Makey Makey GO! I backed it on kick starter.
It’s petty cool. But I still prefer the classic.
However I did make a silly little thing in the office:
I attached it to my can of pop so every time I picked it up it clicked a video and opened it in Preview on Mac. I made me laugh. I really like not having to have an ‘earth’ unlike the Classic – but there are ways around that anyway.
Check it out:
Inspiring Videos 2015
Hi All,
Not blogged as much as usual. Work has been busy and so has my personal life. Been enjoying the great outdoors a litlte more; hiking, riding, camping, etc and preparing to be a dad early next year. I have still collected a few videos over the last few months that I knew I wanted to share. So here they are in no particular order:
XYZ tracking, before the kinect.
Shameless I know but this is one of my early experiments I had forgotten about. I remember wanting to track something in a 3D space; I could do the X and Y in Isadora and basically used scale to control the Z. The bigger something is t the camera the closer it is right? And vice-versa. Watching this made me think that often the basics are the best.
Interactive timeline/projection mapping for Education.
I love this. Simple playful and fun.
Listening to colour – Neil Harbisson.
I love this type of stuff. I am secret futurist at heart. I’d love to become a cyborg actually. This guy, in my eyes, is almost a cyborg because of his experiments. If you want to freak yourself out, check this out. If that’s not crazy enough then google Stelarc and Kevin Warwick
Watch all the videos at the end of this link. Amazing VFX!
David Gumbs – artist.
I have known of, but never me, David for a long time now. A polite, talented and friendly guy who is doing some incredible things with Isadora, motion tracking and more. He has inspire me recently in the video below. Working with children and interactive paintings. What is more rewarding than that? You should defiantly check out his work here:
https://www.facebook.com/DavidGumbsArtist
I re-edited some of the dead links (sorry about that!) David also sent me to some more links on vimeo, etc.(see above).
Joe Hunt – projection using isadora for a piece called:’The Only Jealousy of Emer’
Great work here Joe. The video speaks for itself. Give it a watch.
Old and New.
One of my favourite songs is Energy 52 – Cafe Del Mar. It’s an ibiza dance/trance classic. You will probably have heard it. I have always known that many classic trance/dance (and more) music takes chords, progressions and melodies from older classic music and the like. But this one really struck a chord when I hard the ‘original’ by Wim Mertnes. I just wanted to share this with you. Listen to the original and then the ‘remix’
One for the DJ’s! STEMS.
“This morning Native Instruments is launching the Traktor 2.9 update, which is the first software on the market to use their new Stems audio file format.”
I am very excited about this!
Modulations. A full feature film about the evolution of Electronica music as one of the most profound artistic developments of the 20th century!
That’s it for now. Comments welcome below.
Enjoy.
Isadora Art Gallery Interactive.
I have been working on a nice little project at work. I’d rather not say too much about it just yet as it’s a bit of a secret.
But it’s basically a push button interactive that will use a webcam and Isadora. Its stand alone and fully automated. Here is a glimpse of it from the back – if you are a techy like me then you always like to see the ‘guts’ of the piece.
A 32″ samsung LED TV has been used. A standard 2015 mac mini, a HD Logitec webcam, the amazing Makey Makey original board with a commercial grade push button. All houses in a custom made frame.
I will take some more pictures and probably some video once the project is complete.
Here are a few images!
What the bloody hell is OSC? (Open Sound Control)
OSC – Open Sound Control.
What the hell is this I hear you cry? OSC is becoming used more and more. VJ’s DJ’s and AV interactive peoples (and everything in between!) are starting to use it. It’s not very clear what it is and how it all works. I found it complicated when I first discovered it. So, this is NOT a how to get OSC working with software A or B just a general overview of what it is and how it works – hopefully in a friendly delivery.
OSC BASICS.
In it’s simplest form, is a protocol which sends numbers from one location to another.
OSC uses an IP address (Internet Protocol address) which means it has to know the address of the computer it is sending to. So, You can think of an IP address as a street name.
So let’s take a theoretical IP address:
90.44.129.91
We can think of 90.44.129.91 as a street name such as “Victoria Lane”. But Victoria Lane could have thousands of houses on it or a big block of flats, etc. So we need a house number.
After an IP address you generally have a port. A common one is:
9001
Therefore now the address is 90.44.129.91:9001 (note the : its not a . after the 91)
So now we have Victoria Lane, house number 9001.
But perhaps you want to know what room in the house you need? In OSC this is called a channel. Channels range from 1-999
So lets say we want OSC channel 4. Now our address is: Victoria Lane, house number 9001, room 4. Or in OSC talk 90.44.129.91:9001 channel 4.
However…
Computer’s change the IP address every time they start a new network, shut down and re-open, etc. This is a way of safe guarding your machine from attacks and hacks.
How do you find your IP address?
Google: “how to find your mac IP address” it will show you at the top. This is the same for Mac and Windows.
Static IP
You can however create a static IP address. This is fixed and will never change.
Static IP is generally better for performances as the numbers never change and you are in control. Downside is when you create a static IP you can not connect to the Internet like normal. You are basically creating a Local Area Network. (there are ways but I don’t want to complicate things).
How do you create a static IP?
Localhost
This can be confusing. Local host is always 99% of the time 127.0.0.1 think of this as a home/default IP.
It’s almost like a feedback loop. It’s hard to explain but you can find out more here:
http://www.tech-faq.com/127-0-0-1.html
In’s and Out’s.
The ‘house number’ that we chose earlier is an IN; we chose 9001. But if we want data to be sent back we need and OUT and we can’t go IN an OUT door. They have to be different.
So the OUT port would need to be a number close to 9001. Maybe 9002 or 9005 (anything really).
WHY DO WE NEED AND IN AND OUT?
Say we press a button a TouchOSC app on your iPad. The signal is as follows:
Press button: sends value OUT to 90.44.129.91:9001 on channel 4. Software receives this Value and ch 4 is mapped to a button : the button turns on an effect.
Most apps like OSC will automatically light up and change depending on if the toggle is momentary or toggle.
But if you changed the button on the software using your mouse or QWERTY keyboard you want the iPad app to update so it says in sync. So you can tell 90.44.129.91:9001 on channel 4 to send a message ‘light on’ (or change state – basically replicate a button press)…. but it has to be on a different port.
This is often the case with VJ/DJ’s who have multiple controllers and wanting all the hardware and software to change and keep updated. Such as Touch OSC.
Packets and Strings.
OSC can send either a long string of numbers constantly. Like water pouring down a stream. It has no start and stop and everything travels in one long line.
OSC packets are small chunks of data bundled up in packets/parcels. This is like collecting water from a pond up stream in a big glass, carrying it downstream and then pouring it back out. [excuse the really random story telling – I don’t know where I get these ideas from! lol].
This is only a very simple explanation and the advanced users reading this will be laughing but in a VERY basic format this is all you need to know for now.
Summary.
Without confusing you, or incase you don’t know it OSC is similar to MIDI/DMX. The values range from 0.0-1.0 and send the data very quickly over WIFI or down cables.
You can read more here:
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Open_Sound_Control
http://opensoundcontrol.org/introduction-osc
http://troikatronix.com/support/kb/using-touchosc-with-isadora/
I hope this helps some of you.
Thanks,
skulpture
[A]ura Video
A nice 3 minute video from Aura here, it’s a bit late – i’ve been rather busy!
“[A]ura – WYSIWYG
What You See Is What You Get
A performance-gallery with open-source-choreography
One day the internet will be as sacred as a giant ancient cathedral. And everybody will sacrifice their details to pay tribute to the digital gods.
In the interactive performance (A)ura, the user is transformed from spectator, to creator: during the weeks before the premiere they can find a unique feature at ChoreoMixer, with which they can design and remix the choreography and contents of (A)ura, by using the browser.
Walter Benjamin says that in modern art the aura of the work of art withers because of mechanical reproduction, and inaccessibility, due to too close a proximity to the observer.
At the same time, a completely different aura of amazement will be created by new technologies. Every user can be a choreographer, an innovative remixer and in that way create his own virtual memorial which perhaps will follow its own unexpected ways. Closeness and distance will join crosswise in a new way.
But what about the situation when the digital medium refuses to cooperate with the user?
What you see is what you get.
choreography/dance: Elke Pichler
music/video: Alexander Nantschev
stagedesign/costumes: Monika Biegler
programming: Stefan Lechner
interactive technical support: Graham Thorne
legal consulting: Clemens Lahner
pr: Stefan Eigenthaler
camera: Philipp Aichinger
Kindly supported by:
MA7, Kosmostheater and Ars Electronica Center”
Isadora 2.0 – My thoughts.
So I have waited a while before I blogged about Isadora 2.0. I did do a short blog not so long ago talking about the mapper and my work at Glastonbury.
But this post isn’t about me. It’s about Isadora 2, a new breed of Isadora. A stronger, more powerful Isadora. So much though, discussion and time has gone into it. Hundreds of emails, screenshots, skype sessions and more.
Isadora isn’t just an upgrade. It’s a radical new platform.
I am not going to just copy and paste all the new specs, you can read them [here] instead I wanted to talk openly about why I love it so much. I love it because Isadora 2 still is the Isadora we all know and have supported for many years. It still has the same workflow, sense of direction and module approach. Isadora still does everything you’d expect. In fact, apart from the new blue splash screen and the modern dark grey theme, it looks just about the same. But I like that. Why fix something that isn’t broke? There is no need too – so Mark didn’t.
But what was broke, or breaking (dying?) is Apples quicktime support for video playback. It was clear that it was becoming increasingly unstable and just not fit for purpose. I know that Mark spent lots of time playing around with old and newer Quicktime libraries but it was inevitable that a change was needed. It’s no secret that other similar softwares are now running on AV foundation or other libraries. Not Quicktime. So it wasn’t Isadora’s fault crashes and movie playback was starting to show a weakness. She was doing her best to play the files but the Quicktime *stuff* was failing and there was nothing she (Mark) could do. But now that has changed. She has a new pair of shoes and is ready to run! But it isn’t *that* simple.
Mark decided to keep some of the Quicktime coding that was useful, useful for specific codecs. So a movie player in Isadora now switches its coding depending on the file type you load in. You will see this in the “PB Engine” (Play Back Engine) output of the movie player for reference. It switches between Quicktime and Av Foundation, it does this seamlessly so you never have to worry about it. It’s a big step forwarded and results should become clear, especially with the added bonus of being able to play multiple HD videos…. I won’t spoil the fun. I will let you try it 🙂
I also really like the IzzyMap. I’ve been using this for quote a long time, but each time it has evolved more and more. It’s now at an amazing standard and it’s superb. I am not going to ramble on about it, it does EVERYTHING! and more… the more but I will talk about. You can basically do all your mapping and then publish the mapping points. These then show as inputs in your projector actor. This means everything you do is editable – live. So if you have a moving stage, scenery or some crazy animatronic DJ booth ( – do they even exist?) then you can automate, or move it in real time and have the mapping follow it. It’s a pretty crazy tool to have. Obviously stage automation is not new. But to do it in a <$500 software and have such flexibility is new!
What else; javascript actor, Spout for Windows and other interface tools, a few updated actors and of course the lovely new interface. What else could you want right now?
A few pics…
Graham Thorne 