Important Contribution: OFX Timeline by James George

This is an add on that lets you modify code parameters with a timeline and key frame based system. It takes inspiration from big expensive packages like After Effects, Premier, and Final Cut, but it is reusable light weight.

I have a feeling that there is way more to this add on than what is demoed on the video, but if I am right in think you can code it into whatever project you are working on it sounds like it could safe a lot of time and possibly give adobe a run for their money. I would really like to see an altered timeline that allows you to stack layers and access them through an input variable.

Quick Sketch: Screen Capture to Sound by Satoru Higa

This app captures the appearance of the window behind it and turn it into a texture. The color of the texture then determines the pitch and volume of the sound.

http://www.creativeapplications.net/sound/capture-to-sound-by-satoru-higa/

this is a bit of a non sequitur project. What is the relationship between the appearance of the desktop and the action of making sound? I think this in an example of a project that make correlations for no conceptual reason. This project might be interested if the window functioned as a lens that somehow revealed or transformed the space beneath it.

Artistic Prowess: Forth by Karolina Sobecka 

Forth is public installation that simulates the an endless ocean and groups of people traversing that ocean in life boats. The weather, sound, and amplitude of the waves is influenced by the current weather in its place of installation.

This piece was commissioned for a academic space where they used simulation. I think Sobecka succeeded in creating that allegorical aesthetic in this piece. I think it is particularly successful as a commissioned piece where the patrons had very specific criteria.  I found the process of modifying a game engine interesting. This piece relates to Brody Conrad’s Elvis Piece.

I Spy – Neil Mendoza

This servo-articulated mobile tracks users with its four android tablets using two Kinects.  As with The Stranger, which I discussed in my last post, this installation is meant to raise questions about what it means to be watched by our devices.  It makes me think about the idea that any window that one can gaze out of may also allow others to gaze in.  I consider this installation to be more compelling than The Stranger, in part because the kinetic nature of the installation makes it seem like much more of an organic creature.  I wish I knew more about what the processing app on each tablet accomplishes.  It may simply be animation, with Open Frameworks managing everything else off-board.  If this is the case, I would be somewhat surprised that simple screens weren’t used instead, except the use of consumer devices seems to be a major theme in other projects displayed by Mendoza on his website.

Apple Sudden Motion Sensor – Luke Sturgeon

This Open Frameworks demo takes advantage of the accelerometer built into Macbooks and many other laptops to halt spinning hard drives in case of a sudden drop or impact.  The demo is fairly simple and just allows spheres to roll about the screen as the laptop is tilted.  Still, this is a fascinating demo to me because I didn’t realize that the accelerometer could be accessed easily.  I feel a little silly after finding this because my faceOSC project essentially accomplishes the same thing, but by detecting faces and assuming (possibly incorrectly) that the user is upright and has good posture.  I wish there was a bit more documentation on this project.  I think there’s a lot of potential to do some rather cool tablet-style projects on ordinary laptops, and I also wonder what other sensors can be tapped.

Minecraft AR Viewer – imakethin.gs

This demo uses Open Frameworks to render a section of a 3D Minecraft world in augmented reality.  It uses the Bukkit server plugin to export map chunks.  As an avid Minecraft player and server curator, this is one of the more creative uses of Bukkit that I’ve seen, and certainly the first time I’ve seen anything related to both Minecraft and augmented reality.  It certainly has a few shortcomings, but it’s a good start.  It would be good to see it incorporate texture files instead of just drawing large colored cubes, and as the poster mentions, the render does not currently update.  If these improvements were made, however, this could be a very useful tool for demonstrating structures and mechanisms in tutorials and webcasts.

Second Surface-Multi-user spatial collaboration system.

The system can provide an alternate reality space that generates playful and natural interaction in an everyday setup for multiple users. The goal is to create a second surface on top of the reality, invisible to the naked eyes could generate a real-time spatial canvas on which everyone could express themselves. The system can create an interesting and new collaborative user experience and encourages playful content generation andcan provide new ways of communicating within everyday environment such as cities, schools and households.

I think this one makes a great contribution to the field. It combines the virtual world and the real world by a screen. Also in traditional way, researchers always widen the virtual world by projection or make a virtual world. But this one does a opposite way. It is really good way to help people to make something in the real world collaboratively.

Here’s a link about this:http://www.creativeapplications.net/openframeworks/second-surface-multi-user-spatial-collaboration-system/

Eyewriter

ALS is a disease which has left people almost completely physically paralyzed except for their eyes. This international team is working together to create a low-cost, open source eye-tracking system that will allow ALS patients to draw using just their eyes. The long-term goal is to create a professional/social network of software developers, hardware hackers, urban projection artists and ALS patients from around the world who are using local materials and open source research to creatively connect and make eye art.

I think this is not just a tech project just based on Openframework. It’s a very meaningful activity for patients. It helps them to do the writing or drawing work again even though they don’t have ability to use their arms to do this. It also have a long goal to gather such a group to help these ALS patients. And this also makes me to think that tech should be like this. It should help us to make the world more beautiful and help people’s life. Let them live more easily one this planet.

Here is a link about this: http://eyewriter.org/

Smiling recognition and Fingertracking

I think these two are very interesting little test. Though they are very little, they are all important to help us to make the very complicated project. We can do many things to know whether the people sitting in front of the computer smile or where it hands. So I think they are very helpful and interesting.

This is smiling recognition:http://vimeo.com/53657022

FingerTracking:http://vimeo.com/1252553

Auto Chasing Turtle – HirotakaSter

The Auto Chasing Turtle is a small autonomous robot that has the ability to recognize peoples’ faces using a Kinect, OpenFrameworks, Android, and other assorted software. Upon recognizing a person, the turtle perks up and scurries in their direction. The user can also see what it’s seeing by connecting the turtle wirelessly to an iPad and using the Kinect as a video camera.

This project’s a lot of fun for a couple reasons: first of all, it’s a home-made hack. Though it definitely shows that this robot was cobbled together out of various bits of hardware, it is in an impressive and admirable way. It’s always really cool to see what can be made out of relatively commonplace tech. It also incorporates a couple of preexisting software hacks; this video is actually a response to a Kinect/Android hack from which it almost certainly acquired some of the code. Not only is this a cool project from the community standpoint, but from a more personal perspective I find it incredibly cute–as it waddles towards the user or jumps in recognition I can’t help but want to cheer it along.

It’s not a polished project but what’s excellent about hacks like this is that it’s left a lot of room for improvement. It could go in a lot of different directions in terms of both improvement of function and in use. Right now it’s just wandering around the hacker’s house; it would be cool to see it in perhaps interacting with strangers in a public space or as part of a performance piece. It would also be interesting to add other animal characteristics and allow for autonomous movement outside of following people. It seems like a work in progress, though, so hopefully the hacker will continue improving the design and posting updates on his channel.

Funky Forest – design-io.com/projects/FunkyForestSAM/

Funky Forest is an installation piece that was built for the Singapore Art Museum where visitors can become part of a virtual forest–the site describes it as “an interactive ecosystem where children create trees with their body and then divert the water flowing from the waterfall to the trees to keep them alive”.

It’s a great application for kids–it’s an interactive piece that gives them a goal to work toward rather than just offering them a camera to flail their arms at. It also has a great environmental tone without being preachy; it and the other exhibits at this museum all offer a playful interaction with nature.

It might have been interesting to somehow combine this project with a physical interface, especially one that was made of real plants. If it could be done in such a way that prevented the plants from coming to any harm it would certainly drive home the idea that your actions directly influence your surrounding natural environment. As it stands, though, it’s a fun contribution to the museum and a good use of the technology that OpenFrameworks has to offer.

Dérive – http://www.francois-quevillon.com/html/en

Dérive is an interactive piece that shows the user through both audio and visual feedback the realtime environmental changes to the displayed urban areas. It attempts to show the blending of the digital and corporeal sectors on a city-sized scale.

I love how this piece looks and the concept of combining urban realities on and off of the web. I’m frustrated, however, by how it’s unclear from the videos as to what extent the user can interact with the piece. I’d like to see how easy it is for the user to maneuver around the city and how much information they see fluctuating as they explore. I’d like to see more about the actual information that is processed in the generation of this piece.

I do appreciate this artist’s style, though. Other pieces of his like Ciels Variables also sample huge amounts of data for relatively simple and elegant simulations. Though I would have preferred to have more of the data information in the visualization I still appreciate these works for their attempts at blending the real world with the digital.

Monde Binaire “Hello World !!!” by Media Design HEAD

Monde Binaire “Hello World !!!” is a 36-paged interactive comic book, with 22 hidden animations that can be accessed through a mobile application. This openFrameworks application really attracts me because it takes a simple object and modifies it into something more engaging. When reading a comic book, you are usually engaged to the content of the story and the beautifully-drawn graphics. This application goes beyond the norm by adding a new and interesting interactive experience to the common act of reading cartoons.

Fun Race Machine by Getorade Run and Thomas Inc, Japan

Getorade, with Thomas Inc, Japan, developed this ‘Fun Race Machine’ — a unique treadmill machine, with arrayed 3D LED and sound that synchronize with runner’s running steps. I really like it simply because it just looks really fun. It definitely changes my attitude towards this not-so-amazing workout. It makes you believe that you are not actually doing what you are doing, and are not where you think you are (as in you are not actually running on a treadmill, but are dancing in a nightclub). I can only think of what a cool experience it would be to exercise on a machine like this. I would work out every day if I had this. I really would.

A Journey – Dublin by Kimchi and Chips

I don’t think ‘A Journey – Dublin’ is an important contribution to the field, but definitely is one interesting experiment. Visitors draw images of their private journey and arrange them in the box, where the images are being scanned. The light traces the drawings, representing the trace of a unique memory. I like the fact that it is not only interactive, but also gives an emphasis on personality and individuality.