Daily Archives: 06 Mar 2013

Patt

06 Mar 2013

I have two ideas for this coming project, both of which has to do with making sound/music.

The first one is to combine the Kinect with abletonLive to create an interactive, real-time performance.

I talked about this video in my LookingOutwards post. I think it’s a great work that combines different tools and brings together different groups of people to create something quite extraordinary. Since I am new to both the Kinect and abletonLive, it will be a chance for me to explore what is possible. For this project, my goal is to learn how to combine the two softwares together to create great music and just something fun to play with.

My second idea is more hands-on. I want to use arduino, conductive materials, and objects you can find around the house such as paper, fabric, plastic, etc..etc.. to make something that can make interesting sound. I have seen tutorials that teach the basics of how this can be done, but I am trying to come up with a new and interesting way to implement it.

http://hlt.media.mit.edu/?p=1372

Kyna

06 Mar 2013

Interactivity Project ->

For this project I’m really hoping to make a game for Android tablets/phones that utilizes the touch screen. I’m not sure if that’s too ambitious for the time we’re given but I feel like it’s an area I’m going to need to explore eventually.

My current idea, which I think is definitely too big for this assignment, is to make a wave-based (think Tower Defense / Plants vs Zombies) game wherein you play as a goblin warlock’s apprentice, and your job is to go clear out an old fort that’s infested with humans. Levels would be different rooms, and the waves would consist of different types of people (knights, knaves, whatever). As a warlock apprentice, you know some spells that you can cast onto the oncoming waves by drawing different symbols.

ugh

I have some other less time-consuming ideas that I might fall back on in the event I can’t get the barebones version of this running by the due date.

SamGruber::Interactive::Sketch

I began thinking about this project with a question: why is code text? Almost all programming must be accomplished by writing out long stretches of symbols into a text box, with the only “graphical” component being (often incomplete) syntax highlighting. Back when all computers could display was text and the primary input device was a keyboard, this was perfectly reasonable.

But now even a high school calculator draws color graphics, and more and more we use phones and tablets which are meant to be touch-driven. And yet, programming remains chained to the clunky old keyboard. Producing programs on a tablet or phone is all but impossible. But there’s no reason it should be. Creating programs should be as easy as drawing a picture.

lambda_graphical

I draw from the computational framework of Lambda Calculus, in which all computation is represented through anonymous function-objects. Naturally, this mode of thinking about programs lends itself to a graphical interpretation.

Lambda Calculus needs only a few metaphors defined. A line charts the passage of a function-object through the space of the program. Helix squiggles denote passing the squiggled function-object to the other function-object. Double bars indicate an object which dead-ends inside of an abstraction. Large circles enclose “Lambda abstractions” which are ways to reference a set of operations as a unit with inputs and an output.

The goal of this project is to develop a drawing-based editor for Lambda Calculus programs that can be expressed in this manner, which automatically converts the user’s sketches into programs.

Erica

06 Mar 2013

I have a couple of ideas that I am trying to decide between for my interactivity project.  I am interested in doing something that is both screen and touch based using either a phone/tablet, Sifteo, the AR toolkit, or Reactivision.  I’m not really sure what I would do with these later two tools, as I was just introduced to them in class on Monday but I’m keeping them in mind.

My first idea is to continue the Sifteo project that Caroline, Bueno and I worked on for project 1.  I think that we had a really neat idea and I would like to find a way to optimize the clock to alleviate the memory issues we were having as well as create an interface that would allow users to design their own “puzzles” for turning off the alarm clock.

Another idea I have to to use As-Rigid-As-Possible Shape Manipulation (which makes it possible to manipulate and deform 2d shapes without using a skeleton) to create a tool for real-time, interactive story-telling.  I plan to implement this algorithm in C++ for my final project for Technical Animation, and I thought that I could extend upon this to let users draw the characters to be manipulated on a tablet, then, by connecting to a monitor or a projector, tell stories by manipulating the characters.  I see two possible applications of this: 1) as a story-telling tool to create a sort of digital puppetry, and 2) as more of an interactive exhibit where visitors could add to the story by either creating new characters or manipulating the characters that are already there.  I’d also be interested to hear other suggestions of applications of this.

I’m also really interested in the idea of educational software.  For my BCSA capstone project I’m working on an educational game and I really appreciated the iPad app we saw Monday that counts your fingers.  I would like to maybe apply the Shape Manipulation I discussed above to an educational context but I don’t have one definitely in mind yet, so I’d also like to hear ideas of such applications or ideas of interactive educational software in general.