Prof. Eric Forman

the older openCV library is not as fast or advanced as newer version but it is much easier to get started with and works fine for basic motion tracking. download from here: http://ubaa.net/shared/processing/opencv/index.html

note the website is old so it shows the libraries folder in a different place; the correct place is in the “libraries” folder inside your “processing” sketch folder (create it if necessary).

download the examples and run the Blob example. hopefully it will work. if it does, yay. read about openCV if you haven’t already so you understand the functions in that example, more or less (one of many tutorials, google for more – http://createdigitalmotion.com/2009/02/processing-tutorials-getting-started-with-video-processing-via-opencv/). most importantly how you need a background reference frame to compare video to so it can figure out what has changed, i.e. who or what has moved. in this example, the upper left video is raw video, the upper right is greyscale version (which speeds up calculations – although on some machines this might display as color anyway), the lower left is the background reference image, and the lower right is the Difference (live video compared to reference).

note the code tells you that hitting spacebar will record a new background image, which you should do with nothing visible in the frame, in other words, move your head out of the way and then hit space to re-calibrate. you will need to do this if anything changes in the video frame, the ambient light changes, the camera moves, anything.

once you understand the basics of code and how it makes an array of blobs, you need to get the center of the blob. if the threshold is not tuned correctly, or more than person or object is in the frame, you’ll have multiple blobs and need to decide which to pay attention to, e.g. the biggest. note you can set maximum number of blobs to 1 and it will only give you the biggest blob. the threshold is ideal when empty camera view gives you a totally black Difference, and something moving is one distinct blob. use blob.centroid to get coordinates, then you can control whatever you want using, for example, map().

getting tracking to work consistently requires experimentation with ambient lighting, timing of capturing background reference frame, blob minimum and maximum, and threshold settings. trial and error is often the most effective way to get it right. consider adding more keyboard commands to adjust parameters.

“expressive systems (games, instruments), codebending, music, noisemaker device gospel, electronic writing, and crossbreeding of/writing-on these subjects…”

http://www.paperkettle.com/home/

http://codeanticode.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/opencv-2-in-processing/

Xavier Hinault recently released a new computer vision library for Processing, based on JavaCV and OpenCV 2: JavacvPro. This is a great contribution to the community, since it appears that the development of the original OpenCV library for Processing has stalled, without moving beyond OpenCV 1.0 support. JavacvPro is based on the very solid JavaCV wrappers by Samuel Audet, which provide access to the latest version of OpenCV (2.3.1 at the time of writing this), and in fact also allows to use other computer vision frameworks like OpenKinect, and ARToolKit.

Inverse kinematics is a subdomain of kinematics, which is of particular interest in robotics and (interactive) computer animation. In contrast to forward kinematics, which calculates the position of a body after a series of motions, inverse kinematics calculates the motions necessary to achieve a desired position.
Examples of problems that can be solved through inverse kinematics are: How does a robot’s arm need to be moved to be able to pick up a specific object? What are the motions required to make it look like an animated character is picking up an object?
Solving these problems is usually more involved than simply moving an object from one location to another. Typically, it requires the translation and rotation of a series of interconnected objects while observing limitations to the range of motions that are physically possible—A robot might damage itself if mechanical limitations are disregarded; An animation looks unrealistic if a character’s hand moves through their own body to pick up an object located behind their back.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse_kinematics

Processing code example: http://idblab.blogspot.com/2008/10/inverse-kinematics-and-processing.html

John Slepian statement:

For the last nine years, my project has been to create digitally generated photographs, video installations, and interactive sculptures that investigate what it is that makes us feel human. In this world of rapidly advancing, and often paradigm-shifting, technologies, this is something that is becoming harder and harder to determine.
Using some of these very same technologies (3D computer graphics and interactive programming, in particular), I have created a series of works that depict organic forms, apparently derived from the human body. Though enormously simplified, they exhibit identifiable gestures and behaviors. These virtual objects are clearly fictitious, yet they inspire empathy, disgust, and fascination. They are intended to elicit an awareness of the disjunctions that can occur between one’s emotional and intellectual reactions, and thereby provoke in the viewer a consideration of the process through which we come to identify with the objects of our gaze.
My new body of work, the phenomenology of painting/illusory objects, is an extension of these previous explorations. Whereas earlier work investigated empathy, and the way we form emotional connections to the objects around us, this work more widely considers the mysteries of physical presence, and the way that complex meaning can be created through motion and abstract form. The name for this work is in both parody and homage to Minimalist Donald Judd’s famous essay, Specific Objects (1965), and these pieces both exemplify and contradict (particularly in their three dimensional illusionary aspects) what Judd set out as the necessary conditions of successful “advanced” work. The pieces are also deeply informed by critic Michael Fried’s critique of the “theatrical” in Judd’s and others’ work (in particular the time-based and site-specific characteristics that he believed should not be part of Modernist artistic practice). My objective is to use 3D animation seamlessly “projection mapped” onto painting supports and sculptural forms to create spatial illusions that, nonetheless, have a strong physical, animated, presence.

http://www.johnslep.net/

Current show at Axiom in Boston: http://axiomart.org/

Babycastles is ingredient of a rhythm of indie furthermore unprofessional game designers from near the universe.

http://www.facebook.com/babycastles

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/nyregion/13joint.html

Here is a nice list of answers about writing software for artists, why do it?

http://reas.com/blog/archives/368

For those of you more into text than drawing, check out these student pieces made in Processing with Daniel Howe’s RiTa library.

http://www.rednoise.org/rita/rita_gallery.htm

Obnoxious rant? You decide.

Why We’re Not Hiring Creative Technologists
By Igor Clark, Creative Technology Director, Weiden & Kennedy

“So if a person puts “creative technologist” on their resumé, but doesn’t know how to code, can’t show you things they’ve made, and can’t prove they made them by explaining why they wrote the code the way they did, don’t hire them. Simple as that. Think this sounds elitist? Well, it is – and there’s a reason.”

http://blog.wk.com/2011/10/21/why-we-are-not-hiring-creative-technologists/

In case you’ve never seen this, great use of programming for political infovisualization. Made in 2007 using ActionScript (Flash), still relevant today. Start by looking at Popular Maps.

“They Rule aims to provide a glimpse of some of the relationships of the US ruling class. It takes as its focus the boards of some of the most powerful U.S. companies, which share many of the same directors. Some individuals sit on 5, 6 or 7 of the top 1000 companies. It allows users to browse through these interlocking directories and run searches on the boards and companies. A user can save a map of connections complete with their annotations and email links to these maps to others. They Rule is a starting point for research about these powerful individuals and corporations.”

http://www.theyrule.net/