Etude 3

Basic Details:

This is the best and most interesting work that I have seen in a very long time, and I really want to try and replicate it, and then try to add to it, and attempt to make something a little more interesting. "In its simplest form the Laser Tag system is a camera and laptop setup, tracking a green laser point across
the face of a building and generating graphics based on the laser's position which then get projected back
onto the building with a high power projector." (http://muonics.net/blog/index.php?postid=15)

Ian Hunter

Digital Arts and Music Technology

LASER

My original intentions were to recreate the project from the creators at the Graffiti Research Lab (http://graffitiresearchlab.com/) and then change it to create a different project. This would obviously be on a much smaller scale, as the equipment that they used cost around £5000.

Conceptualisation of the work.

This is a really nice way to tag on any surface, or just draw random pictures with a laser pen. I wanted to try and use eye tracking hardware in place of the laser. I'm not sure if this is possible as the open source software that is provided on there site is only designed to track a laser beam, and no other source of light or hardware, although I am hoping that the program can be recoded to track anything as long as it is bright enough.

Describe and depict what the actual concept of the etude is.



I want to recreate this laser tagging system, but instead of using a laser beam that the computer then tracks and draws, I have been looking into eye tracking software and hardware. I have found a DIY version which is relatively cheap, and looks fairly easy to create. I would then have to change the program from the graffiti research lab so that it could track the movement of the eye. If I can create this piece of work, I think that it will be a truly interactive installation for all to enjoy. This should give the spectator a free reign to create the art work themselves, with this simple but effective platform.

Documentation of Technical and Artistic Process.

As of yet I have not been able to get the open source application that claims to be able to track a laser working, so I have not been able to document any findings. I am working on finding another mirror of the app, and gathering the relative equipment. I am going to look into building an eye tracking device from this link (http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/07/open_source_lowcost_realtime_e.html) which has the step by step, and costs etc. The plans are quite detailed, and with a steady soldering hand and some patients I think it may just work.





Pictures from:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/urban_data/396087351/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/urban_data/396087015/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/urban_data/396086969/

References

http://muonics.net/blog/index.php?postid=15
http://research.eyebeam.org/projects
http://research.eyebeam.org/projects
http://www.instructables.com/id/EIDH3WPPZSEPD7QVIA?ALLSTEPS
http://www.txtualhealing.com/
http://www.instructables.com/id/EIDH3WPPZSEPD7QVIA?ALLSTEPS
http://www.tobii.com/
http://www.bunnyfoot.com/services/eyetrackingsales.html
http://www.cs.uoregon.edu/research/cm-hci/EyeMusic/
http://www.perspectum.com/eyeresponse/index.htm
http://eyebeam.org/
http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/07/open_source_lowcost_realtime_e.html
http://hcvl.hci.iastate.edu/cgi-bin/openEyes.cgi
http://hcvl.hci.iastate.edu/cgi-bin/openEyeswiki/index.cgi?MobileEyeTrackerConstruction
http://simplifierlab.com/mt/archives/2006/07/roll_your_own_eye_tracking_tes.php
http://www.perspectum.com/eyeresponse/index.htm

How successful is this etude.

I think that this will be my final project, as it has interested me the most out of all of my research and etudes. I will be updating this post with any technical advances that I may have over easter, and the following weeks, because as of yet I have not got any of the equipment needed, and it is proving very hard to track down.

Constructing a Low-Cost Mobile Eye Tracker

AAAAha I have found it. http://hcvl.hci.iastate.edu/cgi-bin/openEyeswiki/index.cgi?MobileEyeTrackerConstruction

I have a feeling that this is a Linux based project so it maybe pointless researching, but it has spured me on to keep looking for a cheap DIY solution.

Picture from : http://hcvl.hci.iastate.edu/cgi-bin/openEyeswiki/index.cgi?MobileEyeTrackerConstruction

TXTual Healing

Etude 3

This is another site that I found, that is linked to projections, and external devices to manipulate them. This guy has used the Projection Bombing, found on http://www.graffiti-researchlab.com.

"The simple explanation is that it's a cellphone paired to a mac using proprietary software, custom scripting and graphics, and then the results are displayed through a projector connected to the computer. The whole system is mobile and with the right projector/beamer, quite bright." (http://www.txtualhealing.com/how.html)

Just another cool way of creating an interactive projection space. I really don't want to have to code much, to create my project, and have been looking into different ways to createa simple but interesting environment, using projections. If I can manage to get hold of an eye tracking device, or can get hold of some information about to make one myself, that would be perfect.



Picture from : http://www.txtualhealing.com/how.html

L.A.S.E.R. research

Images from : http://muonics.net/blog/index.php?postid=15

I have been looking into making this L.A.S.E.R. tagging system but on a much smaller scale. Using the link above which contains full details of the equipment they used, and the application, I will recreate this project with my own projector, camera (borrowed from friend), and PC needed for the program they have written, that is able to track the green light from the laser. As far as I can tell the software provided can be manipulated with some simple changes in its code, to react to any colour of laser, and hopefully be made to do some other interesting things. Once I have bought a new bulb for my projector, and have my PC up and running once again, I will see if I can get this to work. I'll keep you posted.

L.A.S.E.R.

"In the spirt of GRL's and Eyebeam's open source beliefs, we are posting the code and executable
for the Laser Tag application online for you to download, dissect, reuse and hopefully improve. The code is
C++ and compiled in a super old school Codewarrior IDE for windows but it is oepnGL based and written
using openFrameworks which is a cross platform library for writing creative code. So it should be very
straight forward to run in Visual Studio, DevC++ or even xcode on a mac.

In its simplest form the Laser Tag system is a camera and laptop setup, tracking a green laser point across
the face of a building and generating graphics based on the laser's position which then get projected back
onto the building with a high power projector." (http://muonics.net/blog/index.php?postid=15)

Graffiti Research Labs have given a full open source and tutorial for making a similar lazer tagging system. After buying a new bulb for my projector and a lazer pen, I am going to experiment with this idea myself. It would be on a much smaller scale, and would make a really nice interactive environment, if there were several lazer pens for participants to write with. I assume that the software allows the control of colours and saturation etc aswell, so it could make for a really nice project.

Pictures from:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/urban_data/396087351/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/urban_data/396087015/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/urban_data/396086969/

This is the most incredible thing I've ever seen with a lazer pen. The guys at the Graffiti Reasearch Lab have created L.A.S.E.R. tagging, a fast easy to set up way of projecting your tags on the streets.