The Code
As discussed in the last blog post i was deciding on if i was going to use TouchDesigner, a coding program that i haven't used before but is a more visual based program that focuses on interaction, and Processing 3 one i have used before that is more of a general coding software but does have some limitations to interaction mostly based on computer performance. I discussed this with my tutors and decided that as it would be good to learn a new software it could be timely and that is something i don’t really have up my sleeve at the moment. I have a general understanding of Processing and an idea of how i can create prototypes of the project however it will still take some time as i will need to work through some tutorials and use some friends as further more specific help when needed.
As i am now doing the coding in Processing i’ve deiced to break the code down into two sections, the Action and the Reaction. This is to make it easier on what to focus on when coding and ill combine them when they are both complete
Sketch of how the supposed space of the performance will look in terms of the program.
Action
The action section refers to the action that the program picks up, in terms of the project this will be the crowd movement throughout the performance. The way i imagine this working will be with the use of a webcam (this may need to be purchased as a decent quality one will be needed), the webcam will watch over the crowd and the program will detect movement based of the the differences between each frame. When movement is detected it will grab the coordinates of where this is and send it to the reaction side of the code.
Reaction
The reaction side will correlate these coordinates to the projection behind the performer and place an action there. For the project (at this point) this will be circles, from there the concept is simple, the more movement within the crowded the more circles will be placed giving the crowd control of an aspect within the performance as their are the once controlling the visuals with their movement (most likely, their dancing).
The start of Coding
I decided to start with the reaction side of the coding as it was easier meaning it wouldn’t take too much time to create. For this i started with 2 different sketches, both using the idea of circles being place where movement will be detected however, for right now there is no movement so i decided to have both a random sketch that give more of an idea of what it would look like with the performance and a controlled sketch to show that these can be placed within chosen coordinates.
Random Sketch
Controlled Sketch
The random sketch is how i believe the performance will look as there will be more movement throughout the performance, however i believe these circles will also be clumped up with people dancing together, typically in a crowd there is also more moment toward the front of the performance.
The controlled sketch is more to show that reaction side of the code can place these circles in specific coordinates, in this case it is where ever the mouse goes within the sketch.
Next to work on is the Action side of the code, once this is done i can start user testing the interaction of the project. This may lead to some informal group user testing ti see how well the program follows with multiple people.