Exploring to find our path
Today we set out to understand how to use speed of movement, but after spending hours on trying to understand it we decided it would be better to experiment with what we could to understand how to work with the code and realize possibilities within these experiments. To realize the “corona-friendly” idea I mentioned in the last post we tried to get the computer to detect two bodies by only making it possible to draw when two bodies were detected:
We then wanted to include volume in this, because we want the volume to get higher when the persons get closer to one another. The code needed the value to be between 0 - 1 so we clamped down the values of left and right similarly to what I did in M1:
But we did it like this:
(A side note: I’m actually quite proud that I was able to get this to work. I’m not mathematical at all and this proved that I’m developing my logical skills continuously through working with code and through the process. Developing my logical skills the way I’ve been doing throughout this course will help me in further projects, further courses and in a future workspace. Today I was able to mindfully apply logical solutions that I’ve gained throughout the course, which is more than just this example - but this was probably the most concrete example so far.)
And then we put this value into P5.js function setVolume code.
Which turned out like this:
(The quality of the video is bad, but it’s just supposed to be a quick sketch that can lead to other things - so the important thing is that it works). The volume increases when you put your head to the right side and decreases when you put your head over to the left side. I think this can be valuable for us when and if we pursue the vision of creating an illusion of space through sound.
Let me try to explain what we mean with the “illusion of space”:
We realized that when we hear a high sound we want to get away from it, because it hurts our ears or we are not used to it. Maybe similarly to running into a wall you didn’t know was there haha. Or a wall just pops up from underneath you when you’re walking. Maybe we can simulate that with sound. Say you’re walking towards the camera, and when you hit a threshold the sound will go up really high (like a wall shooting up from underground), so it repels you from walking closer to it (feels like you just walked into a wall - but of sound). Or you’re standing still and the sound becomes closer and closer, like a box closing in on you until you’re crouching to avoid its roof and walls. Maybe the box expands and shrinks over time, or on its own accord, or maybe slightly according to the movements of the human? Maybe you realize which paths are open for you, maybe there’s a sound wall to the right but not to the left. Maybe you need to walk in a straight line (as on a tightrope) to avoid the sound walls that will arise if you stray from this straight line?
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After asking our peers about the “speed” property we finally realized how to get access to data of the speed of a movement. This can be valuable for us going forward to further explore what we can do with the illusion of space. To have the movement speed affect the sound output or something.
We couldn’t get the computer to detect the distance between two bodies, so we might put the “corona-friendly” idea on the shelf for now. I think speed, direction and distance might be of more importance to us at the moment. I think so because I find these dimensions interesting in terms of how we move and how that might affect the outputs. Fogtmann wrote: “A design can either help mediate existing movements or physically change a person's movement patterns" (2008) and I think this might relate to our process and where we’re heading with our illusion of space idea.