Major Project Plan: Here and Now

This installation work examines the idea of now and our ability to truly be present within it.
The centre of the installation is a wedge shaped block, set into the corner of a space. Within the front of the box is a concave surface 75cm in diameter, a projector sits in front of the Wedge projecting an image onto the concave surface.

The projected image will be of the viewer themselves. These images are taken from a camera set into the wedge shaped block. This feed is then be taken into TouchDesigner, mapped to a spherical shape, has reflections, chromatic aberrations and other colour layering effects applied to give the look of a reflection in a crystal ball.

The projected image will be mapped onto the concave surface to create the illusion that we are looking at a convex object.
Around the projection will be drawn and painted imagery compounding the viewers' sense of place within the present moment. The imagery will be a mix of up to date statistical data, map data and topographic drawings of the current pace.

The drawn images will be mapped to the flat surface of the Wedge and the corner walls creating the illusion that they exist on a flat plane.

The Concept.

In the use of illusionary forms I am making reference to the illusionary and transitory nature of existence. This is not only an idea from Eastern philosophical traditions, recent neuroscientific research shows that what we 'know' to be reality is merely an interpretation of remembered sensory data. Through remembering we add our own layers of signal noise and individual biases. 
The ability to let go of the many layers of thoughts, desires, fears and plans frees us to have a genuine experience and interaction with the world and each other. 
This level of Mindfulness is a hard thing to achieve but I hope that with this work I will at least be able to offer the viewer the experience of the work, themselves and the place within the moment. Hinting at something larger, or perhaps it is nothing at all, the void at the heart of everything.

Asset List

Wedge block set.
Ambient and reactive audio.
Video camera.
Projector.
Projector stand.
Surround sound speakers
Computer.

Touch designer patch controlling distortion, effects, audio and final mapped projected image.
Up to date Melbourne statistics.
Drawn topographic and map based imagery. 
Note: In order to map the drawn imagery to the walls I will first project a digital image and map it to the surface to create a realistic flat plane from a non-flat surface. I will then trace over this projection using pencils and paint to achieve the final look.

Set Design: Front

Perspective





















Mapped Set

Schedule

Major Project Plan: An Anomaly

City Screen Shot/ concept art

Set Design

Mapped Set

Production Schedule

Major Project Concept

Overview
‘Everything and Nothing’ is a projection installation work, the piece will take up about 2.5m2
 corner
of a gallery space, it will use a combination of projection mapping, ambient occlusion and physical
drawings to create the illusion of perspective and depth.
Viewers will be drawn into the projected world via the use of audio, colour, line, movement and
light. Perceptions of spatial reality will be challenged through projection mapping onto a concave
surface within the installation space.

Time will be set on a loop that takes around 10 minutes, animation will be kept to a minimum,
mostly of simple loops and lighting effects. I would like to be able to show the movement of time
from dawn to dusk and back to dawn again.

Treatment
The work will be set into the corner of a gallery space, in the centre of the installation will be a
rectangular box (aprox 1.5m high x 0.5m wide) with a concave surface cut from the corner facing
toward the viewer (fig.1). This surface will form the focal point of the installation: The illusion that
the projected image is coming toward the viewer.

One of the first things that the viewer will notice about the installation is the blending of the
projected space into the real space, this will be achieved by using a number of masking layers
within the projected image. The sky background will be blended using a large soft gradient mask;
The cloud layers will have their own soft gradient mask that is offset from the sky layer, thus
adding to the illusion of space as the clouds interact with the gallery wall; Ground elements also
blend in separately, this blend will be enhanced with the use of pen outlines drawn on the wall
around the unmoving projected elements such as buildings, cliffs and horizon. These outlines will
trail off around the edges of the projection.

The viewer is drawn into the projected image through the use of colour and contrast as well as
perspective and movement lines: that is a combination of the real perspective of the gallery corner
space and the forced perspective of the projected image (fig.2). Movement lines will be created by
the motion of traffic flowing into and out of the city via road networks running from the city and air
traffic taking off and landing within the city.

Use of lighting adds to the illusionary depth, as time passes shadows move and colours shift as
lighting conditions change. From the bright white light of midday through to darkness shot through
with dazzling urban electric lights.

The audio will play a major role, immersing the audience into the projected world. 6.1 surround
sound will be set up about the installation, the bustle and buzz of the environment will be brought
to life though an immersive environmental soundtrack.
The focal point of the installation is the concave/ convex illusionary space of the projected urban
environment. Distorted fish-eye style perspective gives the urban environment an extra surreal
dimension.

Energy Fields

Below is a render of a third of the proposed performance. No sound at the moment.

The energy field around the performer is created by a live silhouette  and the energies are controlled by a combination of the movement of the performers hands, centre point and live VJ control.

http://vimeo.com/bucketothought/aim1

Story Board

Visual Chi is a live stage performance with a duration of 3 - 3.5 minutes here is a step by step storyboard..

References

I will update this post from time to time with more reference material as I find it..

A TED talk utilising realtime augmented reality. The Kinect and VVVV programming. The pic links to the studios' page where you can see the video and the making of.

Some really great silhouette tracking and particle physics in this piece.

This piece is a "sound sculpture" using the Kinect and Processing to take 3D snapshots of a dancer and apply particles that hang in the air and are then taken by gravity.

Visual Example

A couple of videos I made in After Effects as a visualisation test

The first motion is derived from tracking my belt buckle (Tan Tien), I then added a point to represent the centre and rings representing energy. I offset the tracking slightly over time in relation to the rings.

For this example I tracked my hands and attached a particle systems to them. The oil-in-water patterns around the figure are made with a fractal noise, mesh warp is then applied to give the distortion effect.

Schedule

We have begun some testing, I am diving into trying to learn what I can about how processing works and we are working out our hardware needs.

We have worked out a schedule and things are progressing

I filmed myself performing some TaiJi and Matt used the footage to test out EyesWeb generation of X,Y co-ordinates.

Development & Background

I now have a programmer, Matt Adair, whom I will be working with to put together this piece.

We have discussed using Processing for graphical generation and EyesWeb for motion capture, though we will also be investigating the possibilities of the Kinect and Unity.
Matt has experience with writing programs for generating imagery and sound from live sources and I am very happy to have him as part of the project.

I have begun recording test motion and we will be playing with imagery and process on Friday.

The image above is of the first, brief part, of the projection performance: a crazy mash of modern media and culture. 

Once the performer begins the Tai Ji motions the space will be overtaken by the oil in water shapes moving against a dark background. Ripples will emanate from the performer, he will have a field of light around him and a spot over the TanTien (centre of gravity)

At this stage I think the performance will take place in the small gallery space on in building 34. The projection will be from a short throw projector mounted to the ceiling.

Sketches and Script.

Visual Chi

Extract from Tai Chi Revelations

The slow overcoming the fast.

According to the principles of mechanics, centrifugal force is most effective because it comes from the centre. If we consider a wheel of a three feet radius with a foot radius shaft in the centre, when the wheel shaft turns 45 degrees, the inside wheel only turns through a circular distance of less than 4 inches. The external wheel will travel through a circular distance of more than a foot. Therefore, there is a ratio of 1:3. For three turns at the centre, the outside wheel turns one revolution. Hence using the waist as the centre, applying the same principle using "time dimension", the distance travelled in a second at the centre will cause the circumference to travel a greater distance. In the above example, it would be three times the distance. The Tai Chi Chuan classics emphasise using the waist like the shaft of a turning wheel, which follows the principle of the slow overcoming the fast.

Visual Chi: My minor projet is a test for controlling projected shapes and motion via the movement of a Tai Chi Player. This will be a 3 minute live performance with 1 person on a stage filled with a projector throw.
The difference between this and many other performance driven projection visuals is that the movement is "internal", that is it comes from the hips not from the periphery of the body. The Player's force will be shown with a combination of "spheres" emanating from the centre of the body as well as a meteoric particle system representing the Player's energy being whipped out and pulled into the body, the particles will move as if affected by a gravity of the bodies' centre, or system of 3d cogs controlled from the  bodies' centre (the Tan Tien).
This will be a combination of performer driven visuals and sound as well as VJ direction/ control.

The setting for the performance is a stage with a single performer and a projector with a large, strong throw covering the stage.

We begin in darkness, suddenly very bright and chaotic forms cut into the peace: text, images, static, all moving and squabbling for attention. Amongst the commotion it is hard to even make out the still figure centre stage. The audio is a loud jumble of everyday noises, commercial media and white noise drones.

The figure remains still and grounded, this calm grounding begins to emanate from him as a cool dark colour, slowly running out like water over the ground. As the calm intersects with the noise it is sometimes moved away and other times pierces the calm, but, as it does so it is caught in a waterfall of relaxation and drops away.

The cool darkness fills the stage, within it form dark moving, rotating shapes, like oil in water or Van-Gogh's Starry Night sky. The Noise sounds are gradually replaced by a calming bass hum.
A sphere in the figure's Tan Tien gets brighter, many spheres echo out all with the same orbiting pattern being multiplied out in all directions. Like ripples on still water.

The figure begins to move, performing a simple Chi Gong breathing exercise, the yang pushes up from the earth as the yin relaxes down from the crown. There will be half seen lines from the crown and feet, showing the head being light and the feet being heavy. The energy ripples move driven by the movement of the Tan Tien as is the sound which pulsates to the timing of the breath/ movements.

The figure will perform some actions from the Yang 24 Form, demonstrating the major Tai Chi energies, as he begins to move ripples continue to echo out, as the force becomes directed some of the ripples coalesce and become a particle ball, like a meteor. This represents the figures intention, as he pushes out the particles become 'hot', as he draws in they 'cool', sound is also affected depending on the intention (perhaps suction and pushing sounds).

The performance ends when he again performs the raise and lower hands movement, as he does the movement echoes around him, everything rising, everything sinking, becoming dark, fade to black.

1. The opening of the form: raise and lower hands, this is how I see the energy field growing out from the centre, the field grows out in ripples and moves in a liquid motion directed by the centre.

Dark oily shapes move around the stage pushed out by the player's energy.

2.  Ward off, Peng or pushing energy, the energy is represented by moving particles, mass, 'heat' and brightness flare at the zenith of the hit.. 

The force is then pulled back into the players centre. 

3. Draw in, Lu energy, the particle force cools and softens as it draws in as does the player's field, ripples appear indicating the forces' path.










At this time I am unsure how achievable this "internal" drive will be, but I will know within a couple of days.. stay tuned for more technical updates

First Minor Project Post

My intention for the minor project is to be able to visualise TaiJi energy within the context of a live performance. I hope to use live motion tracking technology, such as the Kinect system, to drive animations projected onto a TaiJi player.
Taijiquan is an internal martial art that is very hard for the uninitiated to conceive. The projected animations will be particle systems that clearly show the energies being manipulated by the player.

To begin to be able to visualise the energies I traced off some of Master Yang Chengfu poses from the Yang Short Form.

The pink arrow shows the movement of the Tantien (or centre of gravity).
The inner blue sphere is the Pung or expansive body energy.
The outer blue sphere is the spread of the Chi.
The pink dot on the foot is full, the blue dot is empty.
The thin dark blue arrow shows the movement of the weight though the posture.
The light blue arrows show the arms as they move in relation to the movement of the Tantien and the shifting of weight.

Below is a motion capture video of a Bugua player

Here I filmed part of the First loosening exercise, the taiji player had points that were used to make a basic tracked skeleton that particles were then added to. This is the force at its most basic, what I hope to do is show the force being flung away from and the reeling back into the player.

I used footage of Roll Back and Push to track the motion and angle of the Tantien (the glowing centre), this drives the Outer spheres. The distortions in the fields are hand animated based on the pushing or pulling force of the player. I have also added points to the front and back of the feet to indicate weight transference.

Tai Chi Juan (Xian Xiang Gong)

Translation : Tai Chi Circle (also known as The Coil Incense Kung)

It is easier to leave a circle than to enter it. 

The emphasis is on the hip movement whether front or back. 

The difficulty is to maintain the position without shifting the centre. 

To analyse and understand the above situation is to do with 

movement and not with a stationary posture.

Advancing and retreating by turning sideways in line with the 

shoulders, one is capable of turning like a millstone, fast or slow, 

as if whirling like a dragon in the clouds or sensing the approach 

of a fierce tiger. 

From this, one can learn the usage of the movement of 

the upper torso. 

Through long practise, such movement will become natural.

Here is a video showing realtime skeleton tracking using OpenNI and the Kinect..

http://vimeo.com/17640133

From 1:36 in this video it show a performers movements being expanded out from them, this is getting close to what I would like to achieve in terms of force spreading from the taiji player.

I envisage the force as being a similar to a particle animation in After Effects, moving in realtime through amorphous turning sphere shapes like oil suspended in water. The turning of the shapes is dictated by the turning of the players' Tantien, that in turn controls the direction and speed of the force.

2D representation of force moving between spheres

Oil in water

Van Gogh Starry Night

Video of oil in water..

http://vimeo.com/4281374

A reference I was reminded of: the Street Fighter 4 original ad has a similar feel to what I imagine the forces may look like..