TouchOSC and VirtualDJ

So apparantly it's possible to control virtualDJ using a virtual midi interface and touchOSC. There was a video demonstrating how it worked with his own pure data save but it appears to behave differently for me. I had to change some of the osc modules in pure data because some were missing from the installation or obsolete. I managed to get about half of the controls to work properly such as effect intensity, pitch of each deck, bass, treble, and mid control. A lot of the controls that were demonstrated in the video didn't seem to work for me since some of the drivers and setup differed but it did partially work. Seems like it would be a little tedious to configure these controls, may have to play around with it more. I have no idea how I could configure using virtual DJ to cycle through different effects using a decrement/increment button. You don't get as much control as you would with programming by yourself in Max, but VirtualDJ seems to be a well built and optimized program for this.

Virtual DJ with OSC

http://www.djmoya.com/tag/virtual-dj-touch-osc-template
Well, apparantly this website explains how to use OSC data to control virtual DJ. If this can be accomplished, then using TouchOSC for this purpose will be much better. The program I made is too CPU intensive and primitive. Virtual DJ seems like a great program and I would be very excited to get this to work with it. The I-pad template exists (not free), but if I can get a look at it I can copy it's setup and make my own template. Unfortunately Android's TouchOSC doesn't have support for custom templates as far as I know.

FINALLY!!!

Wow, after tedious hours of work I have finally gotten my VJ program to work. Basically everyone with an IOS or Android device should have the ability to control my VJ program with little effort. This program has a basic crossfader, volume control of each video, a rotary dial for each that cycles through 10 different effects, a rotary dial for each that controls the intensity of the effect, a rotary dial for each to control the playback speed of the video, a toggle button for each that plays the video, and 2 buttons for each that cycles through videos. The big downside to this is how much of a CPU eater it is. Even my desktop's processor can't handle it perfectly, so I'm really hoping it will be presentable on his laptop. I will be demonstrating this in class today (ugh, been up too long), assuming I'm not passed out. Well, time to sleep... It's 6AM!!!

More Max MSP

Messed around with OSC again but this time made it control a beat grid. It was extremely tedious making those connections, but it worked. I also added the ability to input wave files into each row so you can make your own beats.

Interactive Videos

This is a pretty cool video, pretty much describes exactly what we've been talking about in class. Really looks like the movie The Minority Report.
http://www.vimeo.com/405014
This video demonstrates the same guy using a projector and camera pointing down from the ceiling onto a wooden board.
http://www.vimeo.com/16193320
These videos show exactly what we want to accomplish. Check out the link below to see other examples from this person!
http://www.vimeo.com/catchyoo

Sound controlled by OSC data

Basically I needed to learn about the OSC protocol. A protocol is basically a language used by computers to communicate with each other. mrmr and this application I'm demonstrating on my Droid uses OSC to trasnmit button/touch information through UDP to a specified IP address and port. In this case, the set IP is my computer and the port it will be receiving these messages from is 37197 (this can be set to any). I'm going to use Max 5.1 and once again control sound pitch using OSC data sent by my Droid. Max contains an object that can read and listen to data and I programmed it to listen on port 37197 for data from my phone. From there Max decodes the information into readable text and numbers and you can program it to do certain actions based on what numbers it's receiving.

Sound controlled by a 1M Potentiometer

Nothing else more than just the title...

Max reacting to a Photo Resistor

This was pretty fun, I got the sound to be controlled from a Photo Resistor.

More flex sensor progress!!!

I finally got the Arduino board to interact with a program in windows, specifically Max 5.1. It required me to flash a special firmware to the Arduino board called Firmata 2.1. This firmware allows the board to communicate with Max msp (or Max 5.1). Once installed you can open up a patcher (Max project) called Maxuino which contains a set of interactive buttons and meters which will allow you to interact and read/write values to the Arduino board.

Flex Sensor Progress

Pretty interesting, still haven't figured out though how to get it to communicate with windows as a HID.

Hammer Export Plugin

I have provided a mediafire link to the hammer sketchup plugin. Follow the instructions on the wiki. You don't need to go into the steam folder because I have provided those files for you already. Those files need to be extracted from the zip into the folder as described in the Sketchup folder. This plugin as I have mentioned in the past is very picky and doesn't perform well with large polygon counts. The model will also become untextured when exported into hammer, so it may be essential for some people to learn hammer if they really want to see their creations in the presentation. I personally don't know how to use hammer that well, but it doesn't look like it has a hard learning curve.

http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SketchUp_Source_Tools

http://www.mediafire.com/?9co64k1kvkjstga

Circuitry

So after last class I was given this circuit starter kit to mess around with. It comes with a book that teaches you all the basics about circuitry and also introduces you to the physics behind it. I don't know much about circuitry at all so I could have said some incorrect things in the video. This it looks pretty fun and can really teach you how to utilize these basic components to control many different things. The one thing I want to learn is how to use a transistor. The transistor is suppose to act as a circuit controller for analog devices such as a motor or a buzzer. The transistor I believe has an input for the electrical current for the analog device and an input for the digital electrical current (9v in this case) which acts as a trigger for the analog device. It looks pretty interesting and fun to mess around with, maybe we can utilize a transistor and other components to control something on stage.

App Inventor

More room progress

This is what I have done so far with my room. It isn't really a dream room though, just something standard so far. I haven't done anything special. There's a mini fridge, small aquarium, poker table, computer table, and a TV with a stand placed in the room. I was planning on adding more such as a projector with a pull down screen for movies and a surround sound system, but once again I don't have good time management skills. This is it so far...

Theater Progress

Well, this is what I got so far. I really wish I had more time to work on this. Between all the midterms, projects, and homeworks I've had, I haven't been able to manage my time effectively. This theater basically has a circular style to it and has a lot of lighting setup. You can see floor lighting setup too around the stage and some floor lights in the back.

Screensaver

Took a video of my screensaver and added some effect using windows movie maker. The screensaver itself though is trippy to look at without any added effects...

Long day

Today was a very stressful and long day. I've been locked up in the library studying for 9 hours straight. I have a Philosophy midterm later today and my brain hurts from all the reading I had to do. Socrates's philosophy does interest me though. He challenges everyone's beliefs and shows everyone how ignorant they really are on what they claim to know. Socrates's is wise enough to see his own ignorance. He basically challenges people's thoughts and guides them into finding the truth. The concept of morality and virtue is mentioned a lot and it becomes mind boggling thinking about a definition for these. Is there a universal definition for what's right or wrong? We can certainly see that different people and different religions have different rules for what is right or wrong, but is there a universal definition? Socrates believes there exists something, but we still haven't discovered it yet.

Well, I haven't eaten or taken a break yet. I also really need to finish up the room and theater space design. Time to work...

Camera interactivity

Now this was pretty interesting and funny. Someone wired a surveillance camera to a computer and programmed a motor to control a small curtain that was setup in front of a window. The program will track where the persons location is and have the motor move the curtain in front of the person, basically tracking the location of the person. Thought this was an interesting concept, maybe this will give us some ideas for the project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKhbUjVyKIc

Synchronous and Asynchronous

From what I understand, Synchronous activities include more immersion and usage of the body and mind. A common example would be human interaction. When meeting in person, there are many parts of the body we use. We speak using vocals, we use facial expressions and hand gestures to enhance the conversation, and we also use body motions. We naturally analyze and combine all of the information (vocals, body motions, hand gestures, facial expressions) to put together the information the person is trying to communicate. All of these features together can make communication more comprehensible and interesting. I believe this to be a synchronous way of communicating. It's different from using instant messaging/texting software. Instant messaging only involves the user using their fingers to input information (assuming no text to speech). We only read inputted text from the person. Even though there exists emoticons to add emotion to instant messages, it will never be the same as taking in person. Emotions have different measures of intensity and that can't be represented entirely by emoticons. In the computer world, everything is digital. Digital is only a finite and estimated representation of the analog world we live in. Feels like I digressed here...

Immersive Gameplay

I thought this video was pretty interesting. Someone designed this immersive racing simulator seat in his own home. Impressive and looks pretty fun. The seat will tilt, simulating acceleration and deceleration.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5qMPPJUipE&feature=player_embedded