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Final Project: Extended Reality Development

After finishing the 5 prototypes where I gathered base knowledge of a range of hardwares, softwares and technologies for performing arts. I began work on my final project with my group. We chose to further develop our extended reality prototype and focus on the interactivity aspect of it and mixing the senses of the virtual world and real world. We gathered extensive feedback from every user who experienced our virtual reality prototype to have a wide range of opinions. The most popular developments we had suggested to us was that users would like to have more moments of interaction with the actresses; to try eating food in the real-world whilst seeing it in the virtual world. Therefore this is what we decided to focus on. After much experimentation with the Ricoh Theta S camera, we had to refilm each of the three meals we decided the present the viewer with as the initial stage set up ad the lighting too bright and blinded the camera. The Ricoh Theta S uses two separa...
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Prototype 5: Scratch/Max MSP/ Processing

Coding was not a skill that I had before starting this module. I explored Scratch in secondary school but had forgotten that knowledge. “The relationship between artificial intelligence and human development is being debated more than ever before as algorithms, computers and smartphones play a growing role in our personal and professional lives.” (Yahoo, 2019). Scratch: To understand the basics of coding I started by exploring scratch. A programming language aimed at age 6 to 16 year olds however for someone who has done near to no coding before it was a perfect place to start. Within the Scratch Community there were many tutorials starting from the basics onwards to help me. This is  one of the first tutorials I followed learning how to code effects to sprites. For example, in the screenshot to the left, the sprite 'N' will grow and then shrink in size when clicked on due to the code that is in the window in the centre of the screen. This screenshot on...

Prototype 4: Animatronics and Hardware Hacking for Performance

Using animatronics in performance was not something that I had considered before. Development  1: Ee used Arduino, an open-source electronic platform and some of their more basic boards, to learn how to code in the software. Started by using premade code.   Development 2: Played around with some more of the coding which was available on the Arduino site before the next lesson. Development 3: Wanted to combine the two coding chains which interested us the most. These were ‘ForLoopIteration’ and some code I found to use a photoresistor.

Prototype 3: 360/VR Performance

The idea of creating a performance in 360 or Virtual Reality was new and exciting. Development 1: Came up with the idea of combining a VR experience and smells in the real world. Decided on kitchen as the location and an weird cooking experience as what the user would see. Development 2: Took out the camera (Ricoh Theta S) and explored it in my own time to understand how to best use it. Development 3: Filmed in a larger kitchen but the lighting was not ideal so decreased the final quality of the video. Improvised the experience to make it not feel fake. Development 4: When sharing our piece we made many developments such as working out the exact direction of where each smell or interaction needed to happen. Gathered lots of feedback from users.   Difficulties: Not everyone knew “how to use the VR headset, for example how to adjust the focus and the volume” (Fromwell, 2018) so not everyone got a clear experience. Bibliography: Fro...

Prototype 2: Projection Mapping

I already had an interest in Projection Mapping however never had the skills to explore this. But I had already used Isadora software in a different was so was familiar with the set up. Development 1: We used a few cardboard boxes to begin experimenting with projecting on to different angled surfaces. Varied videos on different surfaces to allow viewers to create their own narrative.                                                 Development 2: Chose a more difficult surface to project on because of the shape. Added different layers of projections. Started to add narrative.                                                     Development 3: To improve we would explore linking Isadora code to an...

Prototype 1: Immersive Interactive Composition

The first prototype we developed was an Immersive Interactive Composition using the software Qlab. This is an industry standard for putting together media for live shows such as image, video, audio and lighting. Development 1:  We decided on a city walk-through soundscape which quickly transformed into the user going into a burlesque club. We imported a few sounds and I learnt to edit the timing and direction of the sound using the different components of Qlab. Development 2: Kat took the lead with importing the audio and editing the timing and initial sound direction. Morium located suitable audio for the composition and gave feedback at key stages of development in-terms of the level of volume and direction of sound. My role was to take audio files using Reaper to edit them using Sennheiser’s Ambeo Orbit to create a more immersive binaural sound. Development 3: To improve the piece I would elongate the beginning section of walking through the city becau...

What is it all about?

Techniques and creative approaches for cutting-edge use of media and technology within the creative industry of performing arts. Real-world prototypes such as Sound Design and Sound Art; Telematics and Networked Video-based Performance; Social Media; Gamification; Lighting Design, Projection Maps and VJing; Interactivity; and wearables, live coding, hacking, sensors and a range of industry and creative performance software. Encouraging risk-taking Focus more on creative process Focus more on creative process Be open to new ways of making performance Be open to new ways of making performance BODYSTORM, not brainstorm . SCRUM approach & AGILE method Adaptive planning Why learn coding?