Graduation! Results:

Well I have finally graduated!

My final score was a 2:1 (Second class upper division)

I now finally have a BA.

For information on how to get a copy of my dissertation click here.

For Any further work please go to my Other Blog. 

MEDI 264: Interactive Sound and Vision: Results

Interactive Sound and Vision - Credits: 20

Mark: 48%

This is the grade equivilant of a Third.

MEDI 264: Interactive Sound and Vision - Critical Evaluation For the Draft Project

The prototype for my project actually works extremely well, it functions as a tone matrix even if it can sometimes be a little erratic, however more often than not it is very tonal and the sounds it makes are of a pleasing yet raw quality, there are instances when it does sound fuzzy and the beeps are a bit off tone to what we humans think is melodic. I need to investigate this and further play around with it. Overall the project has huge potential for scope. I could take it in the direction of a ‘one on one’ sound mixer, which would be a neat little toy using different sounds for each point on the matrix that could be interfaced with via a computer, or I could take it down the road I really wanted to which is to link to some kind of motion sensitive mat and then have it as either a motion controlled tone matrix or have it doing something similar to the sound mixer but with the motion sensor that can then be part of an immersive environment or create a new layer within an environment. I have researched very extensively into motion capture, as it was my original intent to produce a project heavily involving that and I do draw a lot of my inspiration for the project from modern games and gadgets. I like the fun interactivity aspect and would ideally like to be able to create a space that children and adults could play in and have the sound controlled by where they were. With this idea in mind the bigger the space and the more people in the space would affect the overall sound being produced. This kind of thing as an installation would work better the more people that did interact with it.

I was intending to source the sounds from freesound.org and have only very short sound clips that looped. The sample size for sound would be huge so lots of different sounds could be selected either fitting a specific theme or having no cohesion at all. I would love to experiment with this as there is the potential to then have a tone matrix for every season, every mood, different locations etc. It really could literally be limitless. I could also experiment with sourcing my own sounds and then using a single sound with altered pitch for one matrix.

I worked very hard on the tone matrix, having very little knowledge of the software and basically having to teach myself as I went. It was a very challenging but incredibly rewarding experience. I have really learned what I am doing in Max5 now as far as the matrix is concerned and I like the software a lot. I do want to continue this project on since I really care a lot about it and it such a massive scope for expansion. I may in further versions put back in the tone control feature I removed but I would like it to have a much more intuitive interface than just a number box as although you can get some really cool sounds you can also get noises that are horrific and very hard on the ears. I would have to do further research into scales and have to work a lot more with Max5 so that I had the technical skills possible to achieve my aims. I also could do more research into this to see if my idea has ever been produced before and if so see how it was handled so that I had a solid grounding in the technical issues and details of the project.

I feel that although my tone matrix is not as good as the one that gave me the original idea it does exactly what it is supposed to. They also work on very different software so each may have flaws or high points that the other doesn’t. I am overall very happy with my tone matrix but would like to develop it further.

MEDI 264: Interactive Sound and Vision - Max Patch for Tone Matrix

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MEDI 264: Interactive Sound and Vision - Tone Matrix

Ok so bassicaly for my project I want to create a Tone Matrix like the one here that I have thought brilliant for quite a while now.

This is proving to be vastly harder in Max than I thought. So far I have the sound playing, and I have the matrix registering the on and off commands. Considering I have been so ill and have missed all of the Max tutorials I do feel I am doing really well at this point.

I am however having huge difficulties getting the sounds to be pre-loaded in at this stage and also for the sounds to take thier ques from the matrix.

Update1:
I have finally managed to make the matrix talk to the sounds. The main problem now is that all of the dots switched make the same sound if you switch any of them on. They are all feeding into the same sound.

However at least if they are then turned off the sound stops. I also havent managed to make the sound loop or auto load.

Update2:
I have so far managed to link the sound to the correct button but it doesnt work via the matrix. It only works via the on off switch that I have made for the matrix.

I am really not sure how to get this working.

Upadate3:
After struggling for ages with no real progress I decided to mine Youtbe as the educational resorce it is and find some kind of tutorial. Thankfully I found one. I now actually know what it is I am doing and can produce what I want to produce.

This is the result. an actuall working tone matrix. It uses synth as opposed to sounds that are external so its much easier to controll. It is fully working and also users can change the pitch of the sounds with the added number boxes. Its a fun little toy to play with and is actually interactive. 

I decided that for the purpose of this project the tonal controlls are not a very important feature. However since some of the time the tones produced are increadably loud I was thinking of volume controlls. This also lets you pick which speaker is the loudest so its usefull. 

 

I could easily put back the pitch controlls but I don't feel that there is a huge amount of point in having them. 

The main idea would have been to hook this up to some form of motion capture that would see the grid in an actuall real life space. For instance applying a grid of detection to an area of floor either via arieal tracking or some sort of motion detection cable on the ground. Going by this theory I would be pontentially able to create a hybrid of the tone matrix and one of thoes floor keyboards. This would make one very intresting interactive toy. I also think that this kind of technology can be applied to many uses for adults and children alike. It could be used as a learning tool or with the right sounds can enrich an enivronment to add a layer of imersion.

MEDI 264: Interactive Sound and Vision - Motion Tracking + Capture

So motion tracking is one thing I am very intrested in. I have looked at projects involving motion tracking including a Fourth Years Honor Project. I first started becomeing intrested in motion tracking after watching a video on how easily you can retro-fit the Wii-motes.



However as it combined virtual reality (something I also have a great passion for) It's not suprising that I love it. Now we have plenty of motion tracking toys avalible such as the EyeToy from Sony, The 3DS from Nintendo ( the first ever hand held consol to have motion tracking, 3D and Augmented Reality) also the X-Box from Microsoft has its own VR and motion tracking system the Kinect. All of these gadgets are awsome and with more and more sophisticated technology being produced there are only going to more and more breakthroughs in this field.


(Warning the video is almost sickly cute, it does however showcase just how sophisticated yet accesible this technology is)

We are using it more and more for practically every area of media, from video games to movies and also sometimes for art installations. There is even a specific role in the industry now for a Motion Capture Artist! It is so wide spread yet it remains as a toy that needs a certain amount of proficiency to use to create.

Motion Capture is also being used more and often in animated films to achieve greater degrees of realism in the way the characters move.

There are actually fairly heated debates now as to weather or not motion capture is an art form or if its fair on animators. Their is a lot of extensive work needed to be done with motion capture in this purpose. There has to be massive amounts of information passed back and forth between software and hardware and also between the humans using these new tools.



Robert Able who worked on this advert is known to be a pioneer in interactive media and computer visual effects, one of many that paved the way for what we have today so widely available and (in my opinion) enriches or lives.  

I am hoping to use motion tracking in my project.