Spatial Media : Midterm Concepts

Basic Inputs and Outputs:

A projected grid on a flat surface.
Blocks of basic shapes will be manipulated on the play surface.
The form constructed will dictate the behavior of a kinetic, virtual body or bodies.
The surface and physical objects will be "dumb", with all interpretation and communication of them being from the camera.


Camera:

We will focus on the interpretation of static video images : When differencing is detected, we wait to interpret the scene. Thereby, while a user is manipulating the play area, we wait. When done, we register any physical bodies on the screen and update the resulting behavior.


Objects:

1. We begin with projecting a grid, and allow users to place cubes and other simple geometric shapes (wedges, cylandars) onto the grid. Bodies that fit correctly on the grid will be registered somehow through projection.

2. A shallow plexiglass box is placed on the projection surface. A half inch of sand is poured in, allowing users to create pathways with their fingers.


Virtual bodies:

1. In interface 1, the basic virtual body would be a ball, which would bounce off of the real surfaces. Additionally, multiple bodies could interact with the structure in a swarming behavior.

2. In interface 2, animated ants then begin to populate the resulting ant farm.


Further Steps:

Allow for building up vertically, to create a more complicated structure for a virtual body or bodies to interact with.