Basic contour detection with Processing.org

This is an attempt at contour detection using a basic algorithm.




Basic contour detection with Processing.org from mistercrunch on Vimeo.


I simply look at each pixel and compare it with its 8 surrounding neighbors and sum the gray scale difference. From there a certain threshold is applied to decide whether to display the pixel or not.



I was expecting something a bit less noisy and more cartoonish but I love the results. Somehow it looks as though there's some image compression happening somewhere between my webcam and my pixel array.



This should work pretty good for the video installation I'm working on (projector + infrared webcam + infrared spotlight). See it at BaconWood in May: and hopefully at Burning Man 2010.

The Blink Buggy

Shit I just realized that I never posted anything on this blog of mine about the Blink Buggy: our Burning Man art car. I designed and assembled most of the electronics and wrote the software for this project. This is definitely one the most interesting things I've worked on ever.

Here are a few of the best videos and pictures that have managed somehow to make their way back from Burning Man:






Pics:









Most of the pics and vids have not been very satisfying because camerasjust don't behave the way human eyes do. Anyhow, these are as good as it gets, thanks to Reid Spice for the pics!

Trippy real time video processing(.org)

I've been playing around with my webcam and the 2d/3d Java based IDE processing.org lately.

Here's what that looks like:


Webcam Distortion from mistercrunch on Vimeo.


What you see is basically a frame differencing algorithm with a palette animated color applied to it. I compare the current frame with the previous one, pixel per pixel and apply a color based on a cycling saturated color. The alpha of that color is based on how different the pixel is from the previous one. The leftover traces left behind the movement is there by applying a semi-transparent layer at every frame that makes previous drawings slowly disapear.

I am planning a night outdoor installation for BaconWood, an outdoor festival located in California a few weeks from now. I will use a video projector, a white screen, an infrared webcam and a infrared spotlight to create a trippy "mirror".

I modified my webcam for near infrared perception by removing the little infrared filter located in front of the sensor and by sliding in a little cut out from black negative to filter out the normal light. I'm looking into buying an infrared spotlight of some sort to stealth light the subjects which are most likely going to be dancing people or passerbys.

Tiles

I've discovered Processing (www.processing.org) a few months back and it's been my new favorite toy.

"Processing is an open source programming language and environment for people who want to program images, animation, and interactions. It is used by students, artists, designers, researchers, and hobbyists for learning, prototyping, and production."

I've been working on a few projects involving image processing, real-time video distortion, fluid dynamics and a whole lot of basic vector math.

Here's a small screen capture of the latest thing I've been working on:

LED Helmet

Hey ho ho.

I just made a website for the helmet! I decided to go with www.ledhelmet.com. The proto is almost 100% done now. I added a way to save patterns, and two autopilot modes. The first one cycles through saved patterns. The second generates random patterns. The speed knob controls how fast it cycles through patterns.

I submitted the link to Make Magazine. I should get a post on their blogs in the next few weeks. Hopefully. I'm hoping to get enough interest to stimulate me to make a small batch (50 - 100). I'd make a little manufacturing plant the RV I just bought and go live like gypsies with Shannon. From then on, the thing might get in range of sight of the few people who might want to buy one.

I'm also thinking that I'll have a fair amount of people asking about it at Burning Man, to whom I'll reply "www.ledhelmet.com". It should be easy enough for people to remember. Even though altered consciousness and a general sense overload might bury this memory. Handing out cards is a bit too businessy for BM... Maybe I'll carry pen and paper and write the name down to people that show enough interest.

Well well. That's it. Get one while they're hot.

Wondering about World Wonders

World wonders, or giant works of art and technology, displaying the grandeur and power of its creators have been created by grand societies over history. What would it be like if our current society would engage in works proportional to its aptitudes? What if modern societies, armed with modern technology, had proportional intents in scale to the ones that drove the realization of works regarded as "wonders of the world"?

The diversity of the intents behind such monumental projects seem to gravitate around a few basic ideas: displaying our capabilities as well as satisfying and stimulating the imagination. It is art at its biggest scale.

While a very summarized definition of Art is "the activity of creating harmony", or "the results of such an activity", the intent of the artist is more complex. The artist wants to satisfy its own imagination and stimulate the ones of others. It is also arguable that the artist's intent is to display his control over his accomplishment and value himself and his potential through his creations.

In the current post-industrial age that is so instrumentally rational, we've forgotten our dreams of accomplishment. Our society has forgotten that creating something is a great way of feeling fulfilled, which is as important at a society scale then at a personal scale.

One could argue that there are betters things to do than erecting giant structures to get a feeling of social accomplishment. That challenges of the modern world are of a different nature. In that regard, the conquest of space, and going to the moon could be regarded as a work of art, a "wonder of the world". Works of that nature are in fact driven by similar intents (showing our control of technology, proving that we can do it) and generate the same results (sense of accomplishment, stimulating the imagination). They are, in that matter, of a similar nature.

Looking at our society, what it makes is a great insight as to who we are. Purpose is what drives what we make, while trying to lower effort as much as possible, harmony coming far behind purpose.

As a social animal, and as an artist, I'd like the different levels of society encompassing me to take part in more project of an artistic nature.

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These are some of the reasons why I'm planning to spend some of my time playing the world wonder designer, and make sketches of what I'd like to create if I had ressources of Pharaohnic proportions.

Helmet

Here's a video featuring the flashing helmet I made. This helmet has been designed to scare crackheads but it turned out that it actually attracts them.