Digital Artifacts

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.