Brilliant example on setting and controlling a filter’s parameters via MIDI mapping, creating a control surface via a webcam and a torch by Daniele Mattei (Youtube). News via blog.lecollagiste.com
Daniele Comments:
I realised a little Processing sketch that tracks the light blob I shot in front of webcam, normalises X and Y coordinates to MIDI acceptable values, and then sends them to a filter effect in Ableton Live.
I also realised the little control panel that allows to correctly make the MIDI mapping and set some blob detection’s params.
Using Processing for Live Visual creation is its own state of mind. Collectively and individually there is a massive share of amazing projects and sketches that keep opening up possibilities of exploration towards unique multimedia overall.
Here comes ToonLoop(Drawing Lively)
One such project worth a mention is ToonLoop. Simply speaking, -Toonloop is a device for creating live video cartoons. Yes, really!
Images are added one by one using a pedal which, when pressed, takes a picture and added to the loop of images. Processing.og (Win/OSX) takes care of controlling the functionality and functions, Python port is available on Linux. All together it comes together form an animated film. In the course of your gig , you’ll be able to do several small films like this. This may be a cartoon, or even stop the motion. (frame by frame).
The initial intention of this project was to teach new media element to children and also to create a professional tool for movie creators. Please check it out fro yourself,- highly recommended : ToonLoop. Continue reading »
Mother Reaches 0.6
It’s sure is a sign of an active project where it keeps leaping between each release so quickly, it can be difficult to keep up with it all. As project matures, additional resources and tutorials become available and personally I’ll try to keep readers updated on anything that I cross by.
Massive thanks go as always to Ilias Bergstorm (Lead Developer) and ongoing support involvement from Krzysztof Golinski on the project, developing of Mother has now sped up a bit, hence the increased release frequency!
New Features : Mother 0.6:
Small mistakes fixed from previous 0.5 release: Waltz synth example was not working, and I failed to mention in the documentation that you also need the Shapetween library to develop new synths. Note: Shapetween is a library for Processing that provides an easy way of animating elements within a sketch in a variety of ways.
More comprehensive secondary screen support introduced.
pre(), draw(), post() and dispose() methods are now called properly in synth libraries.
It is no longer necessary to put an Init() method in sketches intended as Synths for Mother (Finally!).
Download:
As always, you can download the latest version from the Google code repository!
Mother has reached a new milestone today (0.5) by expanding to OSX and adding processing update to version 1.0.7. Through discussion with Illias previously I have made a suggestion of trying to keep processing libraries in separate folders from Mother.jar that’s so if processing.org makes an update, Mother update could be simply implemented through overwriting some folders. Im very happy that this feature is now implemented and functioning. Thanks Illias!
To Download Mother version 0.5.0, visit from Google code repository and grab your preferred version (PC/OSX).
If you follow developments around VJ culture and Video Installation practises, Video Mapping practise has become a new Black with nearly everyone having a go at warping and mapping they video textures onto various objects in the space. Effective and brilliant approach. While some vj software have addressed this issue almost right away (eg vvvv, Module8) some other open source projects are taking initial steps in that direction.
Keystone is a video projection mapping library for Processing. Right now it allows you to warp your Processing sketches onto any flat surface by using corner pin keystoning, regardless of your projector’s position and orientation. The goal is to eventually expand this library to enable more advanced projection mapping, such as projecting on 3D models or curved surfaces and edge blending of multiple projector screens.
Those artists that enjoy creating content using Processing (especially for live performance) would sure be interested in methods and techniques on dealing with manipulation of such code snippets/visual Synths between one another in live environment. Positively, sound reactive and midi controlled approach would also be of be of benefit.
This field is evolving and growing quite rapidly which is a good thing. Combination of open source technologies provide us with opportunityand ideas to push evolving scene to a new heights.
For any visualist out there who is on the constant look out for new ideas and methods to approach his or her production, – coding tools offer an amazing supplement of options, interactivity and point of difference. Continue reading »
Processing is incredible platform for creating visual ideas and generating stunning Audio Visual multimedia pieces. To be frank with the whole thing, to the day I haven’t performed with Processing as a sole software option at any of the gigs that I have played, yet never the less I incorporate some of the processing sketches that I record and post-edit in my production.
Well, that’s until Mother came to the scene. -A program that allows VJing with Processing.org sketches.
The lead developer Ilias Bergstrom has been working through developing this invaluable tool which in my opinion can launch Processing as source of visual performance to another level.
The current development version (Mother 0.3 in Development) has been announced just under a month ago and what now seemingly its coming to a near launch stage with followed up post from Ilias on Onar3d- Maria Louiza.
I will take some time in next few days to give much more detailed review of my personal experience, yet in the mean time, check out provided links for more info on the subject.
Before I proceed with this post, I would like to put a few acknowledgements and small history path of events that have lead me onto this exploration. Just over a month ago, I have come across Animata – open source real-time animation software, designed to create animations, interactive background projections for concerts, theatre and dance performances. My excitement of discovery lead me to share the news with my good friends at Create Digital Motion (Peter Kirn and Jaymis Loveday) who have followed up with 3D Animation, Made Real-Time: Open-Source Animata for Mac, Windows post. That same CDM post was shortly found by Michael Forrest who blogged about that discovery on his Homebrew Adventures post as seen below.
Sometimes the software you can buy isn’t enough. I spent a few years playing in bands and always wanted to use samples to bring some more life into the sound. But it always felt so disembodied and strange to have sounds coming from nowhere when it was obvious what was coming from the guitars or drums. So I conceived this idea of a ‘virtual band’. This would give form to the weird and wonderful sounds possible through audio synthesis and processing, and could inject a lot of interest into live performances. Over the years I have tried to realise this vision in many different ways. I’ve created models with Poser and 3DS Max, I’ve written MIDI responsive software in Director, I’ve made sample players in Flash, but there was always too much latency, or 3D modelling, or rendering or… well … non-realtime problems, and I always ended up putting the idea on the back burner. Then, a couple of weeks ago, Create Digital Motion blogged about Animata. An open source animation tool with a really simple concept at its core, and the ability to do exactly what I’ve wanted to do all these years, with a fast workflow, flexibly, and in realtime. So I got to work.
Those artists that enjoy creating content using Processing (especially for live performance) would sure be interested in methods and techniques on dealing with manipulation of such code snippets/visual Synths between one another in live environment. Positively, sound reactive and midi controlled approach would also be of be of benefit.