Uncategorized | Introduction to Digital Media

Blogging and Audiovisual November 10, 2008

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Blogging

Way to go Blogger (say goodbye to Xanga please!)

http://www.blogger.com

Even though your sweb space is super small (only 600MB@!#) , but we can build a blog on this.

Blogger (blogspot) can be hosted in their free hosting or your own hosting. WordPress is good also. But why not WordPress?

The database of WordPress uses PHP which the SWEB in SCM does not support.

Blogger use XML, which is just a simple file containing data. SWEB in SCM supports this.

Let’s make one in SWEB.

Let’s VJ

Even Master like Peter Greenaway do VJ, are you ready?

Thousands way that you can be a VJ, or a better terms, Audiovisual artist.

Ways to do VJ

Onyx (Open source)
http://www.onyx-vj.com/?page_id=10

ArKaos
http://www.arkaos.net/

Modul8

modul8

Master do VJ/AudioVisual

Kraftwerk
Light Surgeon
d.v.d
(http://vimeo.com/1981069)
EBN (http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=PUDR9RckfEU)
Ryuichi Sakamoto x Alva Noto
(http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=7az9jgc5wz8)
(http://vimeo.com/1266592)
Ryuichi Sakamotot x Toshio Iwai
(http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=JgifXO0z7Us&feature=related)
(http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=3a9dOoLU5xQ)
(http://www.aec.at/en/archives/prix_archive/prix_projekt.asp?iProjectID=2494)

Ways to know VJ:

Vj: Audio-visual Art + VJ culture
http://shop.dfuse.com/span-stylefont-weight-boldvj-audio-visual-artbr–vj-culture-spanbook-1-p.asp

VJ books
http://www.vjbook.com/

Addition Link

Kontakstation

Interactivity , Interaction Design and Installation November 4, 2008

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“…Interaction is the most common acticity between humans. They are interactive living beings who make objects, talk with each other, write texts and pass these on to others…”
-Masaki Fujihata, Hierarchies of Communication, ZKM

We are in this class: Introduction to Digital Media, interactivity happens with digital media.

“Computer is just a tool. It still depends on the users to use it in a good or bad way”

“Technology shapes our life. New form of interactive technology will enable new practices of works, entertainment, etc.”

We have 4 roles in the interaction process:

Audience – broadcast mode of communication
User – functional system, e.g. Product design, software
Participant – active role to co-create something
Player – performative role to assert identity

Relation between the action taker and feedback to the action taker…

Forms of Interactivity with new media

One form of interactivity relies on replicating the interpersonal and its value for the appropriation of meaning.
New Media forms are thus modeled on Providing the possibility of exchange and interplay

The second form of interactivity privileged in new media forms is their capacity to provide complete environments. The objective of these new media forms is a kind of immersive state.

The third direction in the development and use of interactivity was a kind of representation of difference from the forms of interaction that past media forms presented.
It promise of change and empowerment intersected with the audience’s desire for greater control of its media forms.

Principles of New Media (by Lev Manovich)

Numerical representation – created from scratch on computers, converted from analog media (digitzation)
Modularity – object-oriented authoring software, structured programming practice
Automation –
Variability
Transcoding

This is super abstract right?

Take a simpler way, let’s explore different kind of interactive media.

Tangible Interface
Intangible Interface

Tangible Interface

Basic: Mouse and Keyboard

Uniqlo Grid (by 中村勇吾)

FontPark 2.0 (by 中村勇吾)

Nervous (by 中村勇吾)

Audiovisual Environment Suite, Golan Levin, 2000 (Ars electronca 2000, interactive arts)

http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager

More: With other hardware/controller

Block Jam, by Sony Interaction Lab (Ars Electronica 2003, interactive arts)

Tenori-On, Toshio Iwai

Tuskuba Series, Maywa Denki (Ars Electronica 2003, Interactive arts)

a plaything for the great observers at rest, 平川紀道 (Ars electronica 2008, Interactive Arts)

Tagtools
http://www.tagtool.org/category/videos/

music box, Mok Jin-Yo (Ars electronica Festival 2005)

Moving Mario, Keith Lam (Ars Electronica 2008, Interactive Arts)

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsjoN7xWY5k]
Pong Mechanik

Graffiti Research Lab (next time)

Reactable (next time)

levelhead (next time)

OLE Coordinate System (next time)

mobile device (next time)

Khrono Projectors (next time)

DialTones (next time)

Drawn (next time)

Intangible Interface

n-cha(n)t, David Rokeby (Ars Electronica 2001, Interactive Arts)

TextRain, Camile Utterback (Ars Electronica 2000, Interactive Arts)

http://www.worthersoriginal.com/viki/#page=shadowmonsters
Shadow Monster, Philip Wasington, 2006

[http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr6y2lfc7Co]
Big Shadow, 前川峻志, 2006

Kick Ass Kung Fu

BrainBall, Smart Studio (Ars Electronica 2001, Interactive Arts)

Access, Marie Sester (Ars Electronica 2003, Interactive Arts)

touch echo, Bruehlsche Terrasse (Ars Electronica 2008, Interactive Arts)

Moving Mario By Hand

By Royal Appointment, Moritz Waldemeyer

Dune 4.0, Daan Roosegaarde, 2006

Mutlitouch Table (next time)

JazzMatuant (next time)

Openness VS Restriction

Learning Curve: Immediacy
Well-designed Restriction
Level of Interactivity
Roles of interfaces?

Web Authoring October 27, 2008

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We use Adobe Dreamweaver.

http://sweb.cityu.edu.hk/sm1001/tutor/lab8/

Presentation + Computer Graphics 2 October 13, 2008

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Presentation!

Computer Graphics 2

We have tasted the basic computer graphics by using pixels as a base of creation. This time let’s taste something more on Image/graphic processing.

What about we try something in Photoshop first?
Take a look here: http://sweb.cityu.edu.hk/sm1001/tutor/lab6/

So it may recall you back to the material of last class. Remember the deep ascii – vuk cosic?

Do you want to make a real-life one with the webcam in front of you? Yes, here you go the following few examples.

Static playing with jpg
Dynamic drawing with jpg
Live drawing with webcam (ellipse)
Live drawing with webcam (rect)
ASCII Live drawing
Brightness Tracking

Generative Computer Graphics?!

Computer/Digital Graphic September 30, 2008

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For details of the “technical part” of Computer/Digital Graphic,
You can check out our old tutorial online:
http://sweb.cityu.edu.hk/sm1001/tutor/lab5/

Pixel: Something Very Original

As you may know the very basic element of computer/digital graphic is PIXEL, and we are so enjoying the retro culture, why not play with some PIXEL GRAPHIC?

Of course, the most familiar pixel demonstration is Mosaic

Yes, this is Mosaic, it is exactly applying the charatertistic of PIXEL.

Many Artists, no matter media artist or fine artist, has tried to play pixel. This is most expensive way that I have seen ever: Cologne Cathedral, by Gerhard Richter.

We should take a look on the review by Wired Magazine here.

“he used his own 1974 painting 4096 Colors. To create that piece — a 64-by-64 grid of squares — Richter devised a mathematical formula to systematically mix permutations of the three primary colors and gray. Funny coincidence: 4,096 is also the number of “Web-smart” colors that display consistently on older computer screens, a limitation some Web designers still take into account.”

He mentioned the limitation many years ago that most of the “computer-designer” cannot work out a very fine computer graphic, because the resolution of the pixel-width is not deep enough.