Final Videos - Ian Bell

Here are a few of the final videos we plan to use.

Troubleshooting - Ian Bell

We went in and tried our patch on the mac pro in the 5.1 room, with the aim of finishing and loading it up, ready for the rotunda exhibition. As the mac pro was a lot quicker than my macbook, we hoped that the issues with the jitter objects not running smoothly would be solved. HOWEVER that was not the case at all. Although my patch worked, it did not run smoothly enough - too much processing of the video. I attempted a number of different techniques to try and iron out the problem, such as removing all bar one of the metronomes to run the videos, as well as trying to run jpg images without the need of a metronome. All this was in vain however.

Deciding to cut my losses, I felt the most important thing was to have an up and running system, which was presentable and fully functional for the rotunda exhibition. By doing this, I felt I had to create a new, simplified patch. By the end of our 5 hour stint in the 5.1 room, I had created a brand new patch, but cut out all the processor hungry crossfading and video effects, replacing with simple fade ins. This, although was not our original plan, seemed to work much smoother and the program became a lot more responsive again. We also went about redoing our videos from the feedback we received on monday from the rotunda staff, and compressed them so they were only half the size they were before, or replaced them with static jpg images. The most important thing was having a fully functional, aesthetically pleasing installation, which is what we have tried to focus on delivering. I have uploaded a screenshot of the new working patch.

Final FINAL images!! - Sam Eaton

Feedback and what we done did about it - Sam Eaton

The other day we had a little show and tell with some very nice people from the Rotunda who gave us some advice on things we might change to make our installation more enticing and user friendly for the public. Thankfully they didn't have a large amount of negative feedback to give us so all of our changes were quite manageable. Below is a list of the things they asked us to change and how we changed them:

1. Make the text on menus easier to read - This was done by converting the menu videos back to still images (which besides making them easier to read also saved on system resources, see Mike's post below)

2. Simplify the language - I went through each piece of info we had and changed words here and there to make the text universally understandable (I hope)

3. Define 'witchcraft'. The museum reps asked that we define what we mean by the term witchcraft so as not to confuse visitors in to thinking of it purely as a negative thing - I created a definition page that sits on the other screen to the main menu, telling users what we mean when we use the word.

4. Change the word 'fetish'. We were asked to change the Congo Fetish Image to a different title to avoid putting certain unsavoury images in peoples minds. Some research was done and I found that the term 'Amulet' was appropriate and so all instances were renamed accordingly.

Othere than these things we had a short to-do list involving the finishing of video and audio content and the cleaning up of our patch.

Dude Where's My RAM?!!? - Mike Lamming

My patch seems to be too much of a struggle to run smoothly at the moment (taking up to 30 seconds to even lock/unlock the patch), so I'm cutting out all the unnecessary patchers and objects to cut down on the RAM/CPU usage.

Lemur Interface Update 2 - Mike Lamming

Went into the 5.1 Studio today and sorted out all the lemur interaction, using udpsend to trigger interface changes on the screen. Each button sends a different pitch via midi channel 3 to a notein object in max, which then goes into a select object which outputs bangs to play different audio and videos.

Lemur Interface Update - Mike Lamming

Created all our Lemur interface screens, all ready to be linked up tomorrow in the 5.1 Studio.





Related patching in Max. Each button on the Lemur is assigned a pitch, which is sent via midi channel 3 (our group number), which then sends a bang back to the Lemur via the udpsend object in Max to change to the relevant interface.

(Note that the ip is random until i get to the Lemur tomorrow).

A Whole Bunch of Images! - Sam Eaton

Video Creation - Ian Bell

Myself and Sam sat down today to to start sorting through the video clips and imagery we had perviously collected over the past few weeks.

I have uploaded an example of a beta version of one of our video clips.

Interface Update 3 - Mike Lamming

Successfully managed to link both the audio and video patches together.


Inputs shown from Sam's Patch.

Sam's audio patch fades between different soundscapes based on the screen the user is currently on, and which they intend to move to. There are 6 ways to return to the Main Menu screen, 2 ways for each of the charms, and 1 way for each of the Themed Menus. There is also one button to return to the overall Installation Menu. This resulted in 17 different combinations the user could move between, and so i created 17 inputs to the interface patch.

Inputs shown from Ian's Patch.

Ian's video patch contains 7 videos, so the inputs were divided between the screen the user intends to move to.

Currently using the default video files in the max folder until we get the videos made up tomorrow.

Menu Images - Sam Eaton

Here are the three menu images for use in our installation. Unfortunately as we do not have access to images of our actual charms I have substituted them for similar images for now (i.e. a piece of rowan bark in place of the rowan loop. The images are now ready to have their background videos placed underneath!

Link Up - Ian Bell

Have finished creating both patches, one for each of the two screens. After testing if the audio and video were compatible on monday the 26th of October (yesterday) I went through the patch, making sure everything worked properly. Both my Video patches, and Sam's Audio patches are now complete and fully compatible.

Interface Update 2 - Mike Lamming

Created inputs taken from the Lemur, put bangs in for a visual conformation for myself while i tweak it. Made a 'button press' mini-patch for each time the user presses a button, also created an option for it to be muted. Written a brief summary for each of the inputs and its job for ease when linking the audio and video together.

Attempt Two Left Hand Screen - Ian Bell

I decided to expand upon my patch for the monday demonstration. Now, the entire jitter side of the project on the left screen is now works properly. To create the right hand side, all that needs to be done is duplicating this patch, changing a few files names and which items are sent, and then the Jitter side of things is completed.

Interface Update - Mike Lamming

Until i can get into uni to use the Lemur, i have been replicating the input with a midi keyboard for now, and the ctrlin object in max. Made a 'conformation' beep for when the user presses a button. In the process of making a modular patch which can be applied to all our different screens (as seen in the flowchart). Will hopefully be able to start tying Ian and Sams work together in the next week or so.

Attempted Work - Ian Bell

Following the meeting I had with Sam earlier, I attempted to have a go at creating my own rough patch, so as I could show it to my group, and have them comment on it, see if it fits the bill/what can be improved on.

Heres a screenshot of the main max patch screen. As it was only a rough attempt, only one screen would be manipulated so far with this patch. Once I am happy with this patch, I would then add the 2nd screen

Here is a flow chart showing all the intended sections of our installation.

Meeting Results, Asset List - Sam Eaton

Me and Ian met up today and discussed what assets we need to create and our attitude to the project as a whole. We have decided to move away from fun but perhaps pointless interactivity and focus on creating a solid, good looking installation which works perfectly and creates user focus through its aesthetics.

Below is a list of all the assets we need to create. This list does not include universal assets such as sound effects when the user interacts with the installation.

Main Menu:

Looping background video (5-10 secs)

Menu image

Background audio loops

Lemur items: left selection (to Symbolism menu), right selection (to Nature menu), back to installation selection menu

Symbolism/Nature Menus (all assets needed twice):

Looping background video (5-10 secs)

Menu image

Background audio loops

Information video composed of still images (2 pages of information)

Lemur items: left selection (to Charm 1), right selection (to Charm 2), back to main menu, back to installation selection menu

Charm Menus (all assets needed four times):

Main looping video (30 seconds)

Looping background video (5-10 secs)

Menu image

Background audio loops

Information video composed of still images (2 pages of information)

Lemur items: go to other charm in group, back to symbolism/nature menu, back to main menu, back to installation selection menu

Menu Mock Up & Audio System - Sam Eaton

To the left is a mock up of the menu system we will be using in our installation. Everything will be based around circles (a shape that appears regularly in the symbols used in witchcraft). We will be working on maintaining graphical fidelity by making all our still images at 1280X720 pixels utilising the high resolution displays at our disposal.

To the left is an image showing the various modules that make up a simplified version of the audio module that will be used in our installation, highlighting the modular nature of our work. Five loops are loaded and played when the patch is opened, although all but one are muted. MIDI signals trigger the other loops fading in and out depending on what the user is doing while keeping them all in sync with one another. Further MIDI controls fade effects in that alter the sound of the loops, these controls will eventually be replaced by wiimote motions or similar. A video of this patch in action will be uploaded shortly.

Gathering of Resources - Ian Bell

Spent the day looking through different websites, finding copyright and royalty free video clips and still images that could be used in our project.

A few of the better websites found were:

http://www.geekphilosopher.com/

http://www.archive.org/

Learning of Jitter - Ian Bell

Spent a couple of days looking through tutorials 1-20 on how to use Jitter. Had a go at recreating all the patches, so as I understood how they worked, and created my own patches combining a number of the new objects learnt in the tutorial patchers.

Research - Ian Bell

Spent the week prior to our presentation to the group looking into themes, and what could possibly tie our charms together.

Looked at nature, iconography, shapes, animals and numbers.

Came to conclusion that iconography, shapes and numbers could all come under the title of symbolism, and animals came under nature, so narrowed down list to two themes.

Also spent time looking into witchcraft itself, and came across the religion "Wicca", which tied in nicely with our theme of nature.