AniWall
The missing AniWall update.
Quite a lot has happened over past few months and it’s been ages since I updated this blog.
Firstly, I finished the AniWall project and graduated, and this is what this post is mostly about.
Below you can see a video I made to present the project to juries of some contests (no response yet.. ), it broadly shows what it can do and how it worked on an exhibition back in May:
You can read more about the project on AniWall microsite. Generally, I was quite happy with the result of research and how it worked, it was not perfect though.Performance for art installation purposes and drawing was really good but when more precise gestures were required (for example for navigating a gallery) the system was quite easily distracted by other people standing behind the ‘user’. I managed to cut the background motion off significantly by crossing infrared light beams in the center of the screen, where user’s body should be located but it didn’t solve 100% of the issue.
Quite soon after I presented AniWall to the board of examiners I saw the Microsoft’s project Natal, my jaw dropped on the floor and I decided I’d better focus on other experiments for a while.. But hey, on the upside, setting up my thing costs only about 50 GBP (+ display device and a PC) and I’ve got a First Class Honours thanks to it : )
Below, couple of pics people have drawn using AniWall:
Loads of issues I had with AniWall could be solved if the thing below came into production. Bi-directional screen is still more of a concept than a real product, but boy, it can change the world (or at least the world of HCI):
AniWall prototype testing clip
A quick mashup of some videos I recorded during testing of the latest prototype of AniWall, my interactive gesture operated wall project. It’s still not perfect as you see, but I’ve got a feeling I’m getting closer.
Shot with D90. Put together quickly and under pressure in iMovie 08 (did you know you can’t stretch or reverse video there? Weird. ).
Enjoii!