Lab 2 Space: Mixed Spaces

Mixed Spaces:

This project is the result of various attempts of creating a mixed space (physical and virtual) interaction. I was really interested in how physical inputs (in this case light) can be translated into the virtual space (through a webcam). My initial idea involved the use and representation of light from the physical space into the virtual one but I had to adapt my project due to the technical difficulties.

Some of my experiments of representing light in the virtual space resulted in a multitude of lines that reminded me of my first project, Generative Threads. I then started to experiment with the light tracker in order to create patterns onto the webcam footage.

The final result of this project uses the light tracker to draw generated, virtual patterns over the footage of the physical canvas that can be seen on the screen. The fixed pattern of the embroidery can be played with and help to guide the shape of the generated pattern which engages with what is already there but also stands on its own. This piece again plays with the idea of control with generated patterns. Given the premise of an already existing physical work, the generation of the new pattern is controlled by the user and their perception of the pattern that is already there and how they want to engage with it. Do they want to fill in empty spaces, do they want to cover up certain areas and make them denser, or do they want to follow the pattern that is already there? At the end, two pieces result: on the one hand there is the physical piece with an added virtual layer, on the other hand there is the virtual pattern on its own. The virtual and physical spaces begin to influence and shape one another and create mixed spaces until interactions can no longer be defined as "physical" or "virtual".

It would have been interesting to generate different kinds of patterns, use different colours and canvases to draw on. It would also be quite helpful to have access to a laser pointer to create more precise results, as the backside of the embroidery makes it challenging to reach all the parts of the canvas. The light I used was only perceived fully by the webcam in certain angles which made the interaction slow and difficult and the battery was also giving up at the end.

For the code I used the example Finding the Brightest Pixel in an Image: https://openframeworks.cc/ofBook/chapters/image_processing_computer_vision.html

The code for my project can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eJflLI3wlMQLM8GkukBP9oiizteHapiA/view?usp=sharing