Making the ReacTable Happen

Video Work

2010-04-22T19:41:00.000-07:00

The following videos are a few examples of my work. All sounds and music was recorded by my self using Pro tools using a rage of microphones

Calligraphy

Une Mission Ephemere - Piotr Kamler

Spook Sport - Norman Mclaren

Still Nacht - Brothers Quay

Audi Car Advert

Guitar Recorded April 2010 - Alistar Warren

Are We Still Married - Brothers Quay

Elysium Software

2010-04-19T05:31:00.000-07:00

The reacTogon uses MIDI to generate sound, and its prooving pretty hard to find much imformation on it, but like the ReacTable Im sure that I must just dig a little harder to find out the really interesting information. I was unable to ind out what software the ReacTogon uses but I was able to find another peice of software that was inspired by it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxSP5ZP8IHo&feature=player_embedded

This is called elysium and was created by Matthew Mower in 2008 and is inspired by the ReacTogon.

But what is Elysium?

Straight from the Elysium webwite " Elysium is an interactive generative MIDI sequenser"

"Elysium is a sequencer, that means it’s designed to produce sequences of notes that can be layered to form music.

Elysium uses MIDI which means that it doesn’t make sounds itself but can drive MIDI based synthesizers, samplers, and other instruments. It also means that Elysium’s output can be recorded, and manipulated, in a DAW such as Logic or Ableton Live.

Elysium is generative which relates to the way the music is created by building up a “system” composed of layers, cells, tokens, and playheads that combined, when “played”, to produce a sequence of notes.

Elysium is interactive. Features like MIDI CC control and MIDI trigger mode allow you to take control and integrate generative elements into the music you make and play."

The great thing about this is that Elysium is open source like TUIO and ReacTivision. The down side for me is that Elysium only runs on Mac opperating systems lepard and snow lepard, and as I only have tiger running on my mac I can not use this software.

Luckly for me ReacTIVision and TUIO both work with my operating system, which is one reason why I have decided to create a reacTable.

The Elysium software screen dump looks just like the reacTogon's musical interface and ind if you what the video demo you can see that it looks and behaves just like the reacTogon does and is one way in which you can see how the reacTogon has inspired it.

Full instructions on how to download and make a symple midi sequencer useing Elysium can be found on thie following website:

http://lucidmac.com/products/elysium/

The Reactagon the Chain Reactive Performance Appegiator

2010-04-13T04:38:00.000-07:00

The ReacTogon was created in 2007 by Mark Burton and is another example of a musucial instrument that uses a tangiable multi-touch user interface. It uses a larger surface then the reacTable and as its name suggests, its shape is rectangle.

Like the ReacTable this instruement looks cool and futuistic and more importamtly makes music in a real time video stream.

It lookes different to the reactable in appearence and sound, the reactable is round and the reatcagon is recangle, the tangiable blocks are all one shape and do different things, the animation is different too.

Ill go into a little detain on how it works.

"The ReacTagon is based on a harmonic table"

The table reminds me of bee hive in the way that it shows a grid of hexigon shaped blocks upon the table top. These hexigon shapes are known as cells acts and they like the keys on the piano, every cell has a fixed note like C for example.

Round coster shaped objects are placed down on the table to create musical sequences. These objects are marked with instructions

The above object shows the direction of sequence flow and it also deturmins the first note. The note in which the sequence will start will depend on which cell the marker is placed.

This marker is known as a ricochet marker, it plays a note when the playhead reaches it. They can be also be used to change the direction of play in real time. Like its name suggests it is used to pass the play to another marker, like another rocochet marker, creating a musical sequence.

The bar consisting of different square blocks located at the bottom of the table is known as the "transposer bar" and it allows the pitch of the musical sequence to be changed.

Another counter known as a "splitter" can be used to dispurce the playhead in several directions

A "stop" counter can be used to stop the play head after the final not it played. Conbine all these markers you can create interesting intricate musical sequences.

Volume, timbre and rythm can be controled by by lower faders located on the side of the reacTogon. By moving up and down the faders with a simple finger depth and colour can be added to the composition.

The faders above these act like sound banks and additional sounds like drum sequencers and other instruments making the composition experience larger and more exhilerating.

The Chaos pad

2010-03-30T04:00:00.000-07:00

The Kaoss Pad

When the Kaoss pad KP1 was launched in 1999 is was a new and exciting way to use effects. It hosts a square touch panel that is sensitive to the figure and can be used to control effects in real time. It also has a built in single sample memory that allows the user to record and manipulate in a number of ways.

The Kaoss pad works as an all in one sampler, effects processor and tangible midi controller for audio and musical instruments. It allows the user audio control in real time over effects, samples and records. The player can control how effect is used and the amount by placing a single fingertip upon the tangible square surface. The parameters of effects are controlled completely using the x and y coordinates on the pad. Ruling both horizontal and vertical directions means that it is possible to control the effect time by stroking right, whilst simultaneously a downwards stroke can have power over the amount of feedback on the effect, these work instead of faders. By tapping lightly on the kaoss pad works like a switch and can control the effects, on and off. The benefit of having a touch screen x-y calibration instead of sliders, faders and knobs means that the koass pad can be small, light, compact and easier to use.
The kaoss pad contains effects such as;

Reverb
Delay
Pitch shifter
Sound processing filters
Modulation effects such as
Flanger
Chorus
Panning
Phaser
Ring modulation

The pad also allows the user control over sampling, and records from a source like CD to the pad for a maximum or five seconds at 48 kHz. The sample can then be used with the koass pad and modified using the effects available. This feature allows the player to intragrate sampled effects into a live set. The Kaoss pad also allows the user to connect a microphone and operates though a Jack. By singing or playing into the microphone allows the user to manipulate and sample the incoming signal in real time.

Since the KP1, Korg have developed and updated their products such as;

KP2 and the KPE2 (Kaoss pad enhancer) a kaoss pad that controls and manipulates both audio and video

KP3

Mini-KP, in the spring of 2008 Korg developed the last in the chain of kaoss pads the Mini-KP a smaller version of its brother the KP3, this kaoss pad hosts 2 memory banks, 100 new effects and holds 4 AA batteries. Making it safe to circuit bend and manipulate internally.

Personally I am not a fan of the chaos pad, and because of its natual ability to easily make alot of noise, it makes it hard to use well and effectivly, given to the wrong person the chaos pad can be a little bit overwelming.

A example of somone using the chaos pad 3 well is Beardy man, he uses his voice to make loops and samples of words aswell as beat boxing, conbineing it with drum samples stored within the memory of the chaos pad. He also using a vocodera and other effects such as chorus, delay and reverb. You can see in the video how he is using his fingure of the touch pad to manipulate diferent aspects of the music he creating.I think this is very effective and I enjoyed watching it. Beardy man makes it look easy and fun to use a chaos pad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39n4wow8fWE

Tangible Musical Interface "Tangible Sequencer"

2010-03-22T15:02:00.000-07:00

As my projects unfolds I find myself becoming more and more interested in the way that computers are used to create a new and exciting music. Using technology to make live music gives the performer a much more versatile approach to making that music more remarkable. Other instruments, excluding the reactable, have also been developed and I am now going to share with you a few more of the ones I find most intriguing.

The Tangible Sequencer

http://www.tangiblesequencer.com/

I found this attention grabbing instrument whilst researching "tangible musical interface" on google. It's quirky and simple design is what first grabbed my attention, it processes eight different colored blocks, each have a large triangular play button design upon them, that lights up in time with the music that they produce.

Pressing this button ques the music to play, this then becomes more fascinating when you start to place these blocks next to each other. When more than block is placed in sequence they become aware of each other and the sounds that they produce start to play in sequence with each other hence the name tangible sequencer.

Composition is made by laying out the blocks on a flat surface in a shape like a line or circle. If the blocks are placed in a circle the music will loop, where as if the blocks are placed in a line the music will stop when the last block in that sequence plays. Yet the music can be changed in real time by moving the blocks from one place in the sequence to another.

So...... how does it works?

Each coloured box sends a signal to the computer via a low powered radio, called a zigbee radio, to play a sound, once the box has finished playing its sound it signals to any objects close to it via infrared and thus a chain of music can be heard.

The software that is uses is known as Open GL, GLUT and STK for the audio, yet I am unfamiliar with these forms of software.

Comparisons

Like the reacTable the Tangible Sequencer uses tangible blocks, but it has a different approach to making music.

They use different softwere and hardware,

The ReacTable Experience

2010-03-22T07:05:00.000-07:00

I like the word "Collaboration", just as I like the word "sharing".

Collaboration means working together and it is a very important thing that people have been doing since the dawn of time. Bridges do not get built with one pair of hands, just as Rome wasn't build in a day.

The collaborative nature of the ReacTable allows groups of people to play together simultaneously. This opens up the opportunity for each person to explore their own, and each others creativity, whilst creating music and visual delights.

The ReacTable is extremely entertaining not only to watch but to play. From building one I have found that mine is very satisfying to use. Being secure in the knowledge that when you place a object down a sound can be heard, and by twisting that object "you" the user can control the pitch and this can be very pleasing.

The ReacTable experience is a version of the reacTable that has been developed for museums and other places such as schools for demonstration and experiments. Based on the real thing, this version of the ReacTable is robust and designed for the casual user and children. It is suited well for people interested in new music development and especially children who are beginning to explore the many possibilities of creating sound and music.

Children grasp the concept of the ReacTable quickly and can create sound from the moment they start to use it. Inprovisation is naturally easy and children and users soon start to explore the avenues of sound creating more complex composition.

If you fancy having a go, "The ReacTable Experience" can be found at any one of these venues;

Intech Science Center, UK
Discovery World, USA
Museum of Science and Industry, USA
Polymechanon Science Center, Greece
Museo Papalote del Niño, Mexico
Montréal Science Centre, Canada
CosmoCaixa, Spain
ZKM, Germany
Santralistanbul, Turkey
Museum für Kommunikation, Switzerland
Science Centre Singapore

Sub Mix Pro, Italy
experimenta, Germany

The ReacTable experience is also available to rent for your own exibition, you can do this at the reacTable website, if are your interested go to http://www.reactable.com/.

The ReacTable in a Commercial Environment

2010-03-13T17:54:00.002-08:00

I think the most well known person to use a Reactable is Bjork. She appeared on Jools Holland in 2007, and gave a truly remarkable performance.

Bjork plays with the ReacTable in her set. She demonstrates an avant-garde nature and shows clearly her pursuit of forever finding new and interesting sound.

The interview, however, was disappointing because Jools holland does not ask her anything about her music, which to me is the most important thing. Instead Jools Holland talks about Bjorks new album cover.

From looking at the comment on this performance on Youtube.com, it is clear to see how interested the public is with this strange new musical instrument. Know one nows much about it, but people are interested in it.

There a couple of questions people ask me when I show them ReacTable video's.

Do I think it will catch on?
Will DJ's be replacing their CD decks for a ReacTable?

Untill the reacTable team bring out a more easy to construct, works out of the box product, i dont think people will be likely to use them.

The reacTable has been around since 2004 and it's now 2010 and the only well known artist I can find using one in her set is Bjork. They do look pretty intimadating and learning how to play one is just as hard as learing how to build one.

Im sure that this will happen soon though, but at a hefty price.

The reacTable however can be spotted on tour around the world in underground clubs and festivals. If your interested in seeing one live then check out,

http://www.reactable.com/about/events/

If a showing is near you and you get the chance, go! If not hold tight, the reacTable will visit a town near you soon . In the mean time there are lots of demonstrations and performance video's on the youtube.com.

Tangiable Fidicial Blocks

2010-03-09T06:43:00.000-08:00

The above picture shows a ReacTable tangiable object, note the fiducial on one side. These are made out of perspex and the fiducuial is inlayed within the plasic. To have tangiable like this will set you back alot of money, because of the material and also because they will have to be custom made for you.

But I was still curious...

So I emailed the reacTable website to find out how much it would cost, and the got back to me straight away with the following email...

"Hi Abigail,

we produce them ourselves, we can sell you a Reactable set if you're interested. The price of a full set is €400,- If you need more information let me know.

All the best,

--Marcos Alonso

Reactable Systems

(+34) 93 1820 777

http://www.reactable.com/"

A little steap and out of my price range but I was happy that I got a responce from one of the men who helped make it.

Deturmined to find a alternitive way I emailed other, more local plasic molding factorys in the UK. I tryed http://luminati.co.uk/.

I emailed them the imformation on how meny I required, which was 20, the fiducial picture i wanted inlayed within the plastic, and the size, and shape.

He most Kindly emailed me back with this:

"Dear Abigail

Thanks for the additional information.

As a one off project, I would suggest that we would need to charge around £350 minimum as there is a lot of fiddling around. For production, prices would drop significantly. If you require a formal quote, please can you supply all of the print ready artwork.

Thanks

John Gall
Director
Luminati Waycon Ltd
john@luminati.co.uk ~ DDI : 01752 897928 ~ T : 01752 698720 ~ F : 01752 698116"

Again far too much but I was supprised to notice that the price of geting them custom made in the UK was about the same size if I was to buy them from spain.

The pro's of buying them from spain is that I would get a set identical to the ones being used on the reactable, It would be alot easyer to buy them from the ReacTable website.
Yet

If I bought my own from Luminati.co.uk I would have more creative licence meaning I could design them how I want have different shapes and colours to the ones they use on the true ReacTable, making mine different, and I like different.

But Alas having tangiables made in this material is to expensive, so I have to think of alternitive ways of making my tangiable blocks.

The good thing and most important reason why the tangiables inleyed in a perspex object is because the fiducial must be clear at all times when in contact with the video camera. Having the fiducial inlayed in plasic makes the tangiable more duriable and easyer to clean if dirty.

If a printed out paper fiducial is just idily stuck on the bottom of an object, that that fiducial picture will soon get grubby, and the paper will start to peel away after time. So I begain to think about a few factors of making my tangiable blocks, I wanted a material that is,

light, so if droped on the glass surface the interface will not smash,
strong,

cheap

easy to find

I also needed to make my fiducial pictures stronger and more durable than a simple sheet of paper.

I thought of lots of materials such as wood, but in the end I decided on using blocks of duplo.

The good thing I think with using Duplo instead of wood is that it would be lighter because its plastic, and easer to get hold of, as most toy shops stock duplo, but it would probily proove more expensive than wood. Also they are a good size.

Another thing I liked about using duplo is the fact that it is in its pure form a childs building block, and from one of my early posts I said that, building blocks are implortant to a childs learning, and creative thinking, and also it links to the idea of collaberation, I like this idea.

I found a large box of duplo for cheaper than I expected, it cost me £6.99 from the Entertainer shop in Cardiff Queens Arcade, which I thought was quite resonable. Below are some pictures of me making the tangiable blocks.

I selected two peices of duplo that were the same size and stuck them together useing glue, I then filled in the square holes with tishue paper and succured this with celetape. I did this so that the fiducial picture will have a more sturdy base to lie on. I then carefully cut out the fiducial marker and it's number, laminated the paper fiducial and finaly stuck the fiducial to the bottom of the new tangiable object using super glue.

I made 14 of these bocks and they are light, easy to move around the table, but the down side it that they are hard to tell apart from each other. I will have to mark them with a pen to know which one does what. This of course will not look as fancy as the ones designed by the reactable people but it's a nice, cheap and fun do it your self way of creating tangiables.

Translucent Tabletop!!

2010-03-08T04:00:00.001-08:00

I had a go at taking out the IR filter from the PS3 eye toy, and it didn't work. I ended up just completely destroying my eye toy. This is a massive blow to my visual project status, and I cannot afford a camera with the price tag of £1000 which will mean that I cant go ahead with succesfully projecting a visual aid onto the tabletop! This obviously is a great pity as I have been making progress with animation.

I must admit that I will be unable to accomplish such a light show in the time that I have, and leave this part of the ReacTable for now.

However this does not mean, that I will not get visual feedback working at some point. As my dead line looms closer, I concentrate on making music with it. I will keep you all posted on any progress I make with the visual feedback.

I now need to buy another camera and start making some sound.

I would also like to add, for thoes who it may concern that I made some progress with making my glass translucent.

I orded a sample from windowfilm.com and this is a picture of it....

I will continue with the visual feedback research after the hand in date for my final year project.

I will get this working at some point, so watch this space.

Projector Research

2010-03-01T06:40:00.000-08:00

This part of my research is prooving to be the most challenging so far. There seems to be very little information on this feature.

The Projector

The Phillips LCD projector belongs to my collage, I will use this for testing.

I need to find out if this projector will be suitable for projecting the visual aid onto the surface.

I have one problem with testing this tho, my table top is not yet translucent. Therefore it the beam of light will just shine straight though the glass.For the time being I made a paper circle of the same diameter of my glass tabletop and stuck it on the wall. By doing this I can work out the distance between the projector and the top of the table.

Calerbration

Open ReacTivision and by pressing (h) on the keyboard you can access its proputys.

(note:The below picture is displayed in "sorce mode", which comes up if you press (s) on

your keypad.)

I project the following image onto the white piece of paper that represents my tabletop. To get to this display press (c) on your keyboard.

You can change the calibration to fit your personal needs by using (a), (d), (w) and (x) allows you to move though the cross points in this picture. The direction keys on your keypad allows you to modify the graph.

I projected this image onto the white sheet of paper, stood back till it fitted, and took a measument of the beam. To my horror I discovered that the distance of the beam was 9 foot.

I ask myself these question...

Where is the projector possitioned in the true ReacTable
How is it set up?

I found this picture on the internet

From looking at this picture it tells me a few things..

The projector is fixed to the top of the cabinet,
A mirror is used to extend the distance,
IR LED's are used to illuminate the cabinet,
the glass table top is not transparent.

I suspect that the mirror could be concave, I will think about this when I start experimenting with mirrors.

Another interesting thing about this picture is the glass tabletop, if I want the visual feed back I need something to project on to which means that I need to figure out a way of changing my transparent glass surface into a frosted translucent interface like the one in the picture.

Optic Research

2010-02-22T07:09:00.000-08:00

Good lighting is the key to a well produced ReacTable.

Two things MUST be taking into accord when thinking about lighting

To track the objects the table needs to be is well illuminated. Allowing the camera and ReacTIVision to see the markers clearly.
The glass screen must be dark enough so that the user can see the projected visual aid.

So I ask myself this question.....

How can I have a dark surface and illuminate the table at the same time?

Sound impossible?

All light from the visable specrum must be filtered through the camera, so that the projector image does not interfere with the tracking of the markers.

As infrared light is just below the visible spectrum in frequency, an IR lamp can be used to illuminate the table so that the markers can be seen by the camera.

IR lamps on ebay.co.uk go from about £20. I need to know the exact distance between the camera and the marker objects to know exactly how many LED IR's I need in order to get enough light. There is a shop on ebay that sells IR lamps, I will email the owner and see if I can get any further information on this.

If I am using Inferred light then I must think about how I will filter out all other visible light. The light from the projection will interfere with the camera. A filter can be used to do this, but I have found an alternative method.

The PS3 eye toy which I have decided to use in this project has a IR blocking lense inside the sencer. I aim to take the camera apart and initially remove the IR blocking lense from the web cam.

below is a very helpfull video tutorial on how to do this:

part 2

The video tells me I can use an old floppy disc as a visible light blocking filter.

After watching this tutorial I decided to take my eye toy and have a go............

My ReacTable Status 3

2010-02-21T05:11:00.000-08:00

Building the cabinate

I now have all he conponants to begin to construct the cabinate where inside my video camera projector and light sorce will sit. I have the follow

ing items;

MDF
Glass
Screws
Glue
Woodern battons
Electronic screwdriver

The picture below shows the top of my cabinate where my glass will sit. It is of 2 pieces of square wood one slightly bigger than the other, creating a lip for the glass to sit on.

The picture below shows me marking the width of the board that will form the sides to my cabinet. By doing this I can glue wooden batons on the the board to screw all the pieces together, making it like an IKEA flat pact ReacTable.

The next picture shows me marking the width of the batons so when I glue them down they will be in the exact place.

Here I can be seen marking the spot for the screws to be placed, 3 times on each baton, equalling it out to 9 screws for 3 sides.

Here I am using the electric screw driver to make indents for the screws, this will make it easer for me to screw it all together.

This picture shows me using the hand screw driver to make the indents in which the screws will sit.

The final picture is of me putting glue on the batons, which I will stick onto the side the board to screw all 3 sides together

My ReacTable Status 2

2010-02-16T07:55:00.000-08:00

The hardware side of things...

With regards to this I have so far been working via my laptop built in isight, I have just bought the following items;

Round glass Tabletop which I had custom made from Trefforest glass and cost me £30. The glass has a diameter of 80cm
MDF wood which I had cut into 4 peices.

below is a diagram of the design of my further ReacTable cabinet

Glass table top case Side *4

I have decided to make my ReacTable square but keeping to the original circular peice of glass for the surface.

I have chosen this design for a few reasons,

It is easier to construct than a circular cabinate
It is cheaper
I can also project of to it's sides if need be.

I aim to perform my ReacTable for my final year recital in late May, and I feel that it is more important to master the audio side of the project before moving onto glass surface visual feed back element.

Yet....

If I produce a square box and paint it white I can project on the box more easily than on to its surface. Instead of having the visual feedback I can program Pure Date to trigger pictures and videos onto the side of my box via the fiducial marker method.

This will it interesting for the audience as well as giving it a new edge that Is my own design.

This is the main reason why I have made my cabinate square.

I will post pictures of the finished product when I start to construct my reactable cabinet.

My ReacTable Status 1

2010-02-16T03:07:00.001-08:00

The software side of things...

So far I have printed out the fiducial markers and I have downloaded ReacTIVision and TUIO protocol for pure data. I have decided to work with Pure Data and my computer's built in eye site that I am using temperally until I get a external camera (this will follow in my research later).

Pure Data has been programmed to reconise fiducial marker 16. I will run some tests to see if

Pure Data and ReacTIVision respond in the correct way.

Test 1, Does ReacTIVision recognise fiducial number 16 and send it's imformation to Pure Data via TUIO?

Test 1 compleate

Yes ReacTivision does see fidutial 16, the picture below shows this, note how the number of fiducial is displayed in the center of the marker. Pure Data does detect its x/y possitioning.

Test 1.2, Can osc sound be heard once marker is held up?

Test 1.2 complete

Yes when I hold up a marker 16 osc sound can be heard, demonstration video can be seen below.

Test 1.3, Turn fiducial left, does pitch increase?

Left turn = Pitch Increase

Test 1.4, Turn fiducial marker right, does pitch decrease?

Right turn =pitch decrease

(note video is inverted)

As you can see from my video's my tests were a success, the next thing I shall do with regards to programming the music software will be to add another affect such as reverb or delay to the x position of my markers. Meaning that when I move the marker to the left or right it will effect the amount of musical effect on the sound. I will post more of my progress in a further blog.

Further Camera Research

2010-02-15T17:01:00.000-08:00

Searching for the right camera proved slightly disheartening, especially when knowing that the cameras that will give the best performance carrys a double zero price tag...

ouch....

At the moment I am just waving fiducial markers in front of my built in isight on my laptop, but when I finally build my table I will need something that is;

Cheap to Buy
Robust
Works with ReacTIVision
Easy to assemble
Captures the entire glass tabletop

Ruling out the AVT and faster frame rate cameras, I have come up with two possibilities

The apple isight

The eye sight costs about £80 and was build for apple computers before they started building them into the framework of the computer. They have been discontinued since but are available to buy on Ebay.co.uk they go from £40.

Test 1, does ReacTIVision see this camera?

Test 1 complete

Yes this camera works through my computer via a fire wire, and ReacTIVision responds reasonably well.

Things to consider at this point,

Will The camera capture the entire table?
Will the camera work quickly enough in real time to track the markers?

The eye sight roughly works at 25-30 frames per second.

As I aim to have a 80cm diameter table top, and because the eye sight do

es not have a wide eye lens, I predict that the camera will not capture the whole of the glass. Which will mean I will have to experiment with mirrors.

The second camera is the Sony PS3 eye toy.

The eye toy has a frequency of 640*480 at 60Hz and 320*240 at 120Hz, according to the spec on the ReacTIVision website it may work quite nicely.

I bought this little camera from Game and it cost me £25. I do not know if my computer will respond to the PS3 eye because it is USB and not firewire. I will run some tests to find out.

Test 2, does the PS3 eye toy work with ReacTivision?

My computer recognises the USB camera, yet this camera does not respond at all with applications on my laptop such as quicktime, ichat and reacTIVision.

The eye sight roughly works at 25-30 frames per second.

The ReacTIVision website states "A very affordable and relatively good camera for this purpose is the Sony PS3eye, which is also working well under Windows,Linux and Mac OSX."

This sounds promising, if my computer detects it and if the ReacTIVision website says that it works well under OSX then there must be a way of it working. I found and downloaded a driver from http://webcam-osx.sourceforge.net/. This driver allows my computer to use the USB eye toy as a webcam.

Test 2.2, After downloading Macam does the PS3 eye with ReacTIVision?

No, after I downloaded Macam my computer responds to the PS3 eye like a webcam, yet still does not respond at all with ReacTIVision.

Now I can use my PS3 eye toy with my computer but ReacTIVision still refuses to recognize the eye toy as a camera. I must have missed something....

Below is a picture of the PS3 eye toy working as a web cam on my computer.

Looking back at my method of installation in regards to the Macam driver I discovered one simple rule that i didn't follow. When installing Macam you must copy it's component into your /library/quicktime folder for it to work with other applications such as ichat and hopefully ReacTIVision.

Test 2.3, after copying a componant into /library/quicktime folder, does the PS3 eye toy work with ReacTIVision?

Yes, I simply need to follow the following rules;

Open Macam (working)
Close Macam
Open ReacTIVision (defalt built in isight appears)
Press (H) = ReacTIVision option mode
Press (O) = ReacTIVision camera settings
Select Macam Sony HD Eye for PS3

Test 2 Complete,

Status:

PS3 working with ReacTIVision
Fiducial markers are recognised from a close distance.

Thing to consider at this point...

Will the camera cover the entire range of the glass table top and successfully tract the fiducial markers?

How will the camera behave when considering optics and the projection side of things?

Camera Research

2010-02-14T02:33:00.000-08:00

For the best results the ReacTIVision website says;

"You should make sure that the camera has an acceptable lens and sensor size. For lowest latency and best performance we recommend firewire cameras from the top range, such as industrial cameras with a high framerate, resolution and sensor size. These cameras usually also come with high quality C-mount lenses. Cheaper firewire cameras, such as the unibrain fire-i also allow optional wide-angle lenses. From the large range of available USB cameras we recommend to use high end models with a native resolution of at least 640x480 at a frame rate of 30Hz. A very affordable and relatively good camera for this purpose is the Sony PS3eye, which is also working well under Windows, Linux and Mac OSX. DV cameras supporting full-frame mode are suitable, while those with interlaced mode only, will not work at all."

If I had a much bigger budget for my project I would of liked to get a ATV pike or AVT guppy, my suspicions tell me that the true ReacTable works with this sort of camera.

These AVT guppy cameras are small firewire CMOS and CCD cameras, designed to perform very well. They are pretty pricey though and start from around £550 - £1000. You can find them here...

http://www.edmundoptics.com/Onlinecatalog/displayproduct.cfm?productID=2716

I couldn't find a quote online for the AVT Pike cameras but I assume the are similar in price to the AVT Guppy.

CMOS and CCD

This is taken from (http://www.dalsa.com/corp/markets/CCD_vs_CMOS.aspx)

"CCDs have traditionally provided the performance benchmarks in the photographic, scientific, and industrial applications that demand the highest image quality (as measured in quantum efficiency and noise) at the expense of system size. CMOS imagers offer more integration (more functions on the chip), lower power dissipation (at the chip level), and the possibility of smaller system size, but they have often required tradeoffs between image quality and device cost."

Things to consider.......

After researching different camera's I have come to the conclusion that I will not be able to afford a fast camera such as the AVT Guppy just yet. In the meantime I will find an alternative camera to use.

TUIO Demo

2010-02-10T05:13:00.000-08:00

Starting the patch....

Martin Kaltenbrunner of the music techonology group pro

vides a TUIO demo which will be my starting point of creating my music software.

Test 1, does Pure Data reconise fiducial marker number 15?

Test complete, Pure Data prints addObject: 15

Test 1.2, does Pure data reconise when fiducial marker is taken away from isight?

Test complete, Pure Data prints removeObject: 15

With the help of my teacher we will begin to design the music sequencer and possibly a visual patch too..

Ill keep you posted

So You Want to Build a ReacTable?

2010-02-08T16:26:00.000-08:00

The music technology group over in Barcelona have done most of the work, but even so I have to a substantial amount of the work myself, which includes;

Software research
Camera and projector research
Optics research
Design and construction of glass cabinet
Writing the synthesizer software
Testing
Composition
Performance

A Little Magic

2010-02-06T03:39:00.000-08:00

The ReacTable live in Oslo

Reasons to Construct a ReacTable

2009-11-27T09:39:00.000-08:00

The interest started in year 2 of my course when a group in my class made a fiducial chess board. Since then I sat in on a lesson about the ReacTable and ever since I have been fascinated with the idea of fiducial tracking, which led me to discover the ReacTable.

My growing interest with this instrument gave me the initiative to find out more information, especially knowledge of how it works, with regards to the software and hardware alike.

The design of the ReacTable interests me immensely and is something very special indeed. The visual feedback makes the ReacTable look like something for a sci-fi film. It’s circular shape, the brightly coloured screen, the exciting animations and coloured transparent blocks certainly it eye candy for any observer. I assume that this very hard to accomplish, but I am keen, however, to find out more on how the ReacTable manages to put on such a light show.

As time moves on the technology will advance as will the ideas of how to use modern technology to make music. Already fiducial tracking is becoming a thing of the past, people are more interested in just finger tracking at the moment. I am keen to try to make a tangible instrument myself and join the amazing people who are responsible for creating not just fantastic musical instruments but pieces of art using their amazing intellect and creative genius.

The ReacTable: A concept

2009-11-24T06:39:00.000-08:00

The Idea of the ReacTable was developed by four graduate students of the Spanish university of "Pompeu Fabra" in Barcelona. The young and ambitious students, Sergi Jordà, Martin Kaltenbrunner, Günter Geiger and Marcos Alonso of the music technology group, started developing this new and exciting concept in 2003.

Their aim was to make a tangible electro acoustic musical instrument, for it to be collaberative and fun to play. They say “the ReacTable started as a consept and not a technology, we first knew what we wanted to build, and then, discovered how to build it.”

In 2005 the ambitious group performed the first public ReacTable concert in the International Computer Music Conference. Since then the ReacTable has received an enormous amount of publicity and in 2006 the ReacTable got over 4,000,000 million hits on youtube and the numbers growing.

The ReacTable

2009-11-22T05:29:00.000-08:00

The ReacTable is a new age synthesiser, the difference between the ReacTable and common synthesiser is that it works using a tangible touch screen user interface, instead of the common keyboard.

Sound is created on the ReacTable by moving pucks of different shapes and colours, known as tangiables around the translucent tabletop interface. Sound can be made and manipulated on this table by adding, removing and rotation of the tangibles and touch.

Maybe the most popular feature when referring to the ReacTable is the visual element. The tabletop is well known for its aluminous blue animated tabletop. The ReacTable’s specially designed translucent screen allows an animated projection of the musical change to show upon the glass.

This exciting instrument is fun to play and interesting to watch and holds the audience in owe and fascination over its most modern take of electronic music.

A person or group of people and create electronic musical sound collaboratively around this table and the possibilities of tweaking and adapting the musical ideas are endless.

I aim to construct my very own version of the ReacTable.

This blog will document my journey though the exciting process, with pictures, audio and video references. Please feel free to follow my adventure.

Building Blocks

2009-11-20T05:04:00.000-08:00

Building Blocks are a common play thing for children they promote growth in intelligence and creativity.

By balancing and adding blocks of different shapes and colours the child can start to explore design and the process of creation becomes much more imaginative. Collaboratively children can play together and the process becomes even more exciting and engaging.

Now think about a table.

A table is where people gather to socialise and engage in conversation. A table is a place where great minds debate, create and write down ideas. The table is a place where artists may lay down many forms of creativity.

Children gather in school to work together around large tables. This encourages group skills such as working as part of a team, which is an important part of growing up.

The table is not just an object; it is a symbol of collaboration.

A Changing World (Musically Speaking)

2009-11-17T11:17:00.000-08:00

The world is fast changing, a statement known to many people, especially to those who are involved within the world of technology. But what I find most fascinating is how music has changed and how it is still rapidly changing.

Music has always been reliant on technology, if man had not learned to skin an animal there would be no drums. If man had not learned to cut wood there would be no flutes. Stringed instruments are well crafted and made out of fancy material, and piano’s are highly complicated devices that are forever being modified.To call an instrument other than the human voice natural would be incorrect.

A musical instrument is anything that a person can use to make the sounds of music. Man has been developing musical instruments for thousands of years and it is possible to see continuity between the earliest instruments and the ones made today.Take the harpsichord for instance, it was made in the 14th-15th century, and is the well known ancestor of the piano. The harpsichord was very popular during the renaissance and baroque period, and most famously played by Johann Sebastian Bach.

The piano was invented and the harpsichord forgotten and since then, the idea of the keyboard has been used to evolve into instruments such as the synthesiser, which is a musical instrument that operates using electronics.

An electronic musical instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound via the use of electronics. It operates through outputting audio signal that works the speaker. In contrast with this, an electric musical instrument for example the electric guitar, uses electronics to amplify the volume of the instrument, usually this type of instrument will also have some way of manipulating pitch and note sound duration.

A musical instrument that uses electronics in this way may be inclined to include some sort of user interface to control its sound such as pitch and volume.

It is very common however for the electronic musical instrument to have a user interface completely separate, this is known as a controller and these are generally used with midi or open sound control.

Most common synthesisers are controlled though the aid of a keyboard interface similar to the one found on a piano. Even though the common synthesiser instrument looks like a piano, its function is something very special.

The ReacTable is a modern synthesiser.

With the ReacTable the user interface is something completely different, a tangible glass surface acts as the keyboard would on the common synthesiser. The ReacTable is very fascinating electronic musical instrument, with a touch screen user interface which makes it a truly remarkable electronic musical instrument

How Does the ReacTable Work?

2009-04-30T11:35:00.000-07:00

I previously mentioned that the ReacTable makes sound when objects known as tangibles are put down on the surface of the table. Placing, moving and removing certain tangibles can determine how the music develops. Some tangibles can affect others in interesting ways; hence the name “ReacTable” and they act like the knobs on a traditional synthesiser. These tangible objects clear made out of clear plastic and have black and white pictures called fiducials inlayed within. It is these fiducials that make the tangible objects so important. These fiducials can be downloaded for free from the following website:

http://reactivision.sourceforge.net/data/fiducials.pdf

There are over 200 fiducials and each is different, they act like bar codes you see on products in a shop. But why is everyone different, why are they so important and how do they make sound? ReacTIVision
Like in a shop, when you go to a kiosk with your shopping each item's bar code is scaned so that the shop knows what you are buying and to remove it from the stock list and how much to charge for that product.

Within the ReacTable cabinet is a hidden video camera, the camera is connected to a computer which runs program called ReacTIVision.

ReacTIVision then analyses important factors about the fiducial,

the fiducial’s identity number,
if the fiducial is there
if the fiducial is taken away
where the fiducial is in regards to the centre of the table,
where the fiducial is in regards to other neighbouring fiducial’s
where the fiducial is in regards to its own axis

It is ReacTIVision's job to captures this information in a real time video stream which is why when you add, remove or rotate the fiducial something happens immediately. It is up to you, however, to program the computer to do or play something when these actions occur.
Delving a little deeper into the theory we shall learn that to ReacTIVivision is a standalone application that sends the fiducial’s information to a connection manager in order to have something we can see and hear.

Careful code must be written for the computer to understand each fiducial’s motion and give it a purpose for example:

ReacTIVision sees...

· when fiducial number one is added play sound,
· when fiducial dumber one is rotated increase pitch of sound,
· when fiducial number one is removed stop sound.

Yet none of this can be achieved if TUIO is involved.

TUIO Protocol

ReacTIVation sends the analysis of the fiducial activity to a connection manager known as TUIO protocol. TUIO's job is then to encode that information, which means that it transforms one format to another so another program can understand it, like someone translating French into English so a English man can understand.

The connection manager then pass's the translated information to a TUIO client which then in turn decodes the information. This TUIO client is available to down load in the following programming environments:

C++JavaC#
Processing
Pure Data
MaxMSP
Quartz Composer

It is the combination of TUIO trackers, protocol and client implementations that makes the ReacTable and other tangible table top musical instruments available today.
I will be programming my ReacTable using Pure Data aka PD mainly because it is free but also because my mentor knowledge in PD is advanced and he shall be helping me throughout my journey.