motion tracking with video camera Sonntag, 16. April 2000
IMAGE imgs/index01.jpg
general
the lightsculpture is the central interactive interface to the exhibition. the lightsculpture will be activated by people coming close enough to light-columns. all activity will be local to the spectator. the movement of all spectators and the state of the lightsculpture will be used for further interactive triggering in the exhibition. the actual tracking image from above will be used for projection (with some more graphical overlays [lines...]).

technical
use of infrared camera, filter and light

the object to be tracked is a lightsculpture of 30+1 columns.
the movement of people shall trigger the columns in different modes such as:
- slow accumulation of light intensity on a single column - release of light patterns on entrance
- etc

that means that there mustbe individual control of each column for a spectator activated by the tracking device (direct relationship of spectator and column).

supreme particlesMittwoch, 15. März 2000page 1
the resultsof tracking will be further used for
- light control
- comtrol of video and audio footage (DVD)
- control of other elements in the exhibition space

therefore the tracking device will be communicating with other computers (midi) with sufficient resolution (> 7bit).
IMAGE imgs/index02.jpg
the tracking camera shall be mounted above the sculpture. the width to track is 12 meters. the ceiling at the central point is between 3,8 and 4,5 meters high.

requirements for tracking
- a mechanism to maskthe lights out of tracking (-> lightchanges) - the ability to define active regionsaround the columns - a sufficient resolutionfor tracking
- transfer of tracking information to another computer via midi - tracking of multiplepoints/people per region simultaneously without jumping of xy-coordinates
- use of the tracking image as a video output
- graphicalmanipulation and output of the tracking image (lines created by movement)

possible problems in space
- the effect of lightchanges in columns for tracking - amount of infrared light may changes
- slow speed movement of spectator may fall through framerate of tracker
supreme particlesMittwoch, 15. März 2000page 2