Visually we have created software to animate particles derived from JetBlue tailfin designs which flock and circle the ring, celebrating flight and movement. Technically we have created a series of controlling scripts to update the content as well as a flexible system to update the messaging and video content. We used a combination of Processing, custom After Effects Scripting, and Openframeworks to complete the project.

Download TSPS and example projects at openTSPS.com

TSPS was developed in Openframeworks for use in design, prototyping, and installed systems.

The basic structure is a server client model with the server sending OSC, TUIO, or TCP info to a client which could be in oF, Processing, Flash, PD, Max, etc. (anything that can listen to OSC). We plan on using this for retail, fine arts installations, rapid prototyping, educational workshops, and providing the source openly for use in production. It builds on the backs of giants and our hope is that we can contribute ways to make it easier for beginners to explore computer vision while also providing a framework for experts to build off of. Part of our goal is to provide quality over quantity of options in terms of the data sent out.

TSPS was started as a collaboration between the LAB at Rockwell Group and the LABS at IDEO. It began as an initiative between Dave Vondle (IDEO) and Joshua Walton (LAB at Rockwell Group) with many of the key components generated through the hard work of James Tichenor, Brett Renfer, and James George who in turn also used components from the openframeworks community, who in turn built upon many open source projects.

Special thanks to the teams that develop Openframeworks, OpenCV, and the many individuals who are all working on creating better computer vision systems.

Upstairs, we transformed the reception desk into a large projection visible from the street. Downstairs, we created two different interactive kaleidoscopes. For the first, we made a small tube-shaped table that refracted objects placed upon it into the projected pattern. In the second location, we placed cameras in the space, turning the kaleidoscope inside out and transforming images of the guests into the kaleidoscope.

Credits
Principal: David Rockwell
Design Team: Tucker Viemeister, James Tichenor, Joshua Walton, Brett Renfer , Keetra Dixon, Thomas Haggerty

The installation builds off traditional interactive party elements such as noisemakers, confetti, balloons, and fireworks, creating an entertaining centerpiece allowing both individual and group interaction. A twelve-foot diameter weather balloon floats above the pool at the Four Seasons restaurant. Projectors surrounding the balloon display “Digital Confetti”, small colorful shapes that mimic swimming fish in their movements. The graphic on the screen is also effected by special maracas around the pool. Shaking each of the eight maracas has a separate effect on the projected ecosystem. One stirs up the confetti, causing a firework-like spectacle of light, color and sound. The second brings text to the surface of the balloon. Continued shaking of these maracas causes letters to vibrate and eventually flip and transform into one of a sequence of words related to design. The words are projected as black, causing them to be illuminated by the background explosions of confetti, which encourages collaborative interaction. Each maraca also generates a different musical note, creating a harmony of sounds when all shaken together. The forms of brightly colored maracas are 3-D versions of the confetti.




We developed custom software using Openframeworks, an open development environment for C++. The “Digital Confetti” program runs on four Mac Pro Computers, while a Mac Mini runs our sound software. The maracas contain a microcontroller with an accelerometer to measure its movements, and a bluetooth radio to communicate to the computers. Dried beans inside the maracas produce the shaking sound and an offset motor that creates vibration. The projected confetti uses a flocking algorithm to determine its motion, and the locations of the visual explosions of confetti are controlled by the orientation of the maraca as it is shaken. The text is rendered in a font created for this installation.

Credits
Principals: David Rockwell with Casey Jones and Reed Kroloff
Design Team: Tucker Viemeister, James Tichenor, Joshua Walton, Zach Gage, Keetra Dixon, Craig Negoescu, Thomas Haggerty

Films project alternate architectural universes. These are places free from the material and gravitational restraints of corporeal life. There we can dodge bullets, leap across tall buildingsin a single bound, and see houses drop on unsuspecting witches with no damage to the young girl inside. This is truly architecture beyond building. It is a place bound only by imagination and the limits of projection technology.

This interactive installation sets the stage for “Architecture Beyond Building” by exploring how cinema’s freedom from physical restraints influences perception and behavior. We built the immersive environment out of images from iconic films and present themso that the visitor’s behavior influencesthe cinema experience: the motion of the visitors affects the sound and imagery on two curving screens in a real-time simulacrum of the feedback loop between cinema and architecture.

As the visitors move between the screens, images from films will appear in a cascade of fragments. We based that waterfall on algorithms coupled with motion sensor devices, so that a visitor can make film fragments grow into columns of three-dimensional textures whose shapes may expand and overlap those from other visitors to create larger figures and infinite variations. Backstage, behind each screen, visitors find a pool of smaller screens showing thirty film clips that feed the content of the installation. Each visit and each movement will create a distinctive sequence out of a familiar set of images. The resulting architectures are not prescriptive. They instead offer opportunities.




We developed custom software using Openframeworks, an open development environment for C++. It uses 6 Mac Pro Computers, Mac Mini for Sound, 2 Mantis MG video servers, Media Matrix Digital Signal processor, 6 firewire AVT Guppy IR cameras, and custom IR filtered lighting. In the projection each point is given an initial x,y and z coordinates and wanders within a limited area. The points uses Delaunay triangulation to find their nearest neighbor points in the environment and send lines to those points. Those lines solidify and form the faceted planes that the video textures are mapped onto. During the Crescendo moment the projection mesh is surfaced with a faceted terrain that maps the pixels of the films to the facets of the surface.

As architects and designers construct new visions of reactive environments, new tools for prototyping these environments are continuously being developed. The complexity of these projects in both space and time often precludes the ability for full prototypes, but at the same time we need to be able to use prototypes to explain these environments to others and ourselves.

You can learn more about our workshop here…http://dkds.ciid.dk/py/crafting-interactive-spaces/overview/

We were honored to come to the Interaction Design Pilot year, which is descrbied on their site as “a collaborative initiative between Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design (CIID) and The Danish Design School (DKDS). Our aim is for students, faculty and staff to work together in a multi-cultural, multidisciplinary studio environment to co-create a new kind of education that is relevant for academia and industry.” Sounded a lot like the Rockwell Group!

We were excited to see the variety of experience that the student’s brought to their work. From lighting design, photography, film, interaction design, and more they are able to rely on each other to accomplice complex tasks.

You can see more about their projects here… http://dkds.ciid.dk/py/crafting-interactive-spaces/projects/

This installation was custom made by the Lab, from the software to the photography. The software was written in C++ using openFrameworks, allowing the Lab to create custom calibration tools to tailor the program to the space. The software randomly generated the order of the images each time it transitioned to one of the five tastes. In addition each projected plate “flipped” back and forth at another randomly determined interval, creating a new dynamic pattern every time.

Rockwell Group also reinterpreted traditional culinary kitchenware through unusual representations of forks, knives, spoons, and plates with a screen of 442 paper plates hanging at the VIP area, each laser cut with different patterns inspired by traditional and modern china patterns; five oversize circular discs behind the VIP area with the letters T-A-S-T-E spelled out using cutlery; and cutting boards hanging in the entrance hallway with each chef’s name engraved into the wood along with a measuring spoon containing their favorite spice. Most of our design features are easily recycled (biodegradable paper plates), are made of recycled materials (innovative ECO™ by Cosentino bar top composed of 75% recycled content), or tread very lightly on the earth (projections).

Design Credit List
Event Design: Rockwell Group
Projection Technology and Installation above Central Bar: Lab at Rockwell Group
Projection Equipment: SenovvA, Inc.
Printing of Graphic Signage: BPI Reproductions
VIP Lounge Seating Arrangements: Desiron Candy Collection by David Rockwell; and Design Within Reach
VIP Lounge Carpets: The Rug Company

“The park” was chosen as the unifying theme of the space, enveloping the concepts of belonging, comfort, familiarity, and freshness. While keeping some of the traditional Sheraton accents, we designed a whole new experience through design schemes, and new layers of technology. These new media additions to the lobby are all a means to make guests feel like they are an integral part of the space.

There are three large frieze walls in the lobby, which are made with three separate computers and projectors, for which we developed the software and hardware. The friezes hang above the heads of the guests and react to the movement of those who pass below with digital renderings of natural forms like leaves, butterflies, flowers, waves and snow. As the frieze walls respond to the guests, they provide them with a sense of connection to the space through the dynamic environmental experience.

A row of 48 sonar (think bats) sensors detect objects underneath and activate animation in the projection. Spanning across 75 feet, it acts as lighting to the space as well.

Animated buildings, news, and photos stream across 8 monitors for guests near the check-in. Custom software was written to seamlessly and speedily move elements across the monitors.

We pushed the boundary between technology and design again in the “magic mirror,” a little diversion mounted on the wall. A large television and a camera capture the image of the guest standing in front of it, and then use the captured image of the guest and transforms the background and color schemes. This was conceived as a platform for showing many types of reactive mirrors.