Emily Duff

test entry

g-Speak Questions
1. Has a formal database been developed for g-Speak?
2. How is excess data currently handled within the system?
3. How easy is it to enter text?
4. What other external technologies can be used?
5. Is there more sample code than what we already have? Is there any current database code with the Java application?

Production Questions
1. On average, how many people are involved in the editing process? How many of these people play an integral, hands-on role?
2. What types of notes are kept during the editing process?
3. How is versioning done?
4. How common is it to do multiple edits of the same scene and show all to gather feedback? Multiple iterations at once vs. single iterations continuously.
5. What happens to all the leftover footage?

Project Pitch Documents
I would like to focus on the Bin structure and capabilities within an editing environment. I think it would be beneficial to tag clips with notes, key phrases, inspiration pieces, pre-vis element, etc, aggregating any elements accumulated during the pre and post production phases in one location.

Download Pitch Outline

These are a few interfaces that I chose to show in class, I also have an analysis of other, more common, gestures below, downloadable in a word docx.

Carville
http://www.vimeo.com/3605050
Razorfish has created a variety of Microsoft Surface applications including DaVinci, a physics engine application similar to Crayon Physics. One of their more unique applications is Carville, which is intended to be used at a car dealership. Carville allows users to interact with a ficticious town by moving tangible objects, such as buildings and objects within the application, such as trees, fire hydrants, and animals. Users can also drive a car of their choice with a single-touch controlled steering wheel. By driving to certain locations, users can discover more information about the car such as safety ratings and special features.

Fontplore
www.fontplore.org | http://vimeo.com/5664292
Fontplore uses a custom built multi-touch surface to explore a font database and help to visualize what selected fonts will look like on various documents. Fontplore uses objects to control the interface. The main navigation object allows a user to rapidly move through the large font database. The second object allows a user to perform commit actions such as save and print based on its placement over a font and its rotation. Both objects have colored light feedback to show the system’s action state.

Guten Touch
http://vimeo.com/3288753
“Guten Touch is an interactive art installation that involves people into a natural relationship with technology.” Guten Touch promotes natural interactions with projected images on a touch wall to engage people in human-friendly experiences.

Want to read a summary of these interfaces, other gestures, and a possible District 9 spoiler? Read it Here!

David Morin
David is an independent consultant currently representing the Media & Entertainment division of Autodesk Inc. in the Los Angeles area.

After earning a B.Sc.A. in computer science from Laval University (Quebec City, Canada) in 1982, David first worked as an artist in traditional media. In 1991 he joined Softimage, a 3D software company, where he participated in the early development of 3D software technologies, supported product sales and marketing in various functions worldwide, opened the Softimage office in Santa Monica, California, headed the Special Projects Group first as Director when Softimage was acquired by Microsoft, and as Vice-President when the division was sold to Avid Technology. In 2000 David joined Manex Entertainment as President of the MVFX division, a visual effects house. In 2001 he retired from the industry to concentrate on personal projects, and in 2007 came back as an independent consultant. David currently represents the Media & Entertainment division of Autodesk Inc. in the Los Angeles area.

Current Titles
Consultant, Autodesk
Chair, Autodesk Film CTO Advisory Council
Chair, Joint Technology Committee on Virtual Production
Co-chair, ASC-ADG-VES Joint Technology Subcommittee on Previsualization

Ron Frankel
President and Founder of the previsualization company Proof, has been a pioneer in the integration and development of previs into the film production process. He was the first to introduce Directors such as Steven Spielberg, David Fincher and Darren Aronofsky to the use of previsualization as a combined technical and creative film-making tool. Ron is a driving force behind integrating previs throughout the various film production departments, moving previs beyond its roots in visual effects to serve Directors, Cinematographers, Production Designers and VFX Supervisors. Recent collaborators include Zack Snyder, Alex McDowell, Marc Forster and Tarsem Singh.

Through this integration, Ron continues to develop bleeding-edge previsualization processes in other visual platforms such as video game development, commercial production and experience design planning. He has provided previs solutions to create immersive environments for the Museum of Modern Art, New York (in collaboration with Imaginary Forces, Greg Lynn and Alex McDowell) and provided motion capture planning for video games such as Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe and Blitz (in collaboration with Midway Games, Chicago).

Ron has a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and a Masters of Architecture from MIT. He is the Co-Chair of the ASC/ADG/VES Previsualization Committee and is a founding member of 5D. His work has been published in Cinefex, VFX World, American Cinematographer and the New York Times. In addition to his work at Proof, Ron has taught classes in animation and previsualization at SCI-Arc and Otis College of Art and Design.

Current Title
Co-chair, ASC-ADG-VES Joint Technology Subcommittee on Previsualization

Over the summer, Peter Van Dyke and I have been working with the Microsoft Surface as part of a Microsoft Research gift. This project is intended to push Microsoft’s Surface into a recording environment and see what it can do. Two initial areas of exploration are collaborative mixing and simultaneous multi-axis control.

We are also working on exploring and creating new gestures within the multi-touch space, and focusing on efforts to output gesture data for use in other applications.

For more info on our work and a few video demos check our ICT MXR page.

Monty iTunes Controller v.1 uses accelerometer data to control iTunes. Depending on Monty's position, data is sent via the serial port to an AppleScript to communicate with iTunes. The motions are a bit exaggerated currently, because my X and Y values are very small, this will change in v.2 to allow for a greater range of motion.

Monty v.1 Download (Arduino + AppleScript)

Monty's Positions:
Standing = Play
Sleeping = Pause
Lean Right = Next Track
Lean Left = Previous Track

What's next for Monty?Hopefully over the summer Monty can go wireless! He will also fade the volume in and out as he wakes and sleeps.

Monty iTunes Controller v.1 from emily c. duff on Vimeo.

Useful Links:
Arduino + Accelerometer
Tinker.it! AppleScript Proxy

//I Think It Is Superb!
//by Emily Duff - CTIN 544
//March 26, 2009
//
//This app is a visualization of the phrase 'I think it is superb'
//Click and drag on the man's head to pull out his thoughts. When
//you reach the end, a button appears to move on to the next phrase
//
//Uses Minim & original code
//Art Credit: http://cvydesign.wordpress.com/2009/03/06/933/

Note: Feel free to suggest additional words to add to his mind.
Download file

// EatPrayLove Simulator
// by Emily Duff 2.19.09 for CTIN 544
//
// This small app uses the light sensor input to create two sides to the screen
// by balancing the lights (eat and pray) you can find love. This is the main
// objective in Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love.
//
// It uses the AmbientLightSensor library
// http://projects.formatlos.de/ambientlightsensor/
//
// Download file

The library that I worked with is the Apple SMS library. I also used the MovingLetters library for a few visual touches. The Apple SMS library only works with MacBooks and PowerBooks built after 2005, as it utilizes the internal Sudden Motion Sensor. Sorry to the PC folks who want to try this out.


My first homework was an exploration of the SMS library. Download file


For the homework extension, I built a simple game where you try to roll a ball into a goal using your laptop as the controller. Download file