In the spirit of open source:
A Decent Circling Algorithm in Director(No Video Tracking)
"Social Geometry" (Requires TTCPro Plugin)
The project is best understood as an experiment in ambient interactive media. It was designed for the Immersive Lab in Zemeckis, specifically with regard to the downward looking fisheye video camera and the projectors. In an attempt to respect both time and space, movement triggers new instances of black squares that slowly fade to white and shrink as they get older. The lines are drawn from the newest objects back to the oldest. The attempt to use the circling algorithm in the video tracking version failed due to the "multiplayer" aspect and somewhat erratic tracking in TTC. Implementing the task of "touching" targets that turn red and then multiply was admittedly a stopgap against the criticism that the "game" had no goal. Unsatisfying for both me and the faculty. Still. I stand by my original concept and I am pleased with the outcome of the video tracking as it maps movement over space and time.
Tuesday was the worst critique experience I have ever had. Perhaps I wouldn't have been as disturbed had I not just sat through Will's and Todd's presentations (for the record, I liked their work). Inevitably I mentally compared the response that I received from the faculty to the ones that they had just gotten. I felt immediately defensive. The faculty had positive questions about future directions and concepts for the earlier projects and any shortcomings were encouraged with ideas about expansion. That atmosphere was not present at all for my project. And I have to admit that I was totally surprised and thrown off by this. My survival instinct took over. Not pleasant for anyone.
So what went wrong? The project was no less complete than the others. We all had gaps that we wanted to fill in but couldn't given our time and current skills. Of course there are compromises in the creative process. That's the reality of production, a necessity to put something out into the world. I'd like to think that it wasn't personal, but it's pretty hard to eliminate that thought when contrasting one's perception of the differences in treatment back to back with other students.
Regarding the statement spoken near the end that was something like: "I probably sound more overly critical than I mean to." My response is: "Yes. It sounded overly critical. I was offended." I can take criticism. I have done it before and I will happily do it in the future. It's critical to the creative process. I actually enjoy it when treated respectfully. But the critique I received was not constructive. If anyone present wanted to call me out for something else, like not putting enough time in to the project, slacking or anything of that ilk, then they should have done so, otherwise I expect to be treated with the same general respect. Trust me when I say that it is only out of respect that I express my disappointment here.
Don't misunderstand this. I am neither bitter nor angry at this point. I don't expect everyone to love everything that I do. I hold no grudges. It's time to move on.
Posted by kurt at May 5, 2004 9:51 PMKurt, I suppose there were a couple of things going on that pushed the critique in the direction it took. First, I don't think that you sufficiently articulated an objective for the project in its final form - you gave the impression that you had tried to do one thing and it didn't come off, but rather than develop it further or strike out in a different direction, you essentially presented the same thing with a new rationale. While there's nothing inherently wrong with this strategy (often in experimental work, failure sparks a new direction), I couldn't help feeling that your professed satisfaction with the project in its final form involved some measure of rationalization. And I was a little taken aback at your lack of interest in pursuing further development that would have enabled you to do what you had in mind in the first place. Your defensiveness (on this point and others) probably let me to push a little harder than intended, which is what led to my comment about sounding more critical that I meant to. There were many things I liked about the project which had already come up, and I regret that those weren't reiterated at the end of the critique. Certainly you had the bad luck to be the closer of a long day - at the end I waited for comments from the rest of the room, but everyone else seemed to have zoned out completely. So I apologize for not having the wherewithal to end the critique on a more satisfactory note. But please believe me it certainly was nothing personal.
Posted by: perry at May 5, 2004 11:22 PM
Thanks for the response Perry. It helps immensely to hear how you perceived the project and me during the presentation. By no means did I intend to show a level of satisfaction that exceeded the accomplishments of the piece, but I did feel it was necessary to express what I thought the project was doing in the final form that it took. I am intensely interested in pursuing further development that would allow for greater flexibility in the system as well as an implementation of the behaviors that I was originally attempting to design. If I came acrross as rationalizing the final piece as better for my shortcomings as a programmer, it was not intentional. I think what was most frustrating was realizing that given the time that I had at the end, I knew that I didn't have the skills to accomplish building the ideas that I had. My defensiveness comes from both my desire to be able to do more and from my belief that the work must be evaluated based on its final form. As insiders in the process, out closeness to the production lends us an unique perspective and we see interactive work very differently for it.
Trust that I have no hard feelings about the process. I feel that I learned a lot. And now that my Director demo has expired I can move back into Processing, an environment far more suited to the work I was trying to do in the first place.
Posted by: kurt at May 6, 2004 8:42 AM
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