Perry Hoberman

http://iml.usc.edu/transformations3/

Saturday, March 3, 2007: 11:00 am - 7:00 pm
Norris Cinema Theatre (NCT), USC

11am-1pm Panel I: Science Fiction, Fiction Science
LARRY NIVEN, science fiction author (Ringworld)
TIM PRATT, fantasy and science fiction author (Little Gods)
NATHAN SCHURR, USC

1:30pm-2:00pm Live Video Chat with science fiction author RUDY RUCKER (Software, Wetware)

2:00pm-4:00pm Panel II: Hollywood Science, Special FX
SCOTT BUKATMAN, Stanford University (Terminal Identity, Matters of Gravity)
KEVIN MACK, visual effects supervisor (Fight Club, Ghost Rider)
ELIZABETH KESSLER, Stanford University

4:30pm-7pm Screening
ARTHUR ELSENAAR & REMKO SCHA  Morphology/FaceShift
and works by video artists TORSTEN ZENAS BURNS, ANTHONY DISCENZA, DARRIN MARTIN and HALFLIFERS

Sunday, March 4, 2007: 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Ground Zero Coffeehouse, USC, 615 Childs Way

Readings & Performance
1pm fantasy & science fiction author TIM PRATT
2pm science fiction author LARRY NIVEN
3pm TOWARDS A DIGITAL COMPUTER WITH A HUMAN FACE: a lecture by speech synthesis machine HUGE HARRY, with live demonstration of computer-controlled human facial expressions.

Posted by at 5:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In response to a question from Victoria, here's a patch that demonstrates a method for making a series of choices by pressing the 1 or 2 key for each choice.

Download patch

Posted by at 9:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In answer to a question from Anthony, here's a method for making a movable spotlight mask to combine one movie with another.
Download patch

Posted by at 7:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is an incredibly useful utility for Max:

1. First watch this video to see what you can do with it.

2.Download Max Toolbox.

3. Put the 'ToolBox' folder in MaxMSP/patches/.

4. Put the 'ToolBox.pat' file in MaxMSP/Patches/extras.

5. Restart Max.

6. In the Extras menu, select 'Toolbox'.

7. Check 'Load Max ToolBox on startup'.

8. Click on the ? to open the Help file.

9. Make a new patch, put some objects in it, and try out the various functions.

10. Learn all the shortcuts and Max will suddenly seem much more friendly.

PS: Don't forget CMD-y (built into Max) which aligns objects vertically or horizontally (depending on their relative placement).

Posted by at 5:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Initializing objects in your Max patches can get a little complicated. There are (generally speaking) three common approaches:

1. You can use 'loadbang' and 'loadmess' on individual objects.
--Good: simple, straightforward
--Bad: requires attention to each individual object, can clutter up a patch.
2. You can use the Max 'preset' object.
--Good: easy to use
--Bad: slightly outdated, doesn't work on all objects
3. You can use the new 'pattr' family of Max objects (pattr, pattrhub, pattrstorage and autopattr).
--Good: robust and powerful
--Bad: complex

To ease your adoption of the pattr system, I've made a patch that uses the nifty new autopattr object, which can save multiple presets of all the objects in your patch automatically. The patch is made to be used as a clipping, which is new editing feature in Max 4.6.

Just download this patch, open it up and follow the instructions in the 'HELP' subpatch.

Posted by at 4:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Download colorTrackerMovie patch (tracks colors from a sample movie)
Download colorTrackerGrab patch (tracks colors from a camera input)

Posted by at 4:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This patch converts irregular back & forth motion and determines the frequency and amplitude of each swing.

Download file

Posted by at 2:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)