POST 37: "Light Dreams 2014"

   Getting ready for the "Light Dreams 2" Show at Alys Stephens became too time consuming for me to to keep blogging about it, and I stopped. 
   I will try to update this post at some stage with  an explanation of what we did, and links to some videos of the show. 

Post 36: Starting Rehearsals

     We practiced with Sarah this week for the piece on live cam from the front, using a piece of spandex with a small hole the head can barely get through. We will stitch two pieces together and trim a circle for the full costume. Having the purple LED Flood on the white backdrop, the live image has a bright blue background, and the dancer is magnified.

    We decided on music by HildegardeVon Binden.

Post 34: Moving to a new rehearsal space

    We were able to store our set parts at CDF for a week or so until we found a free rehearsal space, graciously loaned by a dear old friend. We immediately started to move all the stuff and getting the space ready. It was a bit of a mess, having been abandoned for so long since it was a night club in the 70's, but the lights worked. And that happens to be where I met my wife 40 years ago, at the Opening of the Joe Namath Club, featuring Lou Rawls! Memories…
  Anyhow, it's a little cramped because of a very low suspending ceiling, except over the dance floor, which was just big enough at roughly 12ft x 13 ft.There is just enough space to back up the front projector against the wall using the wide angle adapter. 
  We painted the floor flat black, and attached all the front panels together.
  I am still amazed at the amount of cables necessary for power, AUDIO and VIDEO. I had to get HDMI Repeaters, HDMI Signal Splitters, a Dimmer Pack, a Dimmer Controller and a 50 ft DMX Cable, a powerful Amplifier, a Blue Ray Player.
  There were two huge speakers left in the club, and we can use then, as well as some old stage lights.
  I hung a monitor on a swing arm just above the window so the dancers can see where they are in Livecam. There are both an overhead live cam, and a front one mounted just under the window.
  The Mitsubishi Ultra Short Throw 1280 x 800 Projector is hung high to cover the backdrop.

Post 33: Playing with the Leap motion Controler

   Finally, before we took the set down on Sunday, I finally got the Leap Motion Controler to work, and we could play with projected particles following finger movement and position:

  My intention is to mount it just under the window the a dancer can "conduct" the movement of the projected images with her hands. 

Post 32: Testing the Set

   I set up my 5K projector on the floor to project images on the plywood set, and an identical 5K borrowed from a friend on a 10 ft pole connected to a live cam either facing the backdrop and placed inside the set right beneath the window or overhead. I also installed the new 3K ultra short throw about 7 ft away from the backdrop and 2 ft above.
I moved my whole MacPro with quad monitors to the space, and we started playing with things. 
  We don't have time to put together a "real" show for light Dreams by May 5. So we ended up with ideas for 4 short very simple demonstrations that could be followed by public interactivity periods:

   1."SHADOWPLAY": Very basic, but effective. A bright graphic image is projected and the dancers move in front of the projector.

   2."GIANT CLONES": A live camera is mounted beneath the open window facing backstage, and the enlarged live image is projected on the plywood panels, while the dancers are seen through the window and move from the front to the back of the set through the doors interacting with themselves, the set itself, and their virtual selves:

  3."NEWTON CHALLENGE": An overhead live camera image of the dancers crawling on the floor is projected on the front plywood set, giving an illusion of weightlessness:

Charling may do a version of her hand and feet drawing.

 4."BARN FLIP": The front of the barn is projected on the plywood set and the inside on the backdrop. Then the point of view is turned 
180 degrees and the inside wall of the barn with farm implements is projected on the plywood set while the landscape outside is projected on the background while the dancers circle in and out:

Post 31: A New Toy: the Leap Motion Sensor

  I just got a new toy to play with, a Leap Motion Sensor. It is kind off a mini Kinect that works at a distance of about 8 to 24",and is capable of seeing each fingertip:

  Unlike the Kinect, it works right out of the box, and developers have already written a bunch of apps, that are available either free of for a few bucks on the Airspace Leap Store.  I downloaded a bunch of them, and have been playing with the few that have potential for our project.There are a couple of Music apps, particularly Chordion Conductor, which offers many synthesiser sounds and controls, AirHarp:

 and Syntheremin. The drumming apps don't work very well, and would require practice.
   There are also a couple of Particle Generation apps that work very well, like Flocking:






Midnight:

Beautiful Chaos:

Airbow:

VIZ.it

as well as a plugin for Photoshop called Ethereal:

  A search on the internet turned up a lot of tests, demos and reviews, but surprisingly few serious used.
  I am considering mounting the Leap Sensor on the front wall so Mary can control the projected image or the music, at least till we get the Kinect working.

Post 30: Finally building the set

   I have been working for a while now building elements of the set as time permitted, and we are finally able to put it together and test it this AEA vacation week. The Children Dance Foundation , where Mary works, was kind enough to let us use their large studio for a whole week, and we started transporting the parts and putting things together on Sunday. We have done most of the construction and assembly now, and will finish putting up the 10ft x 12 ft fabric panels and setting up the projectors to morrow. Four 12 ft poles on concrete bases with rubber feet hold up a frame made of three 2x4x12ft boards. A 2x4x16ft laying across and a perpendicular 2x4x8ft hold the lights, background projector, and and the live cam. Three 3/4" plywood panel free standing on flat steel brackets make up  the front wall(which will be completed with three 1ft hinged flaps and hinged doors and windows to make up a solid wall when needed: