Reply from The British Library

A reply from the British Library arrived this morning. If it looks a bit crumpled, then that's because the dog got to it before I did.

It basically states that they require a little more information before they can grant permission but it doesn't look like photography with a hand held camera will be a problem in the public areas (the use of tripods and additional lighting would require the supervision of a member of the library's press office).

With regards to the recordings, they again need to confirm what equipment would be used plus they need information about whether it would be for the interviewing of library users or "simply recording the sounds of the library". The latter response suggests that my request isn't going to met with confusion.

The letter also contains the email address of the Press Assistant requiring the additional information so I'll send my reply electronically and hopefully get everything confirmed.

Cymatics in 3D

So I'm thinking of how to integrate my 3Dmax/Virtual Worlds class with my Negotiated Project and, lecturer, Mick reckons that it would be possible to build some of the cymatic forms I've been looking at as rendered 3D works. Unfortunately, if these get too complex, they fall apart if you try to use them as augmented reality elements. But there's the above which uses simple geometry and imports the cymatic image as a map - then turning a jpeg into an undulating relief image.

Augmented Reality tutorial

Great introductory AR tutorial found at http://www.marcpelland.com/2009/03/26/getting-started-with-augmented-reality-flartoolkit/


What is Augmented Reality?

Augmented Reality is a technology that allows you to superimpose images into real-time environments. For the purposes of this tutorial, you just need to know that it reads a marker (shape/symbol), interprets the angle and size of that marker and then allows you to place objects at that size and position on the screen (or whatever your medium is).

Here are a couple example videos:

Mini Video and the GE Site


What is FLARToolKit?

To start with ARToolKit is the development package that has allowed developers to tap into the power of Augmented Reality. FLARToolKit is an Actionscript 3 port of the Java version of the toolkit.

What do I need for this tutorial?
In this tutorial, we are going to use FLAR Manager, which is a framework setup to make the combination of Papervision 3D and FLARToolKit easy and quick to setup/use.

If you would like to simply use FLARToolKit (or just get a little more information about it) clik on the following link: http://www.libspark.org/wiki/saqoosha/FLARToolKit/en

Otherwise, download FLARManager (using v0.1 in this tutorial) from http://words.transmote.com/wp/20090309/flarmanager-v01/ . FLARManager actually comes with a build of FLARToolKit in it and you can get it for AS3/FP9 or AS3/FP10 (we are using FP10).

You will also need FlashDevelop or another Actionscript editing tool. In this tutorial I am going to be compiling my code directly from FlashDevelop, but feel free to use the compiler/method of your choice.

You should also get a pattern generator so that you can create your own patterns (markers). Go here for more details: http://www.squidder.com/2009/03/05/for-nerds-only-custom-flar-markers-explained/


What else should I know?

You should be aware of the fact that there is a licensing fee to use check here: http://www.hitl.washington.edu/artoolkit/license.html for more details.

Audiovisualize

I picked up a few DVDs that I thought would highlight some of the ways that other people have interpreted sound visually. One was Addictive TV's Audiovisualize. The write-up on the project sounded promising enough:

"Although working in an area with a rich but relatively little-known history, today's audiovisual artists perhaps owe as much to the VJs and music producers who've emerged from 90's electronic music culture, as some of the most influential 20th Century experimental film makers like Norman McClaren, Len Lye, Jordan Belson and notably Oskar Fischinger, who began laying the foundations of this fusion genre, based on a synthesis of motion, colour and sound, over half a century ago.

Now, using contemporary techniques such as sampling, remixing and digital manipulation alongside traditional film, video and music production methods, modern audiovisualizers are able to push creative boundaries ever further. Music and image play an equal, complimentary and indeed synergistic role in this arena with modern software allowing a much closer and more specific integration than was ever possible previously.

Whether it's finding new ways of visualizing music, or expressing images sonically, the goal is the same now as it ever was; to produce something that can be watched in much the same way as we listen to music. Again and again."

Unfortunately the 2004 release already seems very tired. The opening project - a video put togther for a track called 'Snake Worship Island' by Eclectic Method - is particularly uninspiring. An edited selection of old kung fu movies accompanies a soundtrack that might have appeared at least a little cutting edge had it been released before Depth Charge's early 1990's output and there appears to be some prevailing, naive approach of 'if it moves, filter it'.

More successful is a second video under the title 'Corp. Inc' which utilises archives of science-based imagery and some text overlays that share some similarities with Rob Chiu's 'The Time Has Come' video. But there is no getting away from the fact that the relationships involved in "visualizing music" throughout the DVD are tenuous at best. It barely touches on the synergy that the project aspires to create.

Maybe I'm being overtly critical, but I just don't believe that matching up the tempo of a piece of music to random imagery, however pretty, really adds anything of massive value. Personally, I'd expect more of a considered undertaking where even the most abstract of imagery has an agreed relationship with particular sounds. Like the Kate Moross videos (posted earlier) where the kick drum is represented via one element and a narrative becomes defined by the audio. Audiovisualize instead lacks the attention span and conviction to present something close to a schematic system for addressing sound in a visual form. I'm guessing that in many cases the music was felt to be too repetitive for the artists to create something that rigidly represented specific sections/sound elements and still hold the interest of the viewer. But, sadly, the end result - laregly a series of ever-shifting fractal-like eye candies - just proves to be meaningless.

Amsterdam Library #2

Amsterdam Library #1

He should have been romancing his missus and/or getting so wrecked that he'd ride a bicycle into a canal, but somehow Dave found time to drop into Amsterdam Library on my behalf last weekend. He took the posted pictures and also managed to record some sound for me.

As a result, I owe him much more than the Haribo that I'll be taking with me to tomorrow's group tutorial.

Speaker

I've now collected a great big speaker so that I can start experimenting with the recordings further. The idea is to try out some cymatics although I'm not completely confident that the frequencies will necessarily create the kind of visual representations that you see elsewhere.