1. Sniff (see here)
How Sniff Works
Sniff is composed of two main components, a video tracking system and a game engine for real time graphics. The video tracking system is built in openFrameworks; and the game engine is Unity3d. The low-poly dog was modeled and animated in Blender3d . The model with attached animated actions was imported into Unity3d, without smoothing to retain its polygonal appearance.
The real-time flow of information in Sniff looks a bit like this:
click to view
People on the sidewalk are monitored by an IR camera in openFrameworks. In openFrameworks each individual person is isolated and assigned a unique id for the duration of their interaction. Each persons’ position and gesture information is continually sent to Unity3d via OSC networking protocol.
In Unity, an artificial intelligence system representing the dog forms relationships with the individuals. He chooses which person to pay attention to, is able to move towards them or back away, responds to their gestures and initiates gestures of his own. Based on the interaction he gets excited or bored, friendly or aggressive, which is reflected in his behavior.
openFrameworks
To detect people they are using the standard OpenCV blob extraction packaged with openFrameworks. Beyond the standard blob tracker, they have a ‘PersonTracker’ which assigns persistent blob ids between frames, and dampens the movement of the centroids to reduce jittery head tracking on the dog. They also run custom metrics to filter out false-positive detections, such as the glare from headlights that otherwise would register as people. Through blob detection they are given a good indications of the locations of people, but they are also interested in how they are behaving. During each frame of video we run optical flow to detect motion. Within each person’s bounding rectangle we sum all the motion to determine if that individual is making sudden movements.
With this method, they found that walking back and forth triggers a lot of optical motion yet shouldn’t be considered as gesturing. To disfavor this false-positive they dampen the total motion for each person by the movement of their centroid. This favors movements such as waving arms and clapping hands while standing in front of the dog. But if someone is to quickly rush towards the dog it is considered an aggressive gesture and he will react. But don’t think you can just be mean to Sniff, because they also run analysis on the shape of each silhouette to determine if the person is holding out their hand calmly. This is considered a friendly gesture, and Sniff may start to trust them. Based on watching people interact with Sniff they intend to implement recognition of more complex behaviors that are taken from observation of natural tendencies people have when they encounter the dog.
Unity3d
Sniff also contains a mood, which is determined by the combination of friendliness and enthusiasm metrics which change over time as people interact with him. If a lot of people are around gesturing at him he’ll go berserk. If he’s been left alone for a while or you aren’t interacting with him, he may just lay down or pay attention to someone else.
sudden gesture: waving your hands above your head will startle Sniff
friendly gesture: holding out your hand calmly and leaning down will indicate a friendly gesture towards the dog
2. Kinectimals
The world of Kinectimals has you visiting Lemuria, a fictional island devoid of human life, and heavily populated by animals, including cuddly tiger cubs. How you arrived on the island is unclear and unaddressed (which is an even creepier proposition when you consider the player might be a young child), but it’s the perfect set up for going on an adventure, and that’s all that really matters.
As you reach the isle you’re greeted by Bumble, a peculiar English-speaking rat/cat/butterfly creature who acts as your guide. As he puts it, he arrived on the island over 200 years ago with one Captain Able Blackwood, a good-natured pirated in search of a long treasure map. Apparently fed up, Blackwood ditched Bumble and the island after only finding a single piece of the map. With the help of Bumble, you’ll start uncovering parts of the map as you explore the island. Man, is Blackwood going to be pissed to learn that within 15 minutes you’re able to find a piece of map that evaded him for two centuries.
That’s the set up, and already you can see that there’s more to Kinectimals that simply taking care of your little furry friend. Sure, you’ll name, pet, bathe, and play with your animal, but Kinectimals isn’t really a Nintendogs-like pet ownership simulation. Instead, it’s a deeper bonding experiencing, mixed with a series of gesture-based mini-games, some of which are surprisingly fun and oftentimes quite a work out.
Interacting with your animal is strangely compelling, and it’s not something you’ll really understand until you actually experience it. The idea of talking to and building a relationship with an on-screen pet is certainly a foreign concept, but Kinectimals proves that it can work if you’re open to the experience. You’ll find that even though there’s nothing physically in front of you, you’re going to want to instinctively reach out and touch the animal, On-screen hands appear to mirror your movement, and you’ll move left and right in front of the Kinect sensor to get a better look at the creature or scratch behinds its ears.
Yes, there’s a bit of a disconnect between hands that appear on the screen and your own, as Kinect won’t be able to read your fingers making scratch motions. Instead, you just sort of move your hands over the areas you want to scratch, the digital fingers do all of the work; your pet reacts with pleasure accordingly. Even still, I found myself making the scratching motions, as I got into the action to make the pet purr and nuzzle the screen. Even stepping back and watching others play, it’s fascinating to hear them talk to and see them interact with the animal, almost oblivious to the fact that there’s nothing really there. For adults with stifled imaginations, these kind of interactions might seem lifeless or abnormal, but it’s a certainty that children are going to easily connect with this part of the game.
To spice things up, Kinectimals throws a series of challenges at you, many tied to the toys you’ll uncover and purchase to use with your animal. The games vary, from throwing or kicking a ball, tossing a Frisbee, and even navigating a small RC car that you pet will chase around. The items can be used on their own, and almost at any time, to “play” with your pet, but Kinectimals breaks everything down into scored (or timed) mini-games. An example would be tossing or kicking a ball to knock down objects, or racing the RC car (with your cub happily riding on top of it) around a track.
The mini-games are simple, but most of them are surprisingly enjoyable for what they are. The controller-free stuff really gives some of them a unique feel, particularly the soccer or volleyball games where you smack (or kick) the ball between you and your cub. Tossing a ball seems a bit odd at first, and requires a gentle underhand touch; because there’s no way to signal a “release,” it’s a matter of finding the sweet spot and timing for bringing your hand up. All in all, there are no mini-games here that you haven’t really seen before, it’s how you play them --without a controller in your hand -- that makes them feel fresh.
Playing with your pet and playing the somewhat shallow mini-games with no pay off wouldn’t be much fun, so Kinectimals ties in these actions by rewarding you with new areas, items, and things to discover. As you interact with your cub or complete games, you’ll earn coins and points that unlock new areas, which eventually leads you to hidden areas and new other areas of the island. You’ll also be able to mix things up by using “The Plunderscope,” a magnifying glass-like objects, to find hidden treasures in each of the game’s areas. Coins earned can also be spent on upgrading your house, like buying new furniture and decorations.
*haven't got the chance to get my hands on the 'how-it-works' documentation, as Kinectimals is intended for commercial purposes. read more about Kinectimals here.
3. Aquatic Colors
One can truly become an explorer of a new world thanks to the Aquatic Colors project by Japanese artist Takahiro Matsuo. The projection is conceived in such a way as to react to one’s immediate motions, absorbing the participant in the action from the beginning. When one comes closer to the wall, jellyfish start to float inside the space. When one starts to circle one’s arms, their number increases. Thus, there are jellyfish shoals floating in space and vanishing depending on how much motion is present. At first look, this seems to be just an amusing technological game; however, it is also creates the possibility of creating new images or discovering new regularities of our behavior towards our surroundings, allowing us to learn from, communicate with, and enter into them. Thanks to the specific architecture of the space, it is an unexpected experience similar to swimming amongst a coral reef.
Aquatic Colours by Takahiro Matsuo and Akihisa Hirata represented the main part of the Canon Neoreal exhibition. However, its second part, entitled O_N_L_I_N_E, created by Canon team of designers, was also interesting. A camera filmed visitors in a white space, transforming their movement into a graphic silhouette with which it operated in many visual settings. Thus, the visitor is continuously inside the space with his or her movement constantly initiating new actions. Thanks to the animation, one becomes a creator of an animated film in which other visitors participate. The action takes place on several levels – between the visitor and his or her image transformed by the animation program, between the visitor and other visitors who have joined the physical animation, and among spectators who have not joined the animation. Paradoxically, one can be changed from a visitor into a creator in an unexpected moment and assume the role of a live actor in a program that presents the latest outputs of Canon’s technological development within a playful form. This was a great presentation of Canon’s interesting corporate philosophy, thanks to which the limits of our imagination and possibilities to develop it are continually shifting.
A video of the project:
4. Toon Dodo
Preview
Source: What is a Tropical Rainforest?
3. Aquatic Colors
One can truly become an explorer of a new world thanks to the Aquatic Colors project by Japanese artist Takahiro Matsuo. The projection is conceived in such a way as to react to one’s immediate motions, absorbing the participant in the action from the beginning. When one comes closer to the wall, jellyfish start to float inside the space. When one starts to circle one’s arms, their number increases. Thus, there are jellyfish shoals floating in space and vanishing depending on how much motion is present. At first look, this seems to be just an amusing technological game; however, it is also creates the possibility of creating new images or discovering new regularities of our behavior towards our surroundings, allowing us to learn from, communicate with, and enter into them. Thanks to the specific architecture of the space, it is an unexpected experience similar to swimming amongst a coral reef.
Aquatic Colours by Takahiro Matsuo and Akihisa Hirata represented the main part of the Canon Neoreal exhibition. However, its second part, entitled O_N_L_I_N_E, created by Canon team of designers, was also interesting. A camera filmed visitors in a white space, transforming their movement into a graphic silhouette with which it operated in many visual settings. Thus, the visitor is continuously inside the space with his or her movement constantly initiating new actions. Thanks to the animation, one becomes a creator of an animated film in which other visitors participate. The action takes place on several levels – between the visitor and his or her image transformed by the animation program, between the visitor and other visitors who have joined the physical animation, and among spectators who have not joined the animation. Paradoxically, one can be changed from a visitor into a creator in an unexpected moment and assume the role of a live actor in a program that presents the latest outputs of Canon’s technological development within a playful form. This was a great presentation of Canon’s interesting corporate philosophy, thanks to which the limits of our imagination and possibilities to develop it are continually shifting.
A video of the project:
4. Toon Dodo
3D Universe, known for their fun, toony characters, presents their latest wacky creation. Toon Dodo is a custom, stand-alone figure featuring 3D Universe Toon Eyes. Full of wacky expressions, this is an excellent character to shake up your runtime. - Developer/Vendor's website |
5. Soft Dynamics Physics Animated Dodo
An animation of a dodo using the soft body dynamics physics software. Watch the video here
6. Tropical Rainforest
Q: Where can you find tropical rainforests?
A: Tropical rainforests are located around the equator-from the Tropic of Cancer in the north, to the Tropic of Capricorn in the south. The largest rainforests are in Brazil (South America), Zaire (Africa) and Indonesia (islands found near the Indian Ocean). Other tropical rainforests lie in Southeast Asia, Hawaii and the Caribbean Islands. The Amazon rainforest in South America is the world's largest, covering an area about two-thirds the size of the continental United States.
Q: Why are they called "rainforests?"
A: Because they're wet! Tropical rainforests are defined by their wet and dry seasons. Tropical rainforests receive 160 to 400 inches (400-1000) cm) of rain each year. Compare this with the city of Los Angeles, which only receives an average of 10-20 inches of rain a year! Also because rainforests lie near the equator, temperatures stay near 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit all year-round.
Q: What does a rainforest look like?
A: Picture yourself walking on a thin carpet of wet, rotting leaves. If you looked up you would see an umbrella of dark green leaves. Only a spot or two of blue sky would peek through the thick mass of tree branches and leaves. You would also see beautiful flowers growing wild upon the trees, as well as on the ground. You would hear the constant sound of insects, birds, and falling twigs. In some rainforests, you might hear the sounds of large animals like the gorilla or jaguar.
There are so many species of plants and animals in the rainforest that, if you stood in one place and turn a complete circle, you might see hundreds of different species. This incredible number of species of living things is one of the major differences between tropical rainforests and the forests of North America.
A tropical rainforest consists of four layers: the emergent trees, canopy, the understory, and the forest floor. The emergent and canopy layers make up the very top of the rainforest, where a few trees, called emergents, poke out above the green growth to reach the sun. Most of the plant growth is here in the sun, so most rainforest animals, including monkeys, birds and tree frogs, live in the canopy.
Below the canopy are the young trees and shrubs that make up the understory. The plants in this layer rarely grow to large sizes because the canopy blocks most of the sunlight. The forest floor is almost bare because very little light can get through the canopy and understory to the ground. This is where fallen leaves and branches rot quickly to release nutrients for other plants to grow. Large mammals such as South American tapirs and Asian elephants who are too heavy to climb up into the canopy layer live in the dim light of the understory and forest floor.
Q: How do rainforest plants and animals depend on each other?
A: In all of nature, and especially in rainforests, plants and animals depend on each other for survival. This is called interdependence. For example, some insects can only survive in one type of tree, while some birds only eat one type of insect. If this tree is destroyed, the insects will have no home. If these insects die, the birds who rely on them for food will starve to death. Because of this interdependence, if one type of plant or animal becomes extinct, several others could be in danger of extinction as well.
Q: What is the secret to making this system work?
A: One secret to this lush environment is that the rainforest reuses almost everything that falls to the ground and decays. When leaves fall from the trees, when flowers wilt and die, and when any animal dies on the forest floor - it decays and all of the nutrients in the decayed species are recycled back into the roots of the trees and plants.
Only the top few inches of the rainforest soil has any nutrients. Most of the nutrients are in the biomass, the bulk of animal and plant life above the ground. The roots of the rainforest trees are not very deep; that way they can collect all of the nutrients in the top few inches of the soil.
Rainforests even recycle their own rain! As water evaporates in the forest it forms clouds above the canopy that later fall as rain.
Q: How do humans depend on rainforests?
A: Rainforests are essential-not just to those who live in or near them, but to everyone on the whole planet. They help control the world's climate. However, when the rainforests are burned and cleared, carbon is released that causes the weather to be much hotter. (this is called the greenhouse effect)
People also use many rainforest materials. Many of our medicines come from plants that grow in rainforests. Perhaps someday the cure for cancer or AIDS will be found in a tropical rainforest. Some of the medicines we now use come from tropical rainforest plants, such as aspirin, heart disease treatment and painkillers.
Many products, such as medicines and Brazil nuts, can be taken from rainforests without destroying them; but other products-such as timber, gold, and oil-require a more destructive method of extraction. Logging for tropical timber and gold mining have contributed to much of the destruction of tropical rainforests.
Q: Do people live in rainforests?
A: Indigenous, or native peoples have lived in tropical forests for thousands of years. They use every part of the forest in a sustainable manner, or in a way that does not destroy the forest. Recently, many other people have moved to tropical rainforests, but have used the forests in ways that destroy them.
Q: What happens to a rainforest when the trees are logged or cleared with fire?
A: About 80% of the rainforests nutrients comes from trees and plants. That leaves 20% of the nutrients in the soil. The nutrients from the leaves that fall are instantly recycled back up into the plants and trees. When a rainforest is clear-cut, conditions change very quickly. The soil dries up in the sun. When it rains, it washes the soil away, leaving the land barren and desert-like.
Q: Can rainforests grow back once they have been destroyed?
A: A rainforest cannot be replaced. Once it has been destroyed it will be gone forever. Once the web of interdependence has been broken, plants and animals have no way to rebuild their complex communities.
Rainforests have been evolving for 70 to 100 million years. They contain plants and animals that live nowhere else on earth. When a rainforest is destroyed, so are the plants and animals who have lived there for millions of years. Once they are destroyed, they will only be memories of our past - unless we help to preserve them now!
Source: What is a Tropical Rainforest?
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