Become A Virtual Superhero Using Your Trusty Sidekick, Gesture-Based Technology
By Adriana M. Padilla
For The Creators Project, Apr 5 2013. Check out full article here.Â
Everyone wants to be a superhero at some point in their lives. Either as a child you discovered a deep admiration for icons like Wonder Woman and Superman, or as a middle-aged man you felt an urge to bust out a hand-made mini mask to feed the homeless, all while running around Brooklyn doing split jumps in the air. With Superhero, an interactive digital projection, anyone can have virtual super powers and live the dream, no matter what that super dream is.
Wildbytes is a creative studio and technology lab based in New York and Madrid, and by pushing forward technological research they're able to bring the unreal and unimaginable to life. The parallel worlds they create through their works are inspired by the collective fantasies and sensibilities of everyday peopleâthe aim is to connect the public with immersive experiences using interactivity.
The project Superhero began back in 2011 when they decided to combine the concept of super powers with gesture-based technology. Because if you don't happen to hail from the planet Krypton, then why not use technology to pretend you can fly.
The latest version of Superhero was featured as the signature artwork at the 2012 Dumbo Arts Festival in New York. During the festival Wildbytes projected a monumental moving image of colorful paint splatters onto the façade of the Empire Stores building. Participantsâ bodies were scanned by Kinect cameras in 3D, and then they were ready to soar through a magical superhero heaven. With custom gesture-detection technology and projection mapping, participants were able to control their superpowers, while simultaneously transforming the architectural background of Brooklyn into a moving comic book. Flying is as easy as raising your hands, tilting your hips changes direction, and players can also grow in size like Doctor Manhattan, throw energy balls, run at high-speed like Flash, and paint with a trace of visually stunning color.
Enhanced by real-time effects and cinematic sounds the experience is immersive, collective, and appeals to all the senses. If you missed it at the Dumbo event, don't worry, because you can get ready to fly over the summer sky, and save humanity one Kinect at a time at the 2013 Ann Arbor Summer Festival, where Wildbytes will showcase the latest version of Superhero, already in the works, that will feature new super powers.
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The Future Will Be Hands-Free: The Latest In Gesture-Based Projects
By Adriana M. PadillaÂ
For The Creators Project, Feb 27 2013. Check out full article here. Â
Ever since gesture-based technology appeared on the market and Minority Report basically became reality, developers and programmers have been looking at ways to fine-tune the as yet emerging technology, making it ever more intuitive and precise and battling it out for a share of the market. Their advancements and innovative concepts are sure to change the way people interact with their digital devices, and perhaps signify the end of an era and the beginning of another where through the use of technology the goal is to feel like if there is none.
In 2010 we covered the gestural interfaces hackers were coming up with for Kinect, like an interactive puppet prototype. Then came along LEAP, the 3D motion control device that purports to have 200 times greater sensitivity than Kinect, further pushed the bounds of whatâs possible.
Since the LEAP hype died down laste year, weâve heard mixed reports from artists and creative coders about its actual capabilities. But a series of video experiments from Robert Hodgins may change that view. LEAP Flocking lets participants control a flock of fish with the motion of their fingersâslow movements allow the fish to flow towards glowing points, and fast movements frighten the fish, and cause disorder in the flock. In LEAP Gravitation people can control a geometric, semi-abstract version of their hand skeleton that is surrounded by small balls that hover in the space. A ball with low gravitational force appears on the palm by curling the fingertips, and by straightening them the ball becomes larger as its gravitational force increases.Â
This week another gesture-based product caught our attentionâMYO is a wearable armband that, unlike the LEAPand the Kinect, uses tactile feedback technology to detect the muscles in your arm, which activate digital devices through vibrations and motion sensors.
Itâs an interesting shift to wearables that throws a curveball on the gesture interaction scene. Despite the benefits, we wonder what artists might find appealing from the MYO bracelet that is mobile, but restrains gestures by containing them in set operations.
The coming-of-age of gesture-based interfaces is inevitable at a time when people crave easier, faster and more intuitive modes of interactions with technology. By replacing keyboards, mouses and drawing tablets for physical gestures, developers are humanizing technology. Looming, yet full of possibilities, the question still standsâis technology becoming more human, or are humans becoming more technological
