Projecting Cyberspace onto the Stage

I'm currently involved in a project that is working on theatricalizing the concept of Avatar and / or Cyberspace. My head has been swimming around this problem for quite some time, and after some good ol' R&D, here's some of what I came up with: [youtube]IfJOshdUhDE[/youtube]

[youtube]HL7LfX5HhiM[/youtube] These ideas are to be seen mostly as a proof of concept, and I think they'll be more compelling when they actually make it on stage.

That said, I think there's a lot of potential for choreography between the human body and digital forms. Yesterday I realized how cool it would be to crossover from machinima into theater. I wonder what that would be called.

Oh, in the vid, I mention my email. Here it is again: hwang [dot] al [at] gmail.

Manchester

So, since the Digg hit, my wiki entry for the Wiremap got destroyed by spam. I don't know enough php or sql or whatever it is I need to know to recover my document, so I'm considering rebuilding it in a static page. I've been in contact Elliot Woods over in Manchester who is interested in building a very large wiremap for a not for profit music festival, called Pangaea. Last year at Pangaea, they made the world's largest 3d dot matrix display, and this year they're looking to (in my estimation) up the ante.

Email contents include blender, maxmsp, lots of nylon rope, steel frames, and the use of three theater quality projectors.

w00t.

A Workshop Performance of Portraiture

So my friend Morgan Murphey and I have been working on a movement piece that is based off a few pieces she completed while she was in school. We've found some interesting stuff, and we're ready to share it w/ everyone. The piece runs approximately a half hour. After the performance there will be a brief break followed by time for the creators and the audience to ask questions/give feedback. We'd love to hear as much feedback as possible so if you have the time - it would be greatly appreciated.

Here's the info:

January 18th, 19th, 20th at 8pm and January 20th at 2pm

Tickets $5

Linhart Theater 440 Lafayette Street, 3rd Floor

Conceived by Morgan Murphey Created by Albert Hwang & Morgan Murphey

Designed & Assisted by Andrew Scoville, Reshmi Hazra, Corey Michener

Stage Managed by Victoria Flores Assistant Stage Managed by Sanaz Ghajarrahimi

Produced by Justin Ball

To make a reservation / let us know you're coming, please email the producer, Justin Ball at justin[ at ]phtschool[ dot ]org letting us know what performance you would like to attend and how many of you there are. We will only email you back if there is a problem with your reservation.

Traffic bump

Hi all - So it looks like quite a bit of traffic is being directed to my blog from my Wiremap 256 vid. So, to accomodate all those visitors who are interested in just the Wiremap content, I decided to write this post.

First off, I have a Wiki entry on the Wiremap, where you can practically find anything and everything about the Wiremap. Also, you can browse only the Wiremap content on this blog.

Here are some general notes I have to all the types of messages I'm getting: ** If you want to be involved in the software development of the Wiremap:

So, I went to school to study theater, not CS.  While I would hope that the code is elegant, I can't speak for it's efficiency.  Although it would be cool to bump up the framerate on this thing, I'm really interested in seeing how much it can redefine digital 3d.  In any case, if you want to mess with the code, whether it be framerate optimization or a clever new idea, the existing code is available at the Wiki.  If you email it my way, I'll be sure to post a YouTube vid. ** If you want to build your own Wiremap:

I've always sort of wanted to get a DIY kit out there, but never got around to it. Well, I'll start developing a DIY kit over the next couple of months. Probably through the Wiki, so that other people can share and contribute to the project.

** If you want the Wiremap 256:

Okay, I haven't been getting any emails like this... yet... but I am interested in getting this project up in a public space in or very close to NYC. So, if you or anybody you know has a public space that could use this, send me a note.

Also, I have an interesting request. I'm looking for people or people who know people who have worked with water fountains. If you thought the Wiremap was cool, check out the design for the mirage. Of course, if I want to take this seriously, I'll need to do quite a bit of R&D.

Questions? Hit me up at: hwang (dot) al (at) gmail (dot) com

Rock on. Once again thanks for all the traffic, and come back soon!

Hat Tricks

Here's a nice little combo of hat tricks: [youtube]PdDmtDzP37E[/youtube]

Not really much to say about it because wysiwyg (can you use 'wysiwyg' like that?).  I've seen not too many, but a few hat tricks in clubs and whatnot - and as much youtube dancing, juggling, and contact juggling there is, there's really not much in line of killer hat tricks.

In other movement news, I'm going to be performing a dance piece come the end of January.  I've been in rehearsals with Morgan Murphey for a while now.  We're aiming for thirty minutes of material.  More news will be posted when we figure it out.

Rescaler

So, a little background before I explain the Rescaler. The way our brains build the sensation of depth by comparing the differences between the left and right eye.  3d movies work by giving you different images for your right and left eye. So I've been thinking, what happens if you give someone really wide-set eyes?  What I mean to say is, what happens to the world when the visual information we get isn't separated by 2.75 inches (the average distance between our eyes), but instead is separated by say a foot apart.

So Dave Tennent and I got together and recorded a scene with two cameras, set 6 feet apart.  Get yerself some 3d glasses and check out these shots:

Although the first image looks like a crumpled tissue, it's actually a bed sheet I tossed into the air.  With your eyes set 6 feet apart, the full-sized sheet looks like it is only about 4" by 5".

The second image is me.  The size makes it seem like you'd be able to pick me up.  That's because, to scale, I should look like I'm about 3 inches tall.

Theoretically, you could rescale anything. If you and your friend live at the top of a hill but a mile a part, you could rescale your city to look like a scale model. You could team up with a friend who lives a mile away to rescale some clouds and make them pretty awesome 3d images.

***

Well, a part of me wanted to achieve this rescaling without having to go way too digital, so I built a geeky-looking device with mirrors that rescales the space around me. Take a look:

This is a photo of me looking at the camera through the rescaling device. In the photo, you can see both of my eyes - set about an inch outside my face on either side. By using mirrors, I can virtually project my eyes, which sit about 2.75 inches apart, to an arrangement that is 6.5 inches apart, and two inches back.

Here's a close-up of one of the eyes:

This photo gives you a better sense of how I built the thing.  That's just foam core, hot glue, and a few mirrors.  Both mirrors are at precisely 45 degrees.

The effect is stunning.  Your depth perception gets a whole lot better, especially when looking at objects that are far away.  Because things are scaled down, my house sort of looks like a doll house.

Also, because this is so foreign to my brain, it all looks rather virtual.  The space I'm looking at is a virtual extension of a 3d universe that isn't biologically natural to me.  It feels like I'm playing a video game or interacting with a digital 3d environment.

And, to the same end, I get a little queazy looking through this thing.  : P