motionLife

motionLife is an interactive art piece I developed at ITP with Will McDonald in Dan O’Sullivan Computational Camera’s class.

motionLife plays with the concept of how our movements affect the world around us. It shows an artistic representation of the scene in front of it, that constantly oscillates slightly. As the observer moves, the screen explodes in a shower of particles (representing how everything we observe is made up smaller parts), that dance and bounce back into place over time.

Observers can respond to the piece with huge sweeping gestures, keeping the scene in chaotic motion. Alternatively, they can keep very still and make small motions, cause a scene that mirrors reality, but slightly askew.

I’d like to thank the from people at ITP, Eyebeam, and OpenFrameworks. Special thanks to Will McDonald, Dan O’Sullivan, Dave Spector and Zach Lieberman.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

motionLife is built using Open Frameworks in the Eclipse IDE. It uses OpenGL to create the particles. Frame differencing is used to determine users motion. When a pixel has a large change from one frame to the next, the particles bounce based on how large a change it observes. The particles than bounce back into place over time.

NEWS

•12/17/09: MotionLife installed in the Lobby of Tisch Film Dept.

•06/27/08: NY Hall of Science opens it motionLife installation to the public.

•06/06/08: Wired Magazine visited ITP and wrote this article for their blog that features motionLife.

•06/04/08: motionLife goes on display as part of the ITP Summer Gallery 2008.

•05/12/08: motionLife debuts in ITP Spring Show 2008

motionLife is built using Open Frameworks in the Eclipse IDE. It uses OpenGL to create the particles. Frame differencing is used to determine users motion. When a pixel has a large change from one frame to the next, the particles bounce based on how large a change it observes. The particles than bounce back into place over time.