The mod7 studio is officially closed for Christmas and New Years starting December 23, 2008 through January 2, 2009. The office will reopen on January 5, 2009. Happy holidays from everyone at mod7!

Optical Tone-Dynamic Color Composition

(Tsutomu Mutoh, Researcher at the International Media Research Foundation)

In his collective work, “Cathedrale de Rouen”, Monet captures the effect of changing light conditions on the same scene. Citing this work as the main influence for this project, Mutoh purposefully takes the concept one step further to manipulate our perception of colour in a controlled environment. The result is a visually compelling interactive piece that appeals to all.

Imagine four opaque, freestanding, barbell-like instruments arranged equidistantly from each other and partially enclosed in a three-sided room. Each are weighted such that the instruments return to their original, upright positions in an inverted, pendulous manner.

When interacted with, the instruments are meant to look like “…globes emitting color…floating and flying in the dark.” A three-axes acceleration sensor embedded in each bottom-weighted globe detects the motion of the top globes. The data generated is input into an “Optical Tone Algorithm” which determines the LED colour output of the top globes. Rotation adjusts hue, whereas swing adjusts brightness.

Each wall has a different pattern in a colour composition determined by the algorithm. The wall colour changes wherever light hits it and is determined by the colour of the light emitted by the globe and the wall’s pattern.

Slightly confusing? Just look at the pictures here.

It’s been an exciting and busy fall at the mod7 studio. So we took some time out to let our hair down with our 2008 Mod7 Holiday E-Card. We worked hard, cutting cardboard and gluing together this simple holiday diorama for your viewing pleasure. We hope you enjoy it!

Have a happy holiday season and best wishes for 2009 from everyone at mod7.

SIGGRAPH Asia 2008 described its Emerging Technologies showcase as “…interactive, mind-expanding explorations in virtual and mixed reality, haptic interfaces, ubiquitous systems, digital tools, HD displays, robotics, and more.”

Two installations translated from interesting program summaries to downright mind-blowing physical manifestations. I describe the first here. For more details, check out their website.
“An Augmented Tabletop Video Game with Pinching Gesture Recognition”
(Contributors: Kentaro Fukuchi - Japan Science and Technology Agency; Toshiki Sato, Haruko Mamiya, Hideki Koike - The University of Electro-Communications)

On approach, it looks like an average air hockey table, but this is where the similarities end. The table surface functions as an interactive video game display, wherein the game objective is to shoot little solid circles before advancing to the “big boss” circle. A high-speed camera positioned above the table registers the circle created when a user touches thumb and forefinger together over the table surface. The system then generates a hollow circle for the user to shoot with. The motions are intuitive and simply brilliant - after creating the “weapon”, the user shoots by tapping (”pinching”) thumb and forefinger together and is easily able to control the speed and direction of shooting. The best part? Any number of people can join in. Each person can create two weapons (or four, if you have amazing toe control). How cool is that?