Touchable Holography February 2, 2010
Posted by admin in : Interactive, New Technology , comments closedTouchable Holography: New projector lets you “touch” 3D objects with your hands (video)
Thanks to Phil Andrews for finding this:
“As if looking at floating images in free space produced by mid-air displays isn’t cool enough, a research team from the University of Tokyo now makes it possible to even touch (kind of) those images with a newly developed projector system.”
Apple’s New iPad February 1, 2010
Posted by admin in : Gadgets, New Technology, Sustainability , comments closed
Finally after month’s of speculation Apple have revealed their new product iPad. At the moment opinion seems split between the hard core Mac fraternity and the speculative Windows users. There is no doubt though that Apple are going to sell millions of iPads and just like the iPod and iPhone it will make a massive difference to our lives, the way we access the web, view video and still images, read books and manage our lives.
LIke the iPod, iPhone and iMac, MacBook Pro etc it has been designed by English designer Jonathan Ive. Ive’s and Apple’s Steve Jobs attention to detail and functionality is remarkable.
New Adobe Mercury Playback Engine January 14, 2010
Posted by admin in : Adobe, New Technology , comments closedThis new graphics card by NVIDIA and Adobe run in parallel with Premiere Pro is about to revolutionise the way we edit desktop HD video. The playback engine allows you to edit multiple layers of video with effects in real time with no rendering. The whole work-flow is seamless and incredibly smooth. Watch the two part video below:
“Dave Helmly gives you a Sneak Peek at a future release of Premiere Pro featuring the Adobe Mercury Playback Engine. You’ll see AVCHD with effects, RED Camera Multicam & Keying, 9 layers of P2 , Accelerated Rendering, and more.”
Reflecmedia January 7, 2010
Posted by admin in : Gadgets, New Technology , comments closed
This is a really nice alternative to green screen when you are in a hurry or on location.
“Reflecmedia demonstration with the Canon EOS 5D. The lens used for the front shots is the Canon 24-70mm F2.8 USM L series. For the close-ups an older 70-210mm FD lens was used via a HAMA EOS to FD adapter. The Reflecmedia system is sold at DVeStore.com for around $1500.”
LED Lighting solutions for Stage Lighting and Productions. January 6, 2010
Posted by admin in : New Technology, Performance , comments closed
High Powered LED (Light Emitting Diode) technology now offers a realistic alternative to traditional tungsten lighting meaning we can now use them effectively in theatre shows, live music gigs and corporate shows. LED fixtures have many advantages over “old fashioned” lanterns that make them attractive in stage lighting.
* Low Power Consumption – Because the LED uses a fraction of the power of an normal lightbulb (lamp), the power consumption of LED lighting fixtures is very small, meaning you can use a lot of fixtures on small power supply such as a 13A domestic socket. This is great for small band lighting rigs and the DJ.
* Low Heat Radiation – Although LED stage lighting does produce heat, the fixtures produce light without getting extremely hot. Modern stage lighting lamps produce more heat (and light) than they ever have and this has been coupled with improved lantern casings to minimise the risk of burning the operator. There are, however, some environments where the low heat properties of LED stage lighting are desirable.
* Lightweight and Portable – The hardware that LED fixtures are packaged in does not need to be heavy and, although the various power supplies and elements all add weight, LED units are usually fairly light.
* Colour Effects – The most common way for LED lights to be used for stage lighting purposes is using a combination of different coloured LEDs. A fixture with all three three lighting primary colours, Red, Green and Blue (RGB) LEDs blended together in different combinations gives the lighting designer loads of colour choices. This is using a principle called Additive Colour Mixing, where the coloured LEDs mix on any surface that reflects the light.
* Small and Compact – LED lighting fixtures can be made in small, discreet packages which suit applications where size and brightness are important such as exhibitions stands.
* High Brightness – This really comes down to the ratio of light brightness to power consumption. The new high powered LEDs are very bright considering small amount of electrical power they use.
http://www.vimeo.com/3472754
Moth TV October 15, 2009
Posted by admin in : Future Cinema, New Technology , comments closedHere is Elliott’s video of the Moth TV guys visit he other day. Anyone else got any footage we can put up here?
http://www.vimeo.com/7060518
Peter Greenaway on VJing September 21, 2009
Posted by admin in : Future Cinema, Interactive, New Technology, Uncategorized , comments closed
Born in Wales and educated in London, Peter Greenaway trained as a painter for four years, and started making his own films in 1966. He now lives in Amsterdam.
He has continued to make cinema in a great variety of ways, which has also informed his curatorial work and the making of exhibitions and installations.
He has made 12 feature films and some 50 short-films and documentaries, been regularly nominated for the Film Festival Competitions of Cannes, Venice and Berlin, published books, written opera librettos, and collaborated with composers Michael Nyman, Glen Branca, Wim Mertens, Jean-Baptiste Barriere, Philip Glass, Louis Andriessen, Borut Krzisnik and David Lang.
His first narrative feature film, The Draughtsman¹s Contract, completed in 1982, received great critical acclaim and established him internationally as an original film maker, a reputation consolidated by the films, The Cook, the Thief, his Wife & her Lover and The Pillow-book, The Tulse Luper Suitcases, and most recently by Nightwatching.
Here is a really interesting interview with Peter Greenaway where he talks about using VJing as a way of delivering narrative based content and the death of film
Here is a talk from Lovebytes 2005 wher he is talking about Cinema of the Future
and here is a performance he gave in Moscow.
Adobe Education Leaders Summer School September 1, 2009
Posted by admin in : Adobe, New Technology , comments closedAt the end of July I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the Adobe Education Leaders Summer School in San Jose. The Summer School is held at the Adobe Headquarters and brings together 100 eduction leaders from around the world to share good practice, discuss new developments and feedback to Adobe on new and existing products.
The five days were extremely useful opening up many opportunities to meet Adobe executives and product developers and discuss new developments and improvements.
Adobe Headquarters, San Jose.
During the week I was able to attend many workshops and demonstrations of new products and see many innovative approaches to using Adobe Products. A number of new products were introduced and discussed. Adobe’s acquisition of Macromedia is now opening up many exciting possibilities for extending the Adobe product range.
Outside Adobe Headquarters
An interesting new beta release is Flex Builder a new member of the Flash Family. Import compositions from Photoshop or Illustrator, group layers and drag and drop behavior to create interactivity. Download a beta version by clicking on the logo below.
I also saw a demo of an exciting new product, Adobe Story. “Adobe Story is a collaborative scriptwriting tool for film, broadcast, and rich media. Adobe Story enables the online pre-production workflow for those who want to collaborate and expand their ideas anytime, anywhere, with anyone.”
To see a video of the launch at NAB2009 click HERE
More updates on Adobe products will appear here soon.
Under Scan April 20, 2009
Posted by admin in : Interactive, New Technology, Street Art , comments closed
This is a beautifully realised public art piece that uses some state of the art projection technology.
UNDER SCAN is a large-scale public art project commissioned by the East Midlands Development Agency in England. Thousands of “video-portraits” taken in Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Northampton and Nottingham will be projected onto the ground of the main squares and pedestrian thoroughfares of these cities. At first, the portraits will not be visible because the space will be flooded by white light coming from the world’s most powerful projector. As people walk around the area, their shadow will be cast on the floor, revealing the video-portraits. The short video sequences begin with the subjects in a still position turned away from the camera. As they appear within pedestrians’ shadows, their bodies move and their heads turn to look straight at the pedestrian, potentially giving rise to an interesting range of interactions. When a shadow moves away from a portrait, the portrait likewise reacts by losing interest and looking away. With the assistance of a large team of developers, ArtReach production and Stage Right staging
Alternative sound interface March 13, 2009
Posted by admin in : Interactive, New Technology , comments closedThis offers a few interesting alternatives for sound interfaces. Be interesting to see what you can come up with using this technology?
