Microsoft Interactive Canvas

Interactive Canvas at Remix

admin — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:33:57 +0000

http://www.vimeo.com/2056089

Remix 08 Brighton

admin — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:37:37 +0000

Well last week, the Brighton Centre played host to the Microsoft Remix 08 event and the Interactive Canvas made it’s debut appearance. The event took place over Thursday and Friday and featured some great speakers such as Bill Buxton and Scott Guthrie. The Interactive Canvas was installed in the main hall of the venu and over the course of the event was the point of much activity with over 500 messages being added by the end of the event.

Here are a selection of images from both the setup of the installation and during the event.

Fabrication Sneek Peek

admin — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 09:54:54 +0000

We took a little trip down to Woolwich Dockyard to visit our friends at Nicholas Alexander yesterday to see how the fabrication for the kiosk which will house the wacom screen was coming along, as well as checking up on the anodised boxes which will encase the proximity sensors. The main input kiosk is looking great covered in a very shiny gloss black laminate which is then lit up from within by a series of led’s which shine through coloured sections of the printed facia.

The sensor boxes are made from extruded aluminium which has then been anodised to produce a very slick slighty matt black finish which looks great offset against the shiny black infra-ref plastic which runs along the front allowing the sensors to “see” out.

Sensor Boards

admin — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:33:12 +0000

The initial testing of the sensors is now complete so the final circuit boards can now be printed up. The sensors will be arranged in sets of 12 which will be mounted on a run the length of one 42″ plasma screen. Below is an image of the final layout for the board which will go with each sensor bar.

More sensor testing

admin — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 15:22:34 +0000

We are continuing to build our initial “cardboard” prototype of the proximity sensors that we are going to use.

We initially though of using a camera based motion tracking system to sense people in front of the display but considering that we don’t know what the different lighting conditions will be in the venues that the installation will travel to, we opted for more reliable IR rangers which work in any kind of lighting conditions. Essentially we will use an array of these sensors that will also allow us to sense multiple people that stand at different positions in front of the display wall.

Plus, we will have fairly accurate proximity readings from the sensors. This means that we will know how far away from the display people will be standing resulting in some interesting sensor data for user interaction with the display.

Last but not least we are creating a modular system, whereby each module will consist of a stripe of 12 sensors. This will allow us to scale our installation to different display sizes.

Interface Design

admin — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:36:53 +0000

Whilst all the new hardware has been arriving we have also been developing the visual look and feel for the installation along with finalising the interaction design. Along with the theme of the intallation itself we’ve been relying on the traditional medium of pen and paper to sketch out how the interface will work from the user’s perspective…

More new hardware

admin — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:10:25 +0000

Today the proximity sensors we are going to use to enable users to interact with the large display wall arrived. We are going to combine two different types of sensor, each with a different range, into panels below the display wall. The combination of the two different sensors should enable us to detect users between 0.5m and 5m. Having put together a quick test circuit and following some callibration tweaks they are up and running.

New Arrivals

admin — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:00:27 +0000

It’s been a busy day for the postman as we’ve taken delivery of some of the hardware for the installation including a 17inch touch sensitive Wacom screen which will form the basis of the kiosk for the interactive.

We’ve also got some new members on the team of the aquatic variety. The as yet unamed fish settled into their new home very quickly and have been gladly performing for us in front of the camera.

Locking down the idea

admin — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:10:39 +0000

Eventually, we manage to wrestle an idea to the ground, and work up a solid proposal document that details exactly what it is we are planning to do.

Mark and Tim lock themselves in a room for a day and work out the essence of the project, its aims & intentions, and how we propose to fulfill them.

http://www.vimeo.com/1231061

Visualization Sketches

admin — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:30:13 +0000

Having short listed our ideas down to about 4, we decide to start working them up, investigating how they might work visually, before making a final decision on which idea to go with.

We start with a whole lot of research and some mood board material, stuck on the wall

Which we then discuss with the whole team to make sure we are all on the same page with the look & feel of the thing

The ideas that made it this far are roughly:

“Graffiti Wall”
Primarily about message leaving & mark making…

“Brain Game”
Based on Brain Training games, but with the intention of assessing the mood of the event

“Sparkler”
Purely about celebrating the gesture of drawing & mark making

And finally “Drawscape”
Focusing on the act of drawing or writing, adding to a landscape, a sense of wonder

In the end, we decide that perhaps “Graffiti Wall” and “Drawscape” can be shaped into a single strong idea, without dilution.