How computer vision is changing everything An irregular round-up of inspirations and disruptions in art, advertising, social media, urban play and human computer interaction. The camera is fast becoming the the most important and powerful sensors we have, with face detection, image recognition and motion detection driving creativity in new directions and rapidly changing the world around us. From , to and , to and , , , and , we’re only just getting started. driving robots on mars shopping war dance art interaction design immersive realities machine learning surveillance This is by no means a comprehensive breakdown of all the cool stuff that’s happening in computer vision, but here’s some of the cooler stuff that’s been happening to hopefully get you inspired: The Computer Vision innovators: The computer vision was, interestingly enough, also one of the first interactive artworks. Developed between 1969 and 1975, ’s legendary Videoplace, was motivated by his belief that the entire human body ought to have a role in our interactions with computers. Way way before it’s time, Videoplace is still beautifully simple and engaging: Myron Krueger Another seminal moment in computer vision was social experiment at SIGGRAPH in 1991. Carpenter, who is now co-founder and chief scientist of Pixar Animation Studios, distributed paddles to members of a theatre audience. Red on one side, green on the other. What happens next is amazing… (haha, yea this is very Buzfeedy)… Loren Carpenter’s We also owe a great deal to the recent explosion of computer vision to the work of computer artist . I’m a big fan of his especially for his and as part of digital activists/pranksters . Kyle McDonald intervention/hack of Apple Store computers F.A.T Lab McDonald pioneered face tracking that form the cornerstone of much of the software we see today. Paving the way for accessible face tracking, and those silly face swapping apps . by compiling a bunch of highly technical research papers into a set of open-source libraries puppeteering have become all the rage Face swapping, silly and fun. Face swapping can also be done in browser these days (though a little temperamental). Give it a go here: http://auduno.github.io/clmtrackr/examples/facesubstitution.html Another great and simple project from McDonald and Golan Levin is the Augmented Hand series. Best explained by a 7-year old galley visitor: “It’s a box. You put your hand in it. You see your hand with an extra finger.” http://www.flong.com/projects/augmented-hand-series/ And from now on, don’t believe what you see, real-time augmented facial reenactment is a thing: Microsoft and awesome Seeing AI helps a blind person navigate life, and gives us another glimpse into just how much of a profound effect computer vision will have on our lives: Pivothead’s http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2016/03/30/watch-microsofts-seeing-ai-help-blind-person-navigate-life/ Face Mapping: One of the more exciting emerging creative fields in computer vision is real-time face tracking and projection mapping. Nobumichi Asai, Creative and Technical Director at takes projection mapping to the next level… WOW Inc. Japan Here’s how it works: Also worth checking out is Olga Bell’s Chase No Face by , , Andy Wallace, and Zach Lieberman Francisco Zamorano Michelle Calabro. _Face painting is a simple pleasure most of us gave up when we turned 7 - unless we ran off to join the circus. But…_www.fastcodesign.com In New Video, Olga Bell's Face Controls A Sparkling Video Projection The making of Chase No Face Micro-movements: A relatively new and extremely exciting and futuristic field in computer vision, micro-movements, is going to significantly change how we see and hear things. , is the magnification of motion, which enables you to see changes not visible to the human eye and (wait for it… ) use vision to magically extract sound in video from objects… Eulerian Video Magnification because this is the most crazy and sci-fi thing you’ve seen in a long time Watch the brilliant Michael Rubinstein’s TED talk: And you ca try this out for yourself with your own video: https://lambda.qrilab.com/site/geko/ https://github.com/corbanbrook/heartrate Augmented Reality (AR): I was in two mind as to whether to put this section in. But though it’s one of the more mainstream Computer Vision innovations, we haven’t even begin to comprehend how AR is going to completely reshape our world. Sometimes called , showing us hidden things and suggesting new ideas. It’s not just gaming, toys, , , that will be affected — almost every industry will be come to rely on this technology in the very near future, with use cases we’ve yet to comprehend. So hard not to give it a mention, though beyond the and hysteria it’s been hard to find some really cool stuff ( ). Augmented Innovation repair and maintenance shopping advertising Hololens Magic Leap let me know in the comments please that I’m totally wrong Body disassociation seems to be a major theme that’s been developing in the AR/VR arts space: I’ve always loved ’s Floating Eye, that has a camera floating above you. Participants are presented with only a image taken from the air. They can’t see the world around them directly. separating vision from the body Hiroo Iwata wide-angle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In-M1eVAnYc&ab_channel=ikinamo Similar is Singaporean Artist ’s The Overview, where wearing video goggles you navigate a maze from a CCTV viewpoint above you: Eugene Soh http://blog.dude.sg/eugenes-2-important-museum-exhibitions-of-2014/ An oldie but a goodie, Hand From Above, that’s influenced so many other AR-type experiences: Chris O’Shea’s And Kyle McDonald’s Highsight is pretty fun: No Ad is an AR app that allows you to see art where there once was advertising: http://www.digitaltrends.com/photography/turn-subway-billboards-art-ad-blocking-augmented-reality-app/ A similar project is The Advertiser, which I like more for it being a physical object: https://vimeo.com/9291451#at=50 Computer vision in art and beyond (aka other cool stuff): Shadow Monsters: Phillip Worthington’s fun and super engaging Shadow Monsters is essentially a digital version of a traditional shadow-puppet theatre, which turns your hand-shapes and body parts into monster-like shadows. Would you report the jaywalker? Media artist monitors live webcam footage of intersections in different countries and checks for jaywalkers, giving you then the choice whether to snitch on them or not: Dries Depoorter’s Jaywalking http://www.wired.com/2016/03/turning-live-surveillance-feeds-unsettling-works-art/ Rain Room uses computer vision at 3D cameras in the super cool to make it rain everywhere except where you are: Random International Rain Room Box: Box a collaboration between and the brilliant it a beautiful piece of worth that explores projection mapping on moving objects. Bot & Dolly GMunk Sniff: Sniff is a storefront projected sentient 3D dog that reacts to passersby: http://www.gravitytrap.com/artwork/sniff http://www.creativeapplications.net/openframeworks/sniff-openframeworks/ Forms: Forms is a beautiful project by the brilliant and is a study of human motion to sculpt abstract forms: Memo Atken Quayola Here’s a video that show how the footage has been processed: Googlefaces: Googlefaces is a project that uses face detection to autonomously searches for faces on Google maps: http://www.onformative.com/lab/googlefaces/ AM: Another body awareness project, ’s beautiful AM installation projects onto yourself in front of a mirror: Ali Phi Dance And Performance: Another field that’s rapidly embracing computer vision, and there’s a lot of stuff out there. So I’d though I’d stick to the classics if you haven’t seen: The first project I ever tell people about when talking computer vision, because it had such a profound effect on me is Messa di Voce by , , , and done is 2003(!!!): Golan Levin Zachary Lieberman Jaap Blonk Joan La Barbara & Ars Electronica Futurelab’s Apparition is another brilliant classic: Klaus Obermaier And I suppose I need to mention Microsoft Kinect at some time. So here’sa bit of fun with ’s Kinetic dance routine, for the Perfume Global project: Amnon Owed Music controllers: The V Motion Project is a machine that turns motion into music: Here’s a breakdown of how it was done: http://www.custom-logic.com/blog/v-motion-project-the-instrument/ Another simple music controller I’ve always loved is this simple alternative music controller from back in 2009 by at Berklee College of Music in 2007: Taemin Cho Well that’s it. Hope you enjoyed this edition of and was inspired to go play. The Computers Can See Me Btw. not sure what to call this series. Was going to call it Untitled Document. But now not so sure. Hit me up in the comments if you have a suggestion. _Read writing from George Gally on Medium. Media artist, tinkerer, dreamer. Motion reaction, sound visualization…_medium.com George Gally - Medium Follow me on Instagram here: Follow me on Twitter here: And like my Facebook Page here: https://www.instagram.com/radarboy3000/ https://twitter.com/radarboy_japan https://www.facebook.com/radarboy3000
