Interactive video installation

CARL B

Firstly I'm new to BASIC STAMP... got to start somewhere and hoped someone would advise me so I get the best start.

I'm embarking on an interactive installation project. I want to create an environment with projected looped video imagery (very short loop just to create a sense of slight movement- say 3 secs?) As a participant moves closer to the image, it will become 'in-focus' and visaversa... So·the amount of focus will depend·on the distance of the participants from the projected image.

Could anyone share their·experience·of achieving this kind of interaction? I'm thinking of using an ultrasonic sensor and·Basic Stamp but am not sure if this is the best approach. What about MIDI. Can I use Macromedia Director along with Stamp? (Sorry if that is a stupid question).

Please bear with me and feel free to over-explain everything... my knowledge is low at this point but I'm a quick learner

THANKS

Kevin Wood

How are you going to play the video? How do you plan on blurring it?

If I understand correctly, you will have a short piece of video playing on a computer, and the BS2 will be interfaced with the computer program running the video. The BS2 will have a sensor attached, that as a user varies their distance from the sensor, the video will go in and out of focus.

This sounds like a cool project. There are several sensors that you could use, you just need something that will vary the output based on some factor that can be adjusted by the user. You could even use pushbutton switches to simulate a focus adjustment back & forth.

A true focus algorithm is different from blurring, since it includes the factor of depth of field, which is a function of the aperature size of a lense, and the distance of an object from the lense. So the effect is that the amount of blur varies with distance. If you use a simple blur, you can simulate focus.

So in choosing a method of blurring, you'll have to program your application to create either a)a true focus effect, or b)a simulated focus effect.

Here's an article on producing filter effects in Director using Lingo:

www.adobe.com/devnet/director/articles/imaging_lingo_print.html

If you use Director, you can probably create the effects in Javascript syntax, but you'll need to research that one out.

You might also want to take a look at a book titled Physical Computing: Sensing and Controlling the Physical World with Computers. It deals a lot with integrating computers with microcontrollers, and includes info on both Basic Stamps and Director.

k_man

You used the word projected.

If I guess you are going to use a proector this would make life easy.

Use and ultrasonic sensor to detect participants distance from the screen.
Based on that, control a stepper motor connected to the focusing wheel of the pj lens.

This is something I could do with my limited knowledge [noparse]:)[/noparse]