I tried different ways to realized the effect of pixelating the shape of people. Here are my trials:

WITH MAX PATCHES:

Evaluation:
MAX does a good job in creating a meshed/pixelated effect. However, the images created is quite flat with the webcam. After talking to technicians, I realize that I need to use Kinect for a 2-D or 3-D oriented effect. The Kinect sensor has three cameras, the monal one, the Infrared camera and the depth camera. It’s the depth camera that I need to use. After talking to my tutor Nicolas, he mentioned that Kinect doesn’t work with MAX. It’s a shame, I need to find something else for it.

RESEARCH ON PROCESSING AND TOUCH DESIGNER

Point cloud

TRY WITH TOUCH DESIGNER

After a bit research, it seems to me both are very good choices. Processing workes directly with Kinect with an open scource library however requires good understanding of codes and make them do what I want. Touch designer allow easy manipulation of streaming imaegs however doesn’t support Kinect under Mac system. I enventually decides to go with Processing, which means I need to boost my processing skills with a limited of time.

TRIAL 1 WITH PROCESSING
I first tried with the point cloud tutorial by Daniel Shiffman. Here’s what I got.

Rivision

Evaluation
The effect looks cool but I’m not sure about the spinning effect. The idea is to have people move through the space and make them more aware of their motion and imapct in there. So How do I make people aware of their movement becomes the key. If I were to visualize their shape, how do I design the affordance of the installation or a ritual to trigger a bahavior? I thought about using color as a indication of their depth in the space.

TRIAL 2 WITH PROCESSING AND KINECT SENSOR

Evaluation
The project is still a bit far from final completion but I think it’s getting closer to what I intended. I still need to consider the user flow when people engage with the installation and also consider it in an exahibition setting.