Tag Archives: live performace
Dynamically Controlling MSG Based DualMode Paint Presets with the Mouse
DualMode Paint presets built with a Warp DualOp can easily be interactively adjusted while they are auto-painting by moving the mouse in the main canvas. It’s also possible to build interactive DualMode Paint presets that use a MSG DualOp with a little bit of additional programming work. This post will discuss what you need to do to make a MSG based DualMode Paint preset interactively modulate while it auto-paints based on mouse or pen movement in the main canvas.
Live Video Capture Warping
Interactive warp operation mode lets you dynamically generate a wide variety of different warp effects in real time based on your mouse movement in the Studio Artist canvas. Although there are not currently warp presets, you can save individual warp operations in a PASeq if you want to save them for later use as pre-built warp effects. The settings for the last warp operation you generated are also saved internally after you finish the warp. So if you initially do a manual warp, then start loop action while still in warp operation mode, the last warp effect you generated will be run in loop action. This enables you to do live warp processing of live video frame captures using an iSight or web cam while running loop action.
Working with PASeq Loop Action Preference Options for Canvas Display Updates
Most paint action sequences (PASeq) are composed of multiple action steps that work together to build a final finished effect. When initially building a PASeq, the ability to watch each individual action step update in real time as it plays back is useful feedback. But if you are using the PASeq to process live video feeds while running in loop action, or you want to visualize the finished effect processing a source movie (using loop action or Animate), then you really only want to see the canvas display update at the conclusion of a complete PASeq processing cycle (as opposed to real time updates as each action step is running). Fortunately, Studio Artist give you the ability to specify a Loop Action Canvas Update option for PASeq preference settings. This PASeq preference option lets you choose which kind of canvas display updating you want when a PASeq plays back in loop action or Animate processing.
Live Video Synthesis via Recursive Feedback Processing
Yesterday we talked about how to configure Studio Artist 4 to work with live video processing. Today we’ll discuss another kind of live video performance feature, but one oriented at synthesizing abstract visual imagery via recursive feedback processing in real time. The image above is a frame capture of a dynamic textural image generated in real time by recursively processing the canvas with a MSG preset running in loop action. The difference between this style of video synthesis and the live video processing we discussed yesterday is that the loop action effect is repeatably re-processing the last video output frame image as opposed to processing a live video input capture like in yesterday’s example.
Working with Live Video Processing
The frame capture above was taken from a movie stream generated by using a MSG preset to process live video in Studio Artist. While we often focus on static image or movie processing visual effects that are generated out of real time, there are many interesting live visual performance features available in Studio Artist 4. Including the ability to process a live video stream in real time. How many frames per second you will be able to process live is a function of the computational complexity of the particular effect you are running. But you also have the ability to work with live processing at a slower frame rate than your desired final frame rate while recording a live visual performance to a quicktime movie file, that then plays back the results at the faster frame rate you want for your final finished result.
Working with Multiple Live Pen Tracking Points
The screen shot above shows an example of 3 different instances of a movie brush playing back in real time in the Studio Artist canvas. I’m using the movie brush paint preset we built yesterday, with one slight editing modification that will be described below. The edit allows me to interactively define and move around multiple live drawing pen tracking positions in realtime, in this example allowing for 3 different live movie brushes to be playing simultaneously in the canvas.
Painting with a Live Running Movie using Pen Tracking
See the full gallery on Posterous The 2 canvas images shown above were generated by painting with a movie brush. The second example was using manual painting that cycles through the individual frames in the movie source brush, placing them one by one along a manually paint path as you move the pen on the canvas. The first example was generated by running an auto-paint preset that allows you to use a hovering Wacom pen positioning to determine the position of the movie as it plays live. So you can position a live playing movie paint nib (or other kind of paint effect) that paints continuously in a static canvas location you have control over specifying. In a later post we’ll discuss how to extend this idea to multiple paint start locations that continuously spew paint that can be interactively positioned using a hovering Wacom pen.
