For the thesis work “Verschwinden” – an installation with a responsive projection – by Cristina Nyffeler, a colleague of mine from university, I developed a custom-made motion tracking system.
The basic task was fairly simple: a webcam mounted to the ceiling of the installation should track persons who approached the video projection, then the amount of white colour in the video image should be adjusted depending on the proximity of the closest person to the screen. Someone reaching the screen would make the video image all white.
Among the hardest issues to handle for tracking systems are changing light situations as well as an unknown number of people to be tracked.
I used the visual programming environment Max/MSP/Jitter – and the object jit.features – to develop a fine working system within the scarce amount of time. The presentation worked out fine and clutter free.
Project tasks
- Technical concept
- Programming using Max/MSP/Jitter
- Fine tuning of the lights and webcam settings