Syllabus

• Spring 2017, Mondays, 12:10-3:05PM in Room 50
• Mimi Yin, mimi.yin@nyu.edu
• Office Hours #

Course Structure | See introductory description below.

Assignments

Resources

• Class Google Group. I will be adding you after the first class.
• Class Google Drive Folder. Resources from class, assignments.
• There is a workbook that goes along with this class. I will be sharing it with you via the Google Group.
• All code examples will be pushed to this github repo.
• Most code examples will also be available in the p5 web editor.

Tools

• p5.js | Reference | Web Editor
• Atom Editor
• Processing | Reference

Additional Resources

• The Viewpoints Book | PDF
• Dynamic Alignment Through Imagery | Google Books
• Elements of Design | PDF
• The Nature of Code Book

Week 1: What is interaction?

• From control to conversation to coincidence, what is the full spectrum of interaction?
• The dramaturgy of numbers. Expressing emotion through computation.

Weeks 2-4: Following Pathways of Motion

• Understanding pathways emotionally + computationally.

• 100 ways to interact with a path.

• Drawing with body parts.

• Computational techniques for expressive drawing.

• Drawing with sound.

• Hello Kinect skeleton!

• Studies:

  • Define a pathway with a rope. Interact with it in 10 different ways.
  • Define a pathway computationally to direct movement.
  • Draw with 3 different "computational" brushes.
  • Draw with 3 different body parts.

Weeks 5-7: Reinventing The Human Form with Shapes and Textures

• Off-kilter and out of proportion: Abstracting the human form into lines and shapes. References in modern painting and sculpture.

• Filled with sand: Distorting the human form.

• Human Tetris

• Hello CV blobs and contours!

• Hello CV face detection!

• Hello Kinect depth map!

• Hello Perception Neuron!

• Studies

  • Create 3 abstractions of the human form that play with our sense of balance.
  • Create 3 distortions of the human form that change the texture of our movement.
  • Build tunnels and doorways that force us to change our shape.
  • Create a human tetris world.

Weeks 8-9: Traversing Landscapes

• Creating "architecture" to direct movement. Crowd-control, directing traffic, herding cats.

• The dramaturgy of ratios. Expressing emotion through divisions of space.

• The dramaturgy of shapes. Expressing emotion through geometry.

• The dramaturgy of terrains. Expressing emotion through grids and meshes.

• 100 ways to interact with space and terrains.

• 100 ways to define space and terrains through movement.

• Studies

  • Direct movement by dividing space or defining space through geometry.
  • Direct movement by creating a terrain.
  • Use movement to define space and terrains.

Weeks 10-11: Project Development

Showing: Week 12

Course Description

A re-working of Choreographic Interventions (Spring 2016), this class is intended for anyone interested in using sensing technologies and movement to create interactive experiences.

We are surrounded by interfaces where swipes and taps control elements on a screen. Less familiar are systems designed to compel us to move in new and unexpected ways. How do you make someone feel soft inside? How do you shake an entire room? How do you orchestrate duets between strangers?

Every class, we will move in order to push the boundaries of how you think you're capable of moving while experimenting with computational methods for building interactions that excite our curiosity, engage our whole body and provide an outlet for expression through movement.

We will evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the various motion-tracking technologies, from "traditional computer vision" (blobs, contours, faces) to "new CV" (Kinect skeletons and 3D depth maps) to motion capture suits. What is the gap between what we can see and feel in our bodies as we move (strength, softness, contortion) and what a computer can sense and interpret (locations, contours, skeletons, velocity, acceleration)?

Pre-requisites: Introduction to Computational Media or its equivalent.

The course is organized around 3 ways of understanding motion:

1. Pathways
2. Form
3. Space

Assignments will consist of a series small studies exploring each topic. Some we will work on together in class. Others you will complete as homework assignments. The class will culminate in a final project and showing.

Because course topics are organized around parameters of movement, technical topics will be introduced and built upon week to week.

• What do cameras see? RGB v. IR
• Kinect Skeletons
• "Traditional" CV: Blob, Contours and Faces
• Kinect Depth Maps
• Perception Neuron: Gravity-based motion capture suits

"Soft Skills" we will practice:

• Moving
• Sketching movement ideas.
• Defining rule sets for movement.
• Deconstructing movement into parameters for code.
• Extracting movement ideas from code.
• Designing "conversational" interactions in code.

Grading

• 40% for showing up (on time!) and participating with curiosity and enthusiasm.
• 40% for topic studies.
• 20% for the final project.
• More than 2 unexcused absences qualifies you for a failure.

Class Dates

1. January 23
2. January 30
3. February 6
4. February 13
5. February 27
6. March 6
7. March 20
8. March 27
9. April 3
10. April 10
11. April 17
12. April 24