Lucid Dreaming Interactive Pods presented at
HP Coachella tent by ARTECHOUSE
Art Direction & Design & Production by ARTECHOUSE
Interactive projections developed by Simon Alexander-Adams
Under the direction of ARTECHOUSE I developed three interactive projection systems in TouchDesigner for HP and Intel’s Lucid Dreaming photo op at Coachella 2019. The system used a single top-down Kinect 2 sensor to track hand positions in front of three adjacent projection screens. The screens were translucent, allowing the participants to be photographed from the outside in full immersion. Each of the three systems are detailed below.
Ribbons:
The “ribbons” system allows festivalgoers to interact with columns of vertical ribbons, using a spring simulation letting them ripple and snap back into place. It employs a simple interaction where the motion of the hands directly influences the motion in the ribbons.
Video courtesy of Brian Nguyen
“Ribbons” system with mouse interaction.
Voronoi Particles:
This system uses a slowly shifting Voronoi Diagram that is used to shape the form of a particle system. There are two types of interactions: one allows people to slice through the particles, pushing them out of the way and breaking the pattern. The other a subtle vibration that emanates from the hand positions when they have been still for a period of time.
Video courtesy of ARTECHOUSE
“Voronoi Particles” system with mouse interaction.
Lava Lamp:
This system situate’s the viewer inside a virtual lava lamp. Blobs bounce of off the edges of each wall simulating the glass container of the lamp. When one’s hands are still, blobs gravitate into swirling pools of lava, while movement repels the blobs, sending them ricocheting throughout the chamber.
Video courtesy of ARTECHOUSE
“Lava Lamp” system with mouse interaction.
Press:
Another component of the lounge, “Lucid Dreaming,” had guests go into a fabric-lined room with a responsive graphic (either water, a colorful effect called “drippings” or lava) and get a 10 second video of themselves taken. The graphic would move and swirl as they moved their hands. After getting their video taken, guests of the lounge could then have it emailed to themselves. “It was awesome, said Julie Yung, 35, of New York. “I thought it was great, but it could have been longer.”
“The Lucid Dreaming experience, in collaboration with ARTECHOUSE, was an immersive projection room where festivalgoers, after choosing one of three visual patterns, manipulated fluid, image projections with their body movements that were captured by a sensor above. The resulting art piece was a Boomerang, emailed to attendees .”
“HP's festival activation included a colorful, psychedelic lounge and patio that emphasized interactivity. [This] included the "Lucid Dreaming" photo experience, which allowed attendees to manipulate images by moving their bodies. “