Digital Arts : Interactive Media

http://weavesilk.com/

Video games are important. They are a storytelling medium, a place for self-expression, a sandbox for the human imagination, and an extension of an ages old tradition of gaming. We play out some of the most essential aspects of our culture in games, and we learn more about ourselves and the world around us in the process. From the powerful cinematic experiences of mainstream gaming, to the hyper-personal environments of indie games, we are in the midst of an explosion of gaming activity that, as some predict, will continue to define the way we live and interact with information, and each other, far into the future.
Featuring:
Eric Zimmerman, Game Designer
Jesper Juul, Game Studies Scholar
Leigh Alexander, Game Journalist
Syed Salahuddin, Game Designer and Curator

http://gamecareerguide.com/features/847/game_industry_career_guide_growth_.php

http://www.cengagesites.com/academic/assets/sites/4098/StateOfGaming_Summer2010.pdf

books:
http://cengagesites.com/academic/?site=4098&SecID=1034

http://machin-x.blogspot.com/2012/02/real-time-motion-capture-in-blender-at.html

See more about NI MATE
http://www.ni-mate.com/

NI Mate is software that imports Kinect motion capture data in real-time into 3D apps and they've announced that Blender is the first application that they're supporting. ... It should be really interesting to see what people start doing with this new capability in Blender.

NI Mate is now available in open beta for both Windows and Mac OS X (Linux support is coming soon). You can register to participate in the beta and download all of the necessary software at www.ni-mate.com.

Interactive Game Pitch / DUE FEB 16
Please create an Interactive Game Pitch to present to the class on
Thursday Feb 16. We will meet at 2pm in Library 118 classroom for the pitches.
Each student will have 15 minutes max (less if possible) to touch on
these points. Use this outline for your pitch and support your talk with plenty of
visual examples! You may present off your blog, or keynote/ powerpoint, or a PDF
document that includes at least 21 slides:
see Interactive Game Pitch / Point List

GameMaker for Mac

Design your very own games using easy-to-learn drag-and-drop actions - you can create professional-quality games within very little time. You can make games with backgrounds, animated graphics, music and sound effects. And when you've become more experienced, there is an easy built-in programming GameMaker Language (GML), which gives you the full flexibility of creating games with GameMaker.
http://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker/mac

How do people pitch Game Ideas ?
see below

How to Write A Video Game Concept Statement By Lindsay Grace
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lindsay_Grace

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1059522
http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Write-A-Video-Game-Concept-Statement&id=1059522

A game concept statement, or premise, is a short, direct description of the situation of a game. It describes the player's goal, the opposition to that goal, and the means through which that goal will be accomplished. When dealing solely with the narrative portion of the script, the game concept statement reads like a screenplay pitch. Realistically, game play is described because it effects some elements of the storytelling. A short example might read as follows:

The goal of this writing is to give the reader a sense for the game. It should answer these basic questions:
What is the goal of the game?
How is the goal of the game accomplished?
What are the challenges to the game?
Where does the game take place?

http://hand-drawn-animation.blogspot.com/

http://www.animationblog.org/

http://www.theanimationblog.com/

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/

http://www.animationarchive.org/

http://www.awn.com/

and more:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-animation-blogs-web-inform-teach-inspire/

http://www.pencil-animation.org/

Also see:
http://www.synfig.org/cms/
Synfig Studio is a free and open-source 2D animation software, designed as powerful industrial-strength solution for creating film-quality animation using a vector and bitmap artwork. It eliminates the need to create animation frame-by frame, allowing you to produce 2D animation of a higher quality with fewer people and resources. Synfig Studio is available for Windows, Linux and MacOS X.

Books + tutorials:
http://www.desktopacademy.com/store/

http://www.reallusion.com/iclone/iclone_whatsnew_v51.aspx

Project for Programming Usable Interfaces Prototyping Lab at the Carnegie Mellon Human-Computer Interaction Institute.

Also see: Comic Kinect: for all those who wish life was a comic book
http://youtu.be/9QQW_sPzNNM
A Kinect hack project for Interactive Art and Computational Design at Carnegie Mellon University.
http://golancourses.net/2011spring/projects/project-3-interaction/

Transform yourself to Ultra Seven by Kinect

http://youtu.be/Uuq9SCL_LXY
The code of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUG-Uvq-J-w is now available for download at http://code.google.com/p/kinect-ultra/ .

http://youtu.be/cVCghLfdzsY

http://www.giusepperagazzini.com
"INTERACTIVE COLLAGE MACHINE", an interactive collage controlled by kinect in real time. music: Boh blues (outro) by Diego Perugini

The video was made using kinect and quartz composer programming with the amazing "Tryplex toolkit" by onesecond. Many thanks to the fantastic help of Sebastian Kox of oneseconds, Developer/interaction designer of the QC toolkit.
onesecond.com
code.google.com/p/tryplex/

another tutorial about Youtube Annotations:
http://youtu.be/O46Lfz4ekH0

More about potential uses for annotations:
http://scottmeis.com/tag/annotations/

http://captainfutureelearning.blogspot.com/2011/06/using-annotations-tool-for-interactive.html

Here are some tips for using your built in QuickTime Player to record movies, audio or your desktop screen... You might use this as a tool to create presentations or tutorials for how to use software. Or what if we used QuickTime Player to create portions of a digital story? For discussion!
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4024

Free software works on SnowLeopard, Improved on LION

Screen Recording w/ Audio on Mac OSX Lion - FREE
http://youtu.be/gRoXcsJezuU

Please watch this entire documentary film online:
RiP! A Remix Manifesto (it's about 86 minutes)
http://films.nfb.ca/rip-a-remix-manifesto/

Directed by Web activist and filmmaker Brett Gaylor, RiP explores issues of copyright in the information age, mashing up the media landscape of the 20th century and shattering the wall between users and producers.
http://ripremix.com/

Take notes on what you find most revealing or surprising about the contemporary practice of remix artists. How does the video relate to recent internet blackout/protest and SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) legislation?

Prepare your comments (about 150 words) and have them ready to post to the blog

Post-Apocalyptic Cover Illustration | Timelapse from DEISIGN on Vimeo.

PROJECT #1:
Invent an interactive art game that can be initiated via a FACEBOOK EVENT
Your game should include:
1- Game Name
2- Welcome / Intro to entice players
3- RULES
4- Step by Step / how to play
5- digital tools needed to play
6- target audience
7 - timeline (length of game)
8 - Anticipated results (by playing this game, what will be generated?)

http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html
Games like World of Warcraft give players the means to save worlds, and incentive to learn the habits of heroes. What if we could harness this gamer power to solve real-world problems? Jane McGonigal says we can, and explains how.
http://www.ted.com/speakers/jane_mcgonigal.html
McGonigal directs game R&D at the Institute for the Future, a nonprofit forecasting firm where she developed Superstruct, a massively multiplayer game in which players organize society to solve for issues that will confront the world in 2019. She masterminded World Without Oil, which simulated the beginning of a global oil crisis and inspired players to change their daily energy habits. McGonigal also works with global companies to develop games that build on our collective-intelligence infrastructure -- like The Lost Ring, a mystery game for McDonald's that became the world's biggest alternate reality game, played by more than 5 million people. (Not to mention the delightful Top Secret Dance-Off, which taps that space in our brains where embarrasment and joy mingle.) Book:: Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Happy and How They Can Change the World.

ALSO SEE:
http://www.ted.com/talks/brenda_laurel_on_making_games_for_girls.html

Blog Assignment:
Please Watch this PBS FRONTLINE show Online
Digital Nation
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/

Watch the entire 90 minute show in segments online.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/view/
Make notes and write a short reflection on what you found most interesting or surprising about the show. (about 150 words)
Save your comments and Post to YOUR OWN BLOG.

Ann
http://timekillsallgods.tumblr.com/

Becky
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/hame0182/art_3018/

Hannah
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/bockb007/interactivemblog/

McIsiah
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/kend0089/gameventure/

The term avatar was first popularized as a concept in cyber culture and science fiction through books like Neal Stephenson's 1992 classic, Snow Crash.

Stephenson uses the word "avatar" in his novel: "The people are pieces of software called avatars. They are the audiovisual bodies that people use to communicate with each other in the Metaverse (the virtual reality internet)."

Virtual worlds, avatar experiences and communication tools are becoming more prevalent in digital culture. Here are some recent books that discuss the contemporary use of avatars:

I, Avatar: The Culture and Consequences of Having a Second Life (New Riders) (Paperback) Mark Stephen Meadows (Author)
Publisher: New Riders Press; 1 edition (January 6, 2008)
From the Book Description:
What is an avatar? Why are there nearly a billion of them, and who is using them? Do avatars impact our real lives, or are they just video game conceits? Is an avatar an inspired rendering of its creator's inner self, or is it just one among millions of anonymous vehicles clogging the online freeways? Can we use our avatars to really connect with people, or do they just isolate us? And as we become more like our avatars do they become more like us?

Alter Ego: Avatars and their Creators ~ Robbie Cooper (Author) Publisher: Chris Boot (May 1, 2007)
From the Book Description: ...presenting the phenomenon of the contemporary avatar-the virtual characters gamers choose and design to engage in 3D worlds online. Portraits of gamers from the United States, Europe, China, and Japan (including leading figures of the gaming world) are paired with digital images of their alter egos, graphically dramatizing the gap between fantasy and reality.

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2007/06/15/magazine/20070617_AVATAR_SLIDESHOW_1.html

Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft® Reader
-by Hilde G. Corneliussen and Jill Walker Rettberg
Publisher: The MIT Press (May 31, 2008)
From the Book Description: World of Warcraft is the world's most popular massively multiplayer online game (MMOG), with (as of January 2008) more than ten million active subscribers across Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia who play the game an astonishing average of twenty hours a week. This book examines the complexity of World of Warcraft from a variety of perspectives, exploring the cultural and social implications of the proliferation of ever more complex digital gameworlds.

More info + Links on Digital Art Blog:
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/jrock2/rockblog/cat_avatars_virtual_worlds.html

Xtranormal
allows you to make a movie with a library of characters and sets...
http://www.xtranormal.com/

Interactive Question
by: JoDigart

Mixed Feelings
by: JoDigart

http://akamediasystem.com/2010/06/syncwalk/
via GPS Museum / Project by Noah Feehan
‎1) A Syncwalk is a walk with an extra twist: as you travel, you are accompanied by a seamless mix of songs that relate to where you are at that moment. (Who made the mix of songs? You did! Or your friend, or an artist you like, and so forth...)
2) A Syncwalk is a collection of songs with a geographical area defined for each song (or group of songs). They're transferrable and saveable, so you can share your compositions with everyone!

http://www.jennymarketou.com/index.html

Aurora Organ is a contemporary meditation on the possibilities of translating human presence into light using digital technology. The site-specific and interactive sculpture is installed in the atrium of the Showplace Theaters, St. Louis Park, Minnesota.
http://camilleutterback.com/projects/aurora-organ/

Camille Utterback is an internationally acclaimed artist whose interactive installations and reactive sculptures engage participants in a dynamic process of kinesthetic discovery and play. Utterback's work explores the aesthetic and experiential possibilities of linking computational systems to human movement and gesture in layered and often humorous ways. Her work focuses attention on the continued relevance and richness of the body in our increasingly mediated world. Bio and more info on the artist's website:
http://camilleutterback.com/

Ars Electronica Futurelab focuses on the future at the nexus of art, technology and society. We consider our works as sketches of possible future scenarios in art-based, experimental forms. In this way, we are aiming at developing contributions through methods and strategies of applied science, the results of which reveal new knowledge and experiences of societal relevance in art and science. The lab's team bases its work commitment upon transdisciplinary research and work which results in a variety of different disciplines at the lab. Our range of services concentrates on expertise developed throughout the years in fields such as media art, architecture, design, interactive exhibitions, virtual reality and real-time graphics.