Here are some experiments in VR that I made after watching the Doctor Strange movie.
Visuals created using Unity, sounds created using Ableton Live.
Here are some experiments in VR that I made after watching the Doctor Strange movie.
Visuals created using Unity, sounds created using Ableton Live.
What if you could make things appear in front of you with the power of your voice?
Skyfall
I had an idea of making a virtual reality (VR) demo where you can say things and make them fall from the sky.
For the initial demo, the only objects that you can magically summon are:
The “car” command randomly picks between one of 2 cars.
You can also say the word “clear” to remove all the objects from the scene.
Additionally, you can also move around the 3D space using an XBox controller or keyboard and mouse.
All this works within the Oculus Rift DK2.
To take this project further I can:
Problem
One of the roadblocks I hit early on was that Unity 5.3.2 does not support the .NET speech recognition DLL’s since it is using Mono.
Solution
In order to get around this, I created 2 applications and used a TCP port for them to communicate with each other.
Components
1) Server: C# .NET application
The voice recognition is being done using System.Speech.Recognition.
A GrammarBuilder object is created with the following words.
private string[] VALID_COMMANDS = {“clear”, “cube”, “car”, “house”, “deadpool”, “star destroyer” };
Once a word is recognised, a message is sent to a specified port via TCP.
2) Client: Unity application
On the client side, there is a TCP listener running on a thread that listens for TCP messages.
If a word is received (e.g. cube) the model named “Cube” is then cloned and added to the scene in front of and above where the user is looking.
First person controls and VR support was also added to make the experience more immersive.
I was trying out Adobe Edge Animate the other night, and wanted to get a simple walk cycle animation happening.
Eventually I decided it was too hard to get something something simple going, and that it wasn’t scalable. I could get 1 sonic animating, but what if I wanted 100?
So, I decided to do it with with JavaScript instead. After a quick google, and some minor modifications to the code, I created this.
http://benxtan.com/test/sonic/
Features:
(WIP = work in progress)
Copy of Elephantmen #6 cover (WIP) – Heres the reference http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=594821&gsub=73013
Heres something really quick I made at a Flashback 2011 (http://www.defame.com.au/flashback.php)
Pretty much learnt it there and then thanks to help from the Internet, and Mr. Johnny Jim Jams.
Managed to get first place in the wild compo with KMIDIC (http://pmidic.com) too!
http://www.defame.com.au/voting/
Instead of making a stop motion video of my giant Lego man (you can see him in the video below) like I was planning to do, I ended up playing with Processing again. Basically I didn’t really have the right space to setup my stop motion, and I really needed to have a green screen to do what I wanted to do. But its all good, no time wasted as I was very productive anyway!
Firstly, heres the video of my creation today:
Now an explanation…
In summary, I am waving my hand around in the air like an idiot and it is controlling the music coming from my computer. The hardware and software components that are at play here are Microsoft Kinect -> Processing -> Ableton Live and Novation Launchpad. I had a chat to my friend DJ Gustavo Bravetti and he had some good tips for me on how to setup Ableton clips to make the transitions smoother and sound more musical. When I have time, I’ll set up a whole song and give a better performance!
A bit more detail…
Basically, the Kinect is sending the location of my hand to Processing which is in turn sending MIDI note on messages to both Ableton Live and the Novation Launchpad. In this version, I have separated the grid into 4 quadrants, each on playing a different MIDI note that is going into 2 channels in live. The first channel has an arpeggiator triggering an Impulse drum kit, and the second channel has an arpeggiated synth. The lights on the Launchpad are also set to light up each of the quadrants as they are triggered.
For those wanting to delve into the code, its not highly commented, but you should be able to get the idea of what I’m doing. Any issues, just leave a message here or send me an email on benxtan [at] gmail [dot] com.
Processing source code and Live set are available here (UPDATED):
http://benxtan.com/kmidic/kmidic_processing_v0.2.zip
http://benxtan.com/kmidic/kmidic_processing_v0.1.zip
You will need to install Processing, and the rwmidi and libfreenect libraries in the libraries folder of your Processing sketches.
Here are some links if you are after more information.
Software Links:
http://www.ableton.com/
http://processing.org/
http://ruinwesen.com/support-files/rwmidi-0.1c.zip
http://ruinwesen.com/support-files/rwmidi/documentation/RWMidi.html
https://github.com/shiffman/libfreenect/tree/master/wrappers/java/processing
Hardware Links:
http://www.xbox.com/kinect
http://www.novationmusic.com/products/midi_controller/launchpad
Once again, if you are a musician or music business in Australia, its free to sign up to http://rockstarhookups.com.au so go do it! I’m giving you free stuff, so help me out here ok? 🙂