IAT222: MODIFIED CANADA COUNCIL GRANT APPLICATION NEW MEDIA AND AUDIO RESEARCH AND PRODUCTION

Transcription

1 IAT222: MODIFIED CANADA COUNCIL GRANT APPLICATION NEW MEDIA AND AUDIO RESEARCH AND PRODUCTION A number of professional artists may apply together. Each co-applicant must share creative responsibility for the project. The applicant whose name is listed first will be considered to be responsible for the project. If a grant is awarded, each co-applicant will be subject to the conditions set out in the application guidelines. 1. Project Description (10%) a. NAME (List names of all team members and lab section): Team 4: Reality Benders (D104) Mark Lauman Vandad Aghili Cora Chan Daniel Law David Hwangbo b. PLEASE INDICATE YOUR CATEGORY. New Media Research and Production Grant Amount requested: $48,773 c. TITLE OF PROJECT: Live Art Cube d. PRESENTATION FORMAT: (e.g., audio performance, installation, website): Installation with accompanying website e. PROJECT SUMMARY: To create an augmented reality installation that allows visitors to explore spray paint as an art form

2 Liane Davison, Curator Surrey Art Gallery th Avenue Surrey, BC Canada V3W 3L1 Phone: The Reality Benders Mark Lauman Vandad Aghili Cora Chan David Hangbo Daniel Law Dear Ms. Davison: We are a group of five second year interactive arts and technology students at Simon Fraser University who wish to propose an exhibition for the Surrey Techlab. Our proposal is an augmented reality room that allows visitors to paint the walls with virtual spray-paint and assemble a house in the centre of the room. We have called this room a Live Art Cube. This exhibit be paired with an accompanying website that would have all artworks available for browsing. Augmented reality is a version of virtual reality where the real world is a core part of the experience. In this case visitors would wear transparent glasses that would display the digital world for them to see. While they could see and interact with this invisible world, passers by would not be able to tell what these people are doing. We have therefore included an LCD display on the outside wall, that will act as a window into the digital world for those outside. This should arouse the interest of visitors to the art gallery, who can then enter the room and contribute to the work. The Surrey Art Gallery was our first venue choice for multiple reasons. The first is the close proximity to Simon Fraser University's Surrey campus, the home of the interactive arts and computing science majors. An exhibition on augmented reality so close to this school is bound to arouse interest, and may result in larger crowds than usual. Our second reason is the city itself. Surrey has been chosen as the 2008 cultural capital of Canada, and will therefore be a major tourist attraction to tourists in the Fraser Valley. This is an excellent opportunity to raise Surrey's status as a technically advanced city. Our final reason is the reputation of the Surrey Art Gallery itself, which is well known for supporting innovative media arts. It is our sincerest wish to add to this environment. Thank you very much for considering our proposal. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to our team leader, Mark Lauman at mcl5@sfu.ca. - The Reality Benders

3 Live Art Cube Live Art Cube is an exhibit that shows how virtual and real worlds intertwine together in interesting ways. It does this by employing augmented reality (AR) a type of virtual reality, where the real world is augmented by digital displays, not entirely replaced. Two worlds overlap in the same area: the digital world, and the real world. Visitors will be able to (digitally) paint the walls of the room with spray-paint, and design their own model house on a small tablet. In parallel, other visitors will observe that these people are interacting with the room somehow, yet in a way that makes very little practical sense. This makes it apparent to visitors that what we perceive in this world is dependant on the tools we have at hand. Many electronic devices play important roles in this exhibit. Visitors perceive the room through a pair of AR glasses (glasses with transparent screens mounted inside them). The glasses will have a small camera mounted on them, which will allow us to detect hand location at any time. We will transmit this data wirelessly to a computer concealed under a table in the room, which will then render the participant's view in real time. Other devices in use will be an LCD television at the front of the room, a camera mounted on the back of this LCD television, a spray-paint can that will project an infrared laser beam from its nozzle and a tablet that will be used to as a house construction base. In all aspects we have tried to minimize components, to give visitors an uncluttered experience. Visitor experience has always been the central concern for our design. Visitors are drawn into exploring the room by the LCD display, which will be positioned on the glass wall outside the Techlab. The LCD display will show the combined worlds from the perspective of the camera directly behind it. Visitors can see the real world by looking past the display through the glass wall. The contrast and similarity between the two scenarios should arouse curiosity, causing the visitor to enter the room and try out the glasses. Then can then try painting any wall they wish by pointing the spray can at it and pushing down the nozzle at the top. If they grow tired of this, they may choose to pick up the tablet on the central table, and create their own house out of the available components. When they are finished, visitors exit the room, and replace the glasses. Their work will be saved to a server sitting beside our computer, allowing then to view their work from the Techlab website at any time during the running of the exhibit. Exhibitions on augmented reality are no new thing. One of the oldest versions of augmented reality, the CAVE, is still a very popular attraction at Ars Electronica in Linz, even 12 years after its creation in The CAVE allows visitors to explore a world that is not really there, with by other, real visitors. Our concept is merely an extension of CAVE ideas, but on a much cheaper scale. Less processing power is needed, as the screens are limited to each set glasses separately. However, all effective aspects of CAVE technology have been preserved: the visitors explore a virtual world together with other visitors, who are just as real as they are. Location is an important factor in planning an exhibit, and we feel that the Surrey Techlab is a perfect match. The Techlab is in close proximity to Simon Fraser University's Surrey Campus, which houses many interactive arts students. If the Surrey Techlab were to do a presentation focusing on augmented reality, a subject many professors show interest in, then it would likely gain good publicity from the local university. Since the Techlab has recently been made more prominent to tourists as well (as Surrey was named the 2008 cultural capital of Canada) this heightened publicity may encourage more technical development in the Whalley area.

4 Timeline for Live art Cube 7 th January st March 2010 (21 months of preparation) 1 st March 30 th May 2010 (3 months of exhibition) Planning Month 1 (Jan 2008) - Project guideline - Team concept developed - Sketch project and brainstorming Month 2 (Feb 2008) - Visiting the Surrey Art Gallery - Team concept plan Month 3 (Mar 2008) - Explore Canada council grant - Development of budget, technical specification, timeline, - Surrey Art Gallery Proposal + Prototype Month 4 (April 2008) - Final Integrated Proposal - Decide exactly which equipments are needed

5 - Decide exactly which equipments are needed 3 AR Glasses 4 Cameras 1 LCD TV Lots of wood General carpentry tools Paint 3 Empty Spray paint cans Components to connect glasses to computer Computers (1 computer + 1 server) 3 Infrared lasers Batteries Assorted Software - Decide the skills that are needed - Discuss further details of the project in terms of technical support - Calculating all the equipment prices and technical support salary - Discuss further the details of the project. Production Month 5 (May 2008) - Contact the design and development company - Discuss about the project and negotiate for the payable Month 6 (June 2008) - Check ups with the design and development company for the project Month 7 (July 2008) - Further check ups with the design and development company for the project process Testing Month 9 (Aug 2008) - Technician team ready for : Project set up Evaluation from us Adjustments in the project

6 Month (September-October 2008) - Second or third evaluation and adjustment if necessary Month (December 2009 February 2010) - Rest period 3 Months Exhibition Day 1 Day / / March - 30 May 2010 Day 1 (1 st March to 5 th March, 2010) - 5 days of exhibition set ups: Buy all the wood Transport all materials to gallery Build the walls with wood Build the trapezoid table Paint the walls in white Install all major components (include: AR glasses, Wii-mote, laser pointers, computers, etc...) Day 6 (6 th March to 9 th March, 2010) - 4 days of complete testing: Final adjustments before official exhibition date Day 10 (10 th March, 2010) - Exhibition Starts Day 92 (1 st May 2010) - Exhibition ends

7 Resources: KLN Kline Product Development Inc. Lumus Vision Home Depot

8 Timeline Artwork Production Schedule Start April 2008 Finished project planning (Jan to April 2008) Developed: Concept Intgrated proposal Researched the Surrey Art Gallery Explore Canada Grant Production Contact the Design engineering company for : Discussion of the project Negotiate payable Regular check ups with development company for project process 2nd or 3rd evaluation from us if necessary ( 2 months ) May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov March days of exhibition set ups : Buy all the wood Transport all materials to gallery Build the walls with wood Build the trapezoid table Paint the walls in white Install all major components ( include: AR glasses,wii-mote, laser pointers, computers, etc...) 4 days of complete testing: Final adjustments before official exhibition date Exhibition Time April 2010 End May 2010 Done designing + printing of the instructions manual. Check ups with the design and development company for the project Testing Technician team ready for : project set up 1st evaluation from us adjustments in the project Rest Period Nov 2008 to February 2010 Live Art Cube

9 Budget Live Art Cube Expenses Detail Cost Source Notes/Comments Planning and Concept Development 62 hours x 8 $/hour x 5 artists $ 2,480 * In Kind Volunteer by students Consultant Fees 5 Artists x $500 SFU Tuition $ 2,500 * Artists IAT 222 course Production and Materials Wood Carpentery Tools Paint LCD TV (Art Gallery) 3 x Lumus AR Glasses 3 x Wii remotes 3 x Laser Pointers 3 x Mini Cameras 1 x Camera Cables Arduino + Bluetooth Electronic Hardware 1 x Computer 1 x Server 3 x Empty Spray Cans Batteries Design Company for development $ 1,000 $ x $40 = $ 160 $ 0 3 x $1,000 = $3,000 3 x $50 = $150 3 x $1 = $3 3 x $50 = $150 $ 200 $ 100 $ 180 $ 300 $ 1,000 $ 1,000 $ 0 $ 30 $ 30,000 Canada Council Grant Resources: KLN Kline Product Development Inc. Lumus Vision Home Depot Futureshop RP Electronics Robotshop SUBTOTAL $ 37, 773 Testing Transportation $ weeks x 5 days/week x 6 hours/day x 9 $/hour x 5 artists $ 10,800 Canada Council Grant Artists salary. Construction of walls and table. Installation. Transportation. TOTAL $ 48,773 * Not included in the budget total

10 Graffiti Painting Live Art Cube This screen will show what the user sees: Digital and Real World.

11 Inside The Cube Live Art Cube This is how another user/artist with AR Glasses would experiment the world inside the room.

12 Live Art Cube Dynamic Art + Augmented Reality 01 Mark Lauman 02 Vandad Aghili 03 Cora Chan 04 David Hangbo 05 Daniel Law RealityBenders