today and tomorrow

This new music video for ‘House of Cards’ by Radiohead is quite different. This video wasn’t shot with video cameras or even lights, but with a laser device and some sort of scanner which delivered 3D data.

Two technologies were used to capture 3D images: Geometric Informatics and Velodyne LIDAR. Geometric Informatics scanning systems produce structured light to capture 3D images at close proximity, while a Velodyne Lidar system that uses multiple lasers is used to capture large environments such as landscapes. In this video, 64 lasers rotating and shooting in a 360 degree radius 900 times per minute produced all the exterior scenes.

So far so good, the cool thing is that is an open source project on Google Code. Even the 3D data was composited with Processing, an open source programming language and environment, to make the final video. You can also download that data and make your own remix and submit it to the YouTube ‘House of Cards’ group. Here is an interactive Flash 3D data visualisation to get you excited.

Here is the making of video:

Physical computing is where it’s at! Machinecollective developed these open source hardware modules based on frequently used components, sensors and indicators. Just think of knobs, sliders and buttons which you can hook up to your software or use to build your own hardware project. The modules are designed to work with Arduino and Wiring, 2 development environments based on Processing.

found at MAKE: Blog

I’ve posted Lilypad before, it is a variation of the Arduino open-source prototyping board to create electronic textiles.
As you might have guessed, the Lilypad is the one on the right, the others are Arduino boards. Other electronic elements are also embedded in the embroidery. It definitely has a different look than all those other breadboard based physical computing projects.
work and picture by Beck Stern

Speaking of fashion & technology, here comes LilyPad. LilyPad is basically the hardware you’ll need to do that. It was developed by Leah Buechley & SparkFun and it’s based on Arduino, an open source hardware project based on Wiring based on Processing. It’s a modular system with an accelerometer, a light sensor, a tri-color LED, … now you can make your own Wii controller!
found @ MAKE: Blog

Yes, Flash is finally getting mature, Actionscript 3 and the Flash 9 player are giving us some more power. Adobe even released a beta Flash player that supports multi-core processors for some tasks! And now with Parklabs beat detection class for Actionscript 3, you won’t need any external tool anymore to build some VJ app.

Almost 2 months ago I posted an article about the first Wiimote hacks (the wireless nintendo Wii controller), I predicted that people would try to use it together with flash. Joa Ebert and his friends managed to get it working: WiiFlash. Hell yeah, check out their demo with Papervision3D (an open source flash 3D engine), the last part is the most impressive part.
Bring on the source code!

This is going to be better as Getty Images! As-Found! Bookmark or add the Feed to your reader!

Mixxx is an open source DJ tool. Key features: runs on all major desktop operating systems, beat estimation, parallel visual displays, and support for many DJ input controllers.