Swotu Wayä Na’vi Drum Circle [Pandora - The World of Avatar]

The Na'vi drum circle is an interactive play space at Disney's Animal Kingdom in the Pandora - The World of Avatar section of the park.  Guests interact with drums and other instruments that have been embedded in various root outgrowths. I specifically designed and programmed the interactive experience, wherein guests are essentially playing along with a "smart" looper that takes in guest input, quantizes it to make sure it's rhythmically in time with the ever-present heartbeat drum tempo, and uses this quantized input to play other response instruments. The system also triggers dynamic lighting and video projection effects. Further details of how the software works can be found here: http://www.google.com.pg/patents/US9646587.

POLLOCK: My Thesis Project

POLLOCK is a project that I've developed in conjunction with my master's thesis at CalArts. Pollock is a virtual reality experience/installation wherein users enter into a virtual, black-and-white world via the Oculus Rift headset and paint their surroundings. Users walk around this virtual space as Pollock (the character seen below in the photo gallery) and paint using simple hand motions. By painting the world around them, users will consequently compose a unique, sonic “soundscape” that will be generated by their choices of color as well as their placement of these colors within the virtual environment. The goal of the project was to create a new, virtual world where color and sound are in constant symbiosis. 

THEREGLOVE

The THEREGLOVE was my first foray into the world of embedded systems. It is a data glove that is equipped with state of the art sensors to track user hand movement wirelessly. This hand data, along with spatial data from a Microsoft Kinect, was used to trigger and manipulate synthesized sounds and video in real time. Initially, I had plans to implement this glove into my virtual reality thesis project as the main user controller, but certain realizations have pushed my final design in a different direction.

IN THROUGH THE OUT

IN THROUGH THE OUT was an installation piece I developed to experiment with haptic feedback in the context of simulated experience. Essentially, those who participated were given a 3D printed cup that was outfitted with a tactile transducer (a device that turns any surface it comes in contact with into a speaker) and were given the task of "catching" virtual floating orbs. This game environment was visualized on a rear projected screen that allowed users to comfortably approach these virtual elements. without obstruction. When users "caught" an orb, a soundeffect would trigger. This sound effect would not only be heard, but also felt in the user's hand, since the cup itself was vibrating by the audio being played back by the tactile transducer. This kind of "intelligent" haptic feedback is very promising for future applications in my thesis and other projects as it helps activate virtual environments in ways that visuals cannot.
 

Light Pyramid

The LIGHT PYRAMID was a collaborative project between myself and my friend David Howe. it was an interactive light sculpture installation in which users could control the lighting scheme of the structure through gestural motion. People could also enter into the pyramid and be fully surrounded by these orbital streams of color.

PAINT BY NUMBERS

PAINT BY NUMBERS was my first installation to use the Microsoft Kinect. Users could draw circles on a large projection screen by moving their hands and feet within a confined area of space. An ambient bed of sound was formed in real-time depending on where/how users moved within the space.                                             

GLOW GARDEN

GLOW GARDEN was a fully immersive video game environment that allowed people to play a Pac-Man-like video game in real life. A projection mapped game board transformed a very derelict rehearsal space into a living, engaging space, Sound, lights, and video were triggered and changed over time depending on player progression through various levels. This project was a collaborative project between myself, Su-Hyun Cho, and Hsuan-Kyun Hseih. I can't wait to do something like this again.

THE UNIVERSAsCOPE

THE UNIVERSASCOPE was the first project I completed after starting my MFA program at CalArts. I built a giant kaleidoscope and created a binaural audio-based sound collage for it, that, in a very abstract way, walked through the history of the universe with narration courtesy of Carl Sagan (audio taken from his acclaimed Cosmos series).

DESIGN VARIA

Here's a wide representation of some of my design work. Thanks to my audiovisual classes at Calarts, I've been able to experiment more and more with computer generated graphics, projection mapping, and live video processing, allowing me to create a distinct visual aesthetic in my own work. I've also become well-versed in 3D modeling, 3D printing, and laser cutting.

Work "installations"

Finally, here are some fun, interactive installations I created around the R&D office space. Sometimes it's just fun to make silly things...

The first silly thing I made was a large interactive sign to christen our new maker space at work. The sign is backlit by hundreds of LED's that are driven by audio input captured in the maker space in real-time. The sign becomes brighter/changes color/more "animated" as the average audio level increase.

The second thing I made was a "robot bathroom." Since we do a lot of robotics work in my department, the thought of all these robots needing a place to do the business made me giggle. So, my co-worker Dexter and I made this interactive robot door. There's a hidden touch-capacitive button on the door signage that triggers a little show involving R2-D2 and C-3PO. It's now become a must-see for R&D tours.