INNOVATION- Leap UDK V2

Just a quick video of the new Leap interaction. Managed to get the particle colour to change based on hand gestures. Open hand draws in yellow, closed draws purple.

I really like this interaction. It feels very natural to control the paint by waving your hand, and the easy colour change allows for some interesting experimentation. I also like the way the colours seem to 'glob' together, almost like a lava lamp.

INNOVATION- Leap UDK In Action

Couldn't resist posting a video of the Leap in UDK. I simply hooked up a particle effect to the Hand Position and set up some conditions so that the colours change depending on whether the users hand is open or closed. Haven't figured out how to change the colour of the particle trail yet but that is the main focus: I'd like the user to be able to draw in different colours by using their hands.

INNOVATION- Leap UDK

My Lecturer was kind enough to lend me her Leap Motion over the past week and I have been hard at work trying to implement it within UDK. Thankfully, a very helpful member of the UDN community, called @ntares, posted an API to allow functionality for the Leap in UDK. Unfortunately, the implementation of this API required a knowledge of UnrealScript, a language I had no prior experience with and so I have been very busy trying to learn it. Thankfully back in high school I wrote my Advanced Higher Computing project in a language called C#; an object-oriented language based off C++. This was a huge help in getting to grips with UnrealScript as it is also object-oriented, and so shares many principles with C# and any other OO language. Therefore after a week of reading, research, headaches and a few 'clueless beginner' questions on the UDN forums I managed to get the Leap operational. I wrote a custom Kismet event node that now handles all of the data that the Leap spits out.

This means that everything is handled via Kismet and I shouldn't have to delve into the murky depths of UnrealScript again. Unless I want to add more functionality. And now that I can, I probably will, but that's a task for a later date! The fact that the Leap is operational means that I can go ahead with the project as planned and can start to draft up my proposal. I will post some rough aims and objectives soon.

INNOVATION- A New Device

During the first meeting with my lecturer we discussed the scope and deliverables for the project. The project brief, much like the subject area, is very open to interpretation. We were encouraged to explore the brief in whatever way we felt reflected our own personal goals and this was excellent news for further developing my paradigms. During this meeting, I was introduced to a very interesting little device called a 'Leap Motion'. It is device that allows high fidelity hand and finger tracking within 3D space and it really grabbed my attention.

The highly accurate tracking allows for some really organic interaction and the inclusion of the Z axis paves the way for new avenues of exploration that were unavailable to me when exploring iPad interaction. This could very well be just the device I have been looking for and I will be exploring how, and if, I can use it as the focus for the development of the project. Ideally I'll have it running in UDK as that is the development environment that I am most comfortable in and therefore can have applications up and running as quickly as possible. More news to come.

INNOVATION- Brief Selection

So I now have a brief for this module. I was lucky enough to be picked for a project centered around abstract audio and visuals and how they can be used to drive game design. The outline for this project touches on a lot of subjects that I tackled while developing my Honours project and so I am very excited to explore this area further. I will be working alongside a lecturer who supervised me throughout my Honours year which is great news as we both have very similar ideas about the project and what we hope to achieve.

Essentially, the project involves the interpretation of abstraction. This concept will be explored through audio, visuals and interaction and I intend to tie this exploration in with ideas that I explored in the previous year. During my Honours year I developed a set of design paradigms for creating aesthetically pleasing responses to interaction. These paradigms were created through the development and critical analysis of a number of interactive tests that explored different forms of interaction and accompanying audio/visual responses. Care was taken to properly explore the metaphorical implications of each form of interaction: looking at the physical movement of the interaction, the potential aesthetic response and the relationship between action and response; how is the relationship created, how can it be manipulated and to what effect?

Upon completion and critical reflection on the project I identified that while my paradigms were sound within the context that I set (iPad interaction), their validity would be greatly enhanced through their application to other forms of interaction. I am therefore very interested in exploring the requirements of this brief by applying my paradigms to a new context to further validate, or invalidate them, as the case may be.

INNOVATION- Introduction

My name is Rob Madden and I am currently a student at the University of Abertay Dundee, studying a Professional Masters in Video Game Development.

My main area of expertise is as a digital artist, both 2D and 3D, and my preferred area of specialisation is in environment design. I also have a great love of all things musical and interactive and thoroughly enjoy combining all of these elements to create engaging and fun ways of playing with audio and visuals. My Honours project was centered around these principles and more information can be found at my other blog: http://laughinglad.blogspot.co.uk/

This year, I intend to build upon all of the research and knowledge gained from my Honours year and further explore the potential applications of playful audio/visual interaction.