Todd Vanderlin

Davis Sedaris In Boston

Todd Vanderlin — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:23:54 +0000

Dani surprised me with tickets to the Davis Sedaris reading. I love his books, listening to him was unreal. I wish that I could tell stories like this man.

Black Friday

Todd Vanderlin — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:13:50 +0000

PS3 Augmented Reality

Todd Vanderlin — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 02:31:39 +0000

This is amazing.

Coolest shoes ever!

Todd Vanderlin — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 20:32:38 +0000

These are the coolest shoes that I have ever seen in my life. I want some. More here.

Air Art

Todd Vanderlin — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:17:09 +0000

This is one of the coolest things I have seen in a bit.

Learning Eagle

Todd Vanderlin — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 20:53:39 +0000

So I have been dying to learn to build my own PCB’s. Here is my first shot at building a board, I have been reading all the tutorials. If anyone has more tips on learning Eagle please share.

Subway Machine

Todd Vanderlin — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:41:26 +0000

Love this

Target Interactive Windows

Todd Vanderlin — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 17:10:26 +0000

Target has some new windows that are reactive. They are a bit weak but its nice to see the world is moving forward.

Motion Tracking

Todd Vanderlin — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:31:19 +0000

Working on a project were I need to track people and their movements. The setting is outside in a very uncontrolled environment (the city). I posted a question on OF to see what people think, I got a ton of great feedback. Here is a video of some initial testing.

We ordered a bumble bee, which I think is the best solution but much harder to work with. I have some more research to do though.

ps: the gui is a new addon im working on download soon, or find it on the OF forum.

Comcast Center

Todd Vanderlin — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 02:57:54 +0000

I was in Philly today and got to stop by the Comcast Center to see there LED wall. Holy crap, it was unreal, really sometimes its hard to tell what was real and fake. At 84 feet wide 25 feet high and 10 million pixels deep, this $22 million screen is bad ass.

Uniqlo Robot

Todd Vanderlin — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 03:49:56 +0000

check out the Uniqlo Robot, this thing was awesome.

The OF Lab

Todd Vanderlin — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:56:35 +0000

Well this is a late post about Ars, but its been busy since I got back. The trip was amazing, I had the best time working with everyone in the lab. Here are videos from the lab projects and more awesome photos from Ryan. I have a feeling that there will be a OF Lab part 2, so get ready.

ARS-elicious

Todd Vanderlin — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:09:30 +0000

We made it and to say the least WOW, this is wild. We have been working like crazy coding up a storm. We have some of the best brains under one roof, its a it scary to see what will happen. There is still a ton of work to get done but its getting there.
Ryans had a good photo stream going.

Get ready for Ars Electronica

Todd Vanderlin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 17:11:21 +0000

Getting ready to head out for Ars Electronica in Austria. OpenFrameworks is building a lab for the entire event and I’m going to be a part of it. Ryan and I are heading out this weekend, get ready for the madness. Check out some of the videos so far. See you soon in Austria.

About OF Lab
Vimeo Feed
Photo Feed

more to come

Cognitive Resonance

Todd Vanderlin — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 04:06:54 +0000

My good friend Josh Goldberg organized a great event this weekend. The name of the night was Cognitive Resonance, the venue was Monkey Town in Brooklyn. I performed with Dave Della Costa, he built his sound live using SuperCollider and I built and application coded with openFrameworks.

The app load a series of type images that I created. They are analyzed in realtime in order to fide the whole words and then each individual letter. I created many particle system that react to the each letter. I hope to work on the piece some more and do more of these events. Thanks Josh for getting this together, next stop Boston.

Q6M

0J4I

907

HG8

see all photos here

Paris Belgium Amsterdam

Todd Vanderlin — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 02:53:34 +0000

Just got back from any amazing trip. Dani and I traveled to Europe for two weeks stopping in Paris, Belgium, then Amsterdam. Paris was beautiful with all the little parks and places to just sit and relax.

We rode bikes to get everywhere and anywhere. Paris has this amazing system for renting bikes. You can grab a bike at any station (about every 300 meters) ride for a half hour and then park it for free.

I loved to play in the parks it was a blast.

We found this really really steep hill one day, Dani though it was a great idea to climb. I couldn’t have agreed more. The funny thing was when she got up she couldn’t get back down. Don’t worry though I was there to save her, this was one steep hill.

After a great stay in Paris we were off for Belgium. I couldn’t wait to get there. I was just dreaming of beer and waffles.

We stayed in Brugge right next to Brussels. Brugge was without a doubt the most beautiful place I have ever been to. It was this great little city, so old with the friendliest people. We stayed in this hostel called Snuffel I loved it. We met some of the greatest people, great times and good talks.

The beer was an art there, I couldn’t get enough. It was so fresh, so crisp, so tasty. After a great time in Brugge we were off to Amsterdam. This was going to be the party of the trip, and my last stop. We tried to do it all in the little time we had. At the time we were there it was Europe’s vacation time, so it was packed and crazy.

You could pee in the streets while tons would just watch. They had these urinals only on weekends.

There were more bike on the street the cars, it was great. You had to look all around you when walking. With people walking bikes, cars, and trams running in all directions its busy. Amsterdam was a blast. This was a great trip, I realize that I need to do more. It is essential.

Check out the photo sets with more commentary.
Paris
Brugge
Amsterdam

Video Wall Day

Todd Vanderlin — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 02:29:04 +0000

Ryan & I went to AVFX to work on some video wall solutions. I have never seen so much equipment in my life.

This wall was amazing. The have the whole system is running through Watchout. They way we got our app on there was via a DA. The NEC screens are able to grid the source, this kinda worked. The resolution gets is very strange, not to mention the aspect ration. I was able to fix this by reducing the x scale of the openGL world.

We also tried out these Orion LCD’s they are pretty cool. What I am concluding is that in order to do real time graphics from a single machine you need a serious GPU, rumor on the street there is a four headed Nvidia out there. I was able to connect two displays (HD) on the Mac via one graphics card and it ran the app great. The second I plugged in a third display and had the app span across multiple graphics cards the FPS dropped to about 5. I have found big wall application is very hard to do on a mac because of card limitations. I may be thinking of trying out a PC system.

The Vision Show

Todd Vanderlin — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 02:01:11 +0000

The Vision Show was in Boston this week. What an interesting conference, most people were there to find the latest in machine vision solutions. We were there to find the best hardware solutions for our tables and pieces, Ohh man we did! People were so helpful to figure out what we could use in our work. Imagine Source taught us a ton and evan gave us a free camera. Can’t wait to try out some of the things we found.

This is the camera that Imagine Source gave us. It is unreal, 1024 x 768 resolution capturing at a solid 30 fps.

The had some funky face tracking set up. haha Check out all the photos from the show here buy cialis buy cialis buy levitra buy levitra buy propecia buy propecia buy soma buy soma buy levitra buy cialis buy propecia buy levitra buy soma buy cialis buy propecia buy levitra buy soma buy cialis buy levitra buy propecia buy soma

Interactive Mural Atlanta

Todd Vanderlin — Fri, 23 May 2008 17:29:41 +0000

Just go back from Atlanta doing an installation for the SCMX music festival. The piece was installed under a tent on two HD 52″ LCD displays. The image was beautiful 1080p and super bright.

As people stand in front of the displays they were able to interactive with drifting bubbles filled with other small bubbles. You were able to pop the bubbles and have the inside bubbles pour over your contour. As you would move around dust would float off of you and every so often a ribbon would fly away based on your movement.

It was a interesting installation, our first time dealing with the sun and the elements of the outdoors. The piece will be touring around to the rest of the SCMX. More and better documentation to follow.

Video
Photo set
Application Renderings

Streams

Todd Vanderlin — Tue, 13 May 2008 04:44:12 +0000

Working on a new piece, these are some early renderings. There are two video streams seamed together were particles and motion graphics come alive as you move around.

R&D Lab In Creativity

Todd Vanderlin — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:54:41 +0000

The lab was just written up in Creativity magazine. Unfortuantly Creativity doesn’t let you see their articles after 7 days. They never got the memo that the internet is free.

Download a PDF here.

Kids & Interaction

Todd Vanderlin — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 16:55:24 +0000

We had some kids come in today, they got to see what we do and try out some of the toys. You can learn a ton watching kids interact with this table. It was amazing watching them learn how to use the table with no explanation. They would teach each other as they figured out new features. I have a ton of new ideas to take from this.

MIT Swap Fest

Todd Vanderlin — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 16:41:42 +0000

MIT Swap Fest last weekend, everythign was so cheap. I spent about $20 bucks and got all of this.

Some particle experiments

Todd Vanderlin — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:11:42 +0000

check out the HD ones here & here.
online pharmacycialislevitrasomaviagra

Made with OF

Todd Vanderlin — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:55:16 +0000

This is where all the magic is made. OF will take over the world.

OF RFID

Todd Vanderlin — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 03:26:32 +0000

I hooked up a RFID reader to OpenFrameworks today. It works amazingly, can’t wait to get something together. We have some idea!

Crazy Spearkers

Todd Vanderlin — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 03:21:47 +0000

Ryan ripped apart some speakers check this video out. When the speakers are just in your hand they make very little sounds. If you touch the speakers to a surface they turn that surface in to a cranking speaker. These things are killer!

Ohh How Canny

Todd Vanderlin — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 02:51:49 +0000

Using cvCanny(…) working on some pixel transformation, the definition of canny is funny.

New Camera

Todd Vanderlin — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 00:57:31 +0000

New Camera it’s so tiny so can’t wait to try it out.

Reel

Todd Vanderlin — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:54:25 +0000

Posted a reel of some current work check it out.

Flow

Todd Vanderlin — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 21:12:21 +0000

This is a rough example of flocking and obstacle avoidance. The creatures will ovoid the contours of any shape that is on the table. They also follow the rules of flocking separation, alignment, cohesion. Read more about Boids here.

Fungi

Todd Vanderlin — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 15:01:46 +0000

These creatures are attracted to people; they are curious. As you get closer they will jump out and have a taste. This piece is projected over a stairwell 10′x18′.

update:
Seen on:
http://www.vimeo.com/videoart

MultiTouch Calibration

Todd Vanderlin — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:25:23 +0000

I want to get some feedback on how to do a proper and simple calabration for a multitouch system. I am going to try and walk you through the process and construction of the table. Here is the main setup for the table. For the most part the table is working check out latest video. The blobs are showing up and somewhat consistent. Better adjustment of IR would fix this.

This is what the projection looks like. The throw of the projection is much larger than the table top. This is where the problem I think starts. I need to align the physical touch points to the projected touch points.

To get the correct image to track I perform a warping technique. I drag the four points of a quad to the four corners of the table. This creates a 640 x 480 warped image where pixel 0,0 is the top left hand corner. I think that this works well and does the job for the most part. It is on the other hand the most processor intensive part of the application. The distortion of the image is not terrible. I have tried Stefanix’s checkerboard calibration but do not completely understand how it applies other than compensate for wide angle distortion in the camera.

More info in photo notes

So now that we have a corrected image to track I need to match the projection to the tabletop. We do a very simalar calibration, this does not feel correct but works. You drag the four points of a quad warping the openGL world to the table. This for the most part works but the distortion of the GL world is weird. There must be a better way to do this.

I have been looking into all the techniques done by other systems like TouchLib and Reactivision. Most are a four point or many point touch calibration system. I have not completely figured this out, this is where I ask for help. What is the best way to do this calibration and setup?

We make you smile

Todd Vanderlin — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 04:08:05 +0000

This is a project built with Ryan Habbyshaw. The piece allows you to be someone or something else for a moment. As the user walks by the piece finds their face and eyes replacing them with a new image. It is so priceless watching peoples reaction as Yoda shows up as their face. I love this project. Check out the photo set here and the video here.

Multi-Touch Photos

Todd Vanderlin — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:32:32 +0000

Here is a new video of the Touch Table. We are working on a classic multi-touch photo appm, there are bugs but we are working them out. We have a set of photos growing here.

Thanks to Ryan Habbyshaw and The OF Team.

Smart Surface Beta

Todd Vanderlin — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 03:23:17 +0000

We got a solid test up and running today. There are defiantly bugs in alignment and calibration but its working. I’m going to get some code up soon for sharing, pumped its working. Check out the video.

Bubbles

Todd Vanderlin — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 03:23:20 +0000

We made bubbles with awesome colors. The video is going a bit fast though. ha

The Lab

Todd Vanderlin — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:21:08 +0000

This is where I work.

Sick Eye Tracking

Todd Vanderlin — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 22:48:16 +0000

Using OpenCV and OpenFrameworks we now have sick eye tracking.

OCaml for Scientists

Todd Vanderlin — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 03:43:33 +0000

I want to get this book. “Learn one of the world’s most popular functional programming languages, with hundreds of awesome examples covering everything from simple numerical analysis to sophisticated real-time 3D visualisation using OpenGL. ” link

Multitouch

Todd Vanderlin — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 22:15:05 +0000

Video of the multitouch prototype. You can touch and push particles around.

Multitouch

Todd Vanderlin — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 01:12:56 +0000

Working on a simple multitouch display. This is a small prototype next I want to scale the screen up. I will have more soon.

Hillary Obama Table

Todd Vanderlin — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:57:46 +0000

Hillary Obama Table from vanderlin on Vimeo.
Made a candidate table for the primaries here in Boston. Watch the heads bobble. This is the ultimate prop for any candidate to win this election. Don’t forget to vote.

Generative

Todd Vanderlin — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 05:02:36 +0000

New Drawing Machine

Todd Vanderlin — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 01:12:17 +0000

Built a new Drawing Machine at work. This one is long, about 13 feet long. Made some adjustments to the source code. The motors are a some-what smarter. I’m still using brush motors and not stepper motors. If I get some time I’m going to work on portraits.

Baby Ruth

Todd Vanderlin — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:40:10 +0000

Working on face detection using openCV. We all want to be Sloth. “Hey you guys”.

The 3rd Dimension

Todd Vanderlin — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:51:19 +0000

Ryan figuring out the 3rd Dimension

Urban Trend

Todd Vanderlin — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 15:19:26 +0000

beautiful and funky everyday things. So clever, so cool.

link

Smart Surface

Todd Vanderlin — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 19:27:09 +0000

Here is a prototype that I have been working on. The concept is to create a flexible smart surface that reacts to touch and objects. Way more to come.

Mood Dress

Todd Vanderlin — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 15:26:49 +0000

“The Bubelle Dress is made up of two layers, the inner layer contains biometric sensors that pick up a person’s emotions and projects them in colours onto the second layer, the outer textile.” (Daily Mail)

link

Paper Robot

Todd Vanderlin — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 15:22:50 +0000

Love this. link via

“The Dragonaut is a student project from the Parsons Making Wireless Toys class, created by Kan Yang Li — it’s a cardboard robot that uses an Arduino kit to give him life: “after you use a key to start him up, his arms raise and lower to proclaim ‘awesome!’”

LED Facade

Todd Vanderlin — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:07:20 +0000

Amazing LED facade. The Uniqa Tower in Vienna has a LED grid capable of outputting video.

link
Video

Neurosky

Todd Vanderlin — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 14:51:20 +0000

The concept of reading brain waves is not to far away. Using your concentration skills users are able to control object in a game. Check out the video.

Big Logo

Todd Vanderlin — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 14:48:01 +0000

As seen from space.

Surface at Sheraton

Todd Vanderlin — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 17:50:24 +0000

The Surface is on tour find out if it is coming near your.

Triptych

Todd Vanderlin — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 22:43:21 +0000

Beautiful LED installation in Paris. As viewers approach the piece the LED’s react to their movements. Take a look at the video.

link

Processing Bug

Todd Vanderlin — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 22:37:01 +0000

Alpha bug in processing not sure how to fix it. As the images rotate in 3D space the bounding border is shown.

update: Fixed, well turned on depthTesting. This works but you loose track of depths.

Building The Lab

Todd Vanderlin — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 20:27:45 +0000

Its been awhile and haven’t talked much about the lab. I will have more coming soon, I’m still here.

Hudge LEDS

Todd Vanderlin — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 15:47:50 +0000

I want one of these or try to make one. link

Critical Mass

Todd Vanderlin — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 18:59:40 +0000

Rode in my first Critical Mass in Boston. Man is it ever different from NYC. New York’s Critical Mass last for about 10 minutes before the cops break it up. We rode all over Boston into Cambridge for about a hour, at one point had a police escort. Funny how things work out.

Sleep and Music

Todd Vanderlin — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 18:56:53 +0000

Saw this guy when going for a walk last week. A strange array of actions, like it.

Growth

Todd Vanderlin — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 03:03:05 +0000

A project I’m working on. Here is the first step, the plant life is alive. They follow the the bugs trying their hardest to grab them. Download (mac) the app and try it out. It was built in c++ using openFrameWorks. More to come.

Back from China

Todd Vanderlin — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 10:20:19 +0000

Im back from China and I already miss it, I want to go back. I’m dead tired and out of it, this jet lag is killer. The worst happened, I realized when I got home that my camera was not with me. After a 14 hour flight I guess I just forgot it on the plane. Every photo I took on the whole trip lost. I’m sad but at least I have the memories still. Friends said that they would give me theirs but it’s still not the same. I called the airline and I’m just crossing my fingers that they find it.

The trip was amazing though. I got to meet with important people that have been living and working their for some time. I saw the Surface table at Microsoft. I meet with Nokia, studied at a University larger than any other University I have ever been seen. Ate some of the best food in my life. Went to a rave were the Great Wall of China meet the ocean. The main things I took from it was that there are other cities than New York. I could completely live in Beijing and work. Living another countries life for a month really puts your life back home into perspective. I will never forget this trip and will be returning soon.

I will post stories from the trip as I get more photos. Cross your fingers I find my camera.

Welcome To China

Todd Vanderlin — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 01:30:35 +0000

I’m a bit late of the first post but welcome to China. My first impression was, “wow this place is different”. Th flight was long, very long.I fell slept for a long time, woke up and still had 6 hours. This photo is when we were over Antarctica, pretty nuts.

We went for food right when we got here. I was a bit skeptical about food first coming here; I have to say its unreal. You can’t even compare the food to American Chinese.

Like New York there are stand everywhere, some are a bit risky food wise. There are people selling fruit all over. The leeches are good.

Tiered but ready for more.

Listen To Target

Todd Vanderlin — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 21:57:01 +0000

Saw this down in Soho. You plug in your headphones and have a listen. The ad world is finally catching on. Good stuff.

Junk

Todd Vanderlin — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 15:44:05 +0000

Light Swing

Todd Vanderlin — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 16:02:58 +0000

Such a simple I idea with an amazing effect. Attach a light to a swing and create beautiful arcs of light in the night. Check out the work of BCXSY

link

Underwater Art

Todd Vanderlin — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 15:47:37 +0000

Amazing underwater sculpture park created by Jason Taylor. Watch the video it is absolutely beautiful.
â€œThe aim of the Sculpture Park is to create a unique space which highlights environmental processes and celebrates local culture. By creating an artificial reef of sculptures which depict Grenadian peoples and their history, the project fulfils its dual purpose of protecting the marine environment and illustrating the richness of Grenadaâ€.
Photo
Video

Nerd Stigmata

Todd Vanderlin — Mon, 21 May 2007 15:08:36 +0000

This is a conversation between Ryan and Todd about a nerd battle wound.

Ryan throw me that wireless router. (toss)

Ouch! ohh man your cut me. Yes the wireless router cut me on the hand.

What?!

Oh mg god! Ryan look I thing its a sign from the heavens above. As I look down at my hand I am bleeding in the shape of the iconic mouse cursor. This is the first official record of the Nerd Stigmata.

Drawing Machine

Todd Vanderlin — Tue, 08 May 2007 23:06:03 +0000

This is the first attempt with my drawing machine. I am happy with the drawings and the functionality. The next step is to work on aesthetic and accuracy. I will have more on this soon.

Time Lapse Video

The Ultimate Throwie Throwie

Todd Vanderlin — Tue, 08 May 2007 21:39:26 +0000

This is how to make The Ultimate Throwie Throwie and get out of jail for as cheap as possible. First you will need the following:

1. About 10 -12 LED Throwies
2. A fan - We found one on the street.
3. A power supply outside.
4. A crowded place for people to watch.

First You will need to find a fan. We found one on the side of the street. Remove the front cover of the fan. This is so that you can put the Throwies on the blades of the fan.

Attach the LED’s so that one is on one side and one on the other. They will hold eachother onto the blades.

You know need to find a place that has power and is crowded. Union Square was the perfect place to release the LED Throwie Throwie. Open the cover of a street lamp. You will just need to unscrew the bolt (usually just hand tight) and open the lid. You will find a plug conveniently for your fan.

You are now ready to let the fan rip. Start the fan on low let it start up and then turn it on high. Stand back and watch the Throwies Throw.

There are some setbacks with the Ultimate Throwie Throwie. Due to the times that we live in the general public may have concerns of the appearances of an LED. If you just so happen to find yourself in trouble with the authorities for such an act. Blame it on art school. I running into such a situation found it a safe and cheap way out of jail.

In all seriousness LED Throwies are a blast but not to be taken lightly. They are an interesting take on public space and graffiti art. Granted they can harm the environment, but they are removable. If you choose to explore the public realm or graffiti art with LED’s don’t take it out on the authorities. See where the stand on the topic, put yourself in their shoes. They have no choice but to take the appropriate actions. The real fight should be against the people that clutter the public space with junk; the crude and intrusive advertisements. Find those targets and “Throwie” them.

Video
Photos