SAE Magazine 13-2

108 M otion capture and optical ‘tracking’ tech- nology (whereby a computer can track the position and motion of an object or individual in space and determine its spatial coor- dinates as well as its size, acceleration and other parameters) has been widely employed in the movie and gaming industry (as well as in military and industrial applications) since the 1990s. The diffusion of increasingly cheaper hardware and DIY solutions, along with software developments and the growth of online communities sharing tech- nical information, has led to exciting applications of motion tracking to interactive digital arts and performance practices, often in combination with video projections. Over the past decade theatre companies such as Ex Machina (Canada) or Troika Ranch (US/Germany) and contemporary dance groups such as Chunky Move (Austral- ia) have been leading the way and successfully integrating these technologies in their shows. Reactable (http://www.reactable.com), an inter- active music system with a tangi- ble user interface, is yet another brilliant example of how tracking technology and projections can be employed to significantly improve and expand the creative ‘dialogue’ between humans and electronic machines. Finally the introduction of cheap and powerful 3D motion sensing input devices such as Microsoft Kinect into the consumer market for video-games since 2010 has further expanded the range of possibilities and ease of digital interactive arts. OSCILLA is, in some way that it is primarily an inte ment controlled by the po Reactable however, uses set of objects carrying id recognised by the syste Production & Know How // OSCILLA - an interactive audiovisual environment Photo:AndreaSantini Author Andrea Santini Figure 2: OSCIL My idea was to cr system where scalable, so tha required to acco even pe

SAE Magazine 13-2

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