[DMCA-Activists] The Khronos Projector

[Seth Johnson]

Dynamic works.  Not static.

Interactive.  Not broadcast.


Seth


> http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Khronos_Projector.htm


The KHRONOS PROJECTOR

[a video time-warping machine with a tangible deformable screen]

 

by Alvaro Cassinelli,

with the support of Takahito Ito, Monica Bressaglia & Masatoshi
Ishikawa.

        Ishikawa-Namiki-Komuro Lab
(http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/index-j.html) - The University of
Tokyo (http://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/index_e.html) Department of
Information Physics and Computing /Graduate School of Information
Science and Technology.

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/untying_cubeS_date.gif
Link:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/test/test.html

MAIN VIDEO, SLIDES and DEMO APPLET HERE

        * [.wmv] HQ (40MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/DEMO_KHRONOS.wmv)
/ LQ (8MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/DEMO_KHRONOS_COMP.wmv)
        * [.mov] HQ (72MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/KHRONOS_DEMO_AUDIO_FINAL.mov)
/ LQ (10MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/KHRONOS_DEMO_AUDIO_FINAL_COMPRESSED.mov)
        * [.ppt] Slide Presentation (10MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/KHRONOS_SIGGRAPH_2005_Slides.ppt)
        * Demo (Java) Applet
(http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/test/test.html)

What?

The Khronos Projector is an interactive-art installation allowing
people to explore pre-recorded movie content in an entirely new
way. A classic video-tape allows a simple control of the
reproducing process (stop, backward, forward, and elementary
control on the reproduction speed). Modern digital players add
little more than the possibility to perform random temporal jumps
between image frames.

The goal of the Khronos Projector is to go beyond these forms of
exclusive temporal control, by giving the user an entirely new
dimension to play with: by touching the projection screen, the
user is able to send parts of the image forward or backwards in
time. By actually touching a deformable projection screen,
shaking it or curling it, separate "islands of time" as well as
"temporal waves" are created within the visible frame. This is
done by interactively reshaping a two-dimensional spatio-temporal
surface that "cuts" the spatio-temporal volume of data generated
by a movie.

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/P1.jpg
Click on image to launch video [WMV, 1MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/SpandexScreen.wmv]

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/nonplanar.jpg
Click on image to launch video [MOV, 884KB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/SpaceTimeLivingSculpting.mov]

There are many ways to visually explore the spatio-temporal
volume generated by a movie; most of them result from cutting the
spatio-temporal volume by a two-dimensional surface. The usual
way of visualizing video content, consist on showing
consecutively each image of the sequence. In other words, the
intersecting surface is a plane that remains always perpendicular
to the time arrow. Now, for instance, by intersecting the
spatio-temporal volume by planes that are not perpendicular with
the time axis, the resulting image will show a spatio-temporal
gradient.

Of course, there have been already many works and art-works that
develop on such ideas (see for instance [2, 3, 4 and 5], or check
this website by Golan Levin for a more complete, chronologically
ordered and up-to-date "informal catalog" on slit-scan artworks
[13]). See also [1] for an interesting short essay on the
representation of Time and Space in western classic, modern and
contemporary art. The essay also includes some references to the
latest interactive installations dealing with the subject.

Now, to the best of my knowledge, the Khronos Projector is the
first Art-Installation enabling the interactive shaping of an
arbitrarily complex spatio-temporal cutting surface thanks to a
dedicated tangible and "sensual" human-machine interface, and
thus giving the user a strong feeling of being actually sculpting
the space-time "substance" with its own hands.

Why?

When contemplating a still image or a motionless sculpture, we
are free to direct our sight wherever we want over the whole work
- perhaps only secretly compelled by the compositional forces the
author has succeeded instilling in it. This is barely possible in
a movie - we are forced to adopt a point of view in space and
time. Using the power of modern computers, we can free ourselves
from this constraint.

The Khronos projector unties time and space in a pre-recorded
movie sequence, opening the door for an infinite number of
interactive visualizations. Using the Khronos projector, event's
causality become relative to the spatial path we decide to walk
on the image, allowing for a multiple interpretation of the
recorded facts. In this sense, the Khronos projector can be seen
as an exploratory interface that transforms a movie sequence into
a spatio-temporal sculpture for people to explore at their own
pace and will.

>From the technical point of view, this work expands on the work
I've been doing at the Ishikawa-Namiki Lab concerning
human-machine interfaces using laser-based active tracking and
dedicated, real-time image-processing vision circuits [8]. The
feedback I received during the presentation of a prototype
laser-based tracking system at SIGGRAPH 2004 [9] convinced me of
the necessity to develop a tangible human-machine interface
capable of interpreting touch - and if possible, capable of
sensing even the delicacy of a caress - while at the same time
able to react in a subtle and natural way, also through tactile
feedback. The Khronos-Projector tissue-based deformable screen is
a first step in that direction.

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/SpaceTimeSculpture_Gesture2.jpg
Click on image to launch video [WMV, 3.3MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/Giracara_Lycra_Pinta.wmv]

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/lilly_nina.jpg
Click on image to launch video [WMV, 2.7MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/StarLilly_Lycra_People.wmv]

How?

The spatio-temporal fusion algorithm is the core of the Khronos
program: it consist on blending hundreds of images from a movie
sequence to produce a unique displayed image. The blending
operation is controlled by a "spatio-temporal filter", or
"spatio-temporal cutting surface", which is a two-dimensional
surface lying inside the "spatio-temporal volume" of the movie.
The fused image is the union of all the intersections of the
spatio-temporal surface with each image in the sequence.

The program (extremely computationally hungry) was prototyped
using Matlab, and finally coded in C++ using OpenGL. The present
version can display the dynamic blended image both in 2D but also
in 3D by mapping the image on a NURBS-generated surface
representing the actual time/pressure map.

In the most basic embedding for the proposed installation, the
spatio-temporal filter is shaped interactively using the mouse, a
graphic tablet or a touch-screen LCD display. A physically-based
model of a membrane is then used to compute in real time a
realistic shape for the spatio-temporal filter.

In a more sophisticated embedding (see image above), a real
deformable screen made from a thin elastic fabric is scanned
using infrared light and a dedicated Vision Chip. The resulting
human-computer interface delivers position and pressure
information in real time, and besides, it can also be controlled
by light (more below).

Installation Setup

The installation uses a video projector, a large tissue-based
deformable projection screen, and a sensing mechanism capable of
acquiring in real time the deformation of this tissue. The
Khronos projector awaits for its public: in the absence of any
tactile input, the projector displays the first image of the
whole sequence. Driven by curiosity, the public eventually
approach and touch the screen surface, thus triggering the
interactive experience. The behavior of the spatio-temporal
cutting surface can be tuned in many different ways (in
particular the way the surface reacts to a local "punch", the way
it spreads the spatio-temporal deformation and the way the
surface evolve and relax). An interesting point about this 
installation proposal is that people would be able to try the
KHRONOS projector on videos they could bring themselves. A color
printer may be brought nearby in order to print high-resolution
snapshots of the interactive video.

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Images%20Demo/khronos_blackbox.jpg

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Images%20Demo/nina_karazu.jpg

Simple setup [ tablet / touch-screen ]

The Khronos Projector software has been extensively tested on a
standard monitor using a graphic tablet, as well as with a
touch-screen monitor. The screen is rigid, but by avoiding a
graphic tablet and having instead direct interaction with the
touch-screen monitor surface, impressive enough results are
obtained (note: most touch screens does not sense multiple levels
of pressure, so that the interface capabilities are somehow
reduced).

The tactile screen is a five wire resistive touch screen which
only senses two-levels or pressure. Using a graphic tablet (any
compatible with the open standard Wintab library) it is possible
to capture multiple levels of pressure, enabling precise control
of the "temporal pressure"; however, this approach somehow
reduces the feeling of "immersiveness". (A pressure-sensitive
touch-screen would be the ideal hardware interface, but it seems
that the only available on the market need a dedicated input
stylus.)

Dedicated hardware interface [ deformable screen + Vision Chip ]

In this embedding, the spatio-temporal blended images are
projected on a deformable screen, whose deformation is scanned in
order to compute the "temporal-pressure" map. The projection
screen is intentionally made sufficiently large so that people
will be unable to interact with the whole image at the same time:
it will be impossible to "push" on the whole image in order to
synchronously project it forward in time. With this
configuration, the ubiquitous time arrow is defacto broken. The
public would need to either be helped by someone else, or to move
itself a little distance to "push" another part of the image and
see what happens - thus unveiling causality in an indirect way
relying on memory and deduction. I believe that this is a nice
spacetime-transposed metaphor of what actually happens in a
conventional movie theater: we have to "wait" (i.e., walk in
time) in order to create "understanding".

A screen made from a subtle and almost organic elastic fabric
should give just enough sensuality to the installation so as to
call for the touch - then triggering the spatio-temporal fusion
and making the images alive. I believe this to be the most
elegant and compelling embedding for the Khronos Projector
Interactive-Art installation.

Using relatively cheap spandex fabric as a projection screen, it
is indeed possible to build very large (several meters wide)
screens. Images are back-projected by a standard LCD projector.

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/strokes-in-spacetime1.jpg
Click on image to launch video [WMV, 2MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/RandomStrokesSpaceTime.wmv]

People standing in front of the screen would see the whole image
and will be able to physically interact with it by touching it
(with their hands and feets, a stick, and even by throwing things
at it - like small pebbles that will generate water-like temporal
ripples - click on images to launch video). The actual content to
be "Khronos-projected" may be a unique sequence to be shown
during the whole duration of the exhibit, or conversely, tens of
sequences from a demo-database, to be shown in a round-robin
fashion (one every hour or so).

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/SpaceTimeRipples_People_0002.jpg
Click on image to launch video [WMV, 9MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/SpaceTimeRipples_People.wmv]

However, given the particularly large screen, it may be more
interesting to project a unique, simple sequence specially
tailored to be "analyzed" using the Khronos projector, playing
with causality and temporal paradoxes in a suggestive way. This
can be for instance a short story with two or three actors; an
in-camera short skit, that resolves in less than a minute and
that people have to understand and reconstruct by mentally
solving a spatio-temporal puzzle.

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/TimeBumps_Tokyo1.jpg
Click on image to launch video [WMV, 12MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/Tokyo_View_3D.wmv]

Time-lapse photographic sequences may also be an appropriate
subject for a large screen. For instance, a sequence capturing a
sunset over the sea. The installation booth can be
(minimalistically) decorated so as to suggest the sea shore (sand
on the floor, a bucket of pebbles, water). A sea-shore sound
track can be also added to enhance the feeling of immersion in
the quiet, timeless atmosphere of a holiday vacation.

Best, from the aesthetical point of view, can be to
Khronos-project a sequence showing a short dance performance. If
the shooting is properly done, the Khronos-projector may be able
to render both the beauty of the images and the beauty of the
movements, which are essentially space-time figures. The large
projection screen will be a window to an interactive live stage.

Technical Considerations

The deformable screen is made from a thin, translucent elastic
fabric (e.g. spandex-based fibers - better known as Lycra(R)).

There are several ways to "scan" this surface in order to extract
its depth characteristics. A rather conventional technique would
rely on a 2D scanning rangefinder. After giving the problem some
though, I decided to study a cheaper technique not relying on any
laser scanner. In fact, a a conventional CCD camera and a special
illumination configuration will suffice: using an on-axis
infrared source (such as a LED ring) and a conventional CCD
camera (with an IR filter), it should be possible to acquire a
gray-scale image indicating, at each location in the surface, the
actual inclination between the illuminating ray and the
surface-normal; if both the camera and the light source are
relatively far from the screen, and placed so as to share the
same optical axis (see figure), then it is relatively easy to
compute the actual deformation of the screen from the gray-scale
map data.

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/SETUPKHRONOS3.gif
Click on image to launch video [WMV, 5.3MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/Explanation_setup_without_TEXT.wmv]

To enhance infrared reflectivity and disminish the rear-projector
"hot spot", the spandex-based fabric is plastic coated on the
"inner" side.

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/spot_1_centergrav.jpg
Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/InfraredApposeliteLEDs.jpg

Using this setup, the reconstruction of the deformation field can
be done in a very precise way - using a constrained,
finite-difference equation method - or in a more loose,
"heuristic" way, in the case of the very simple deformation
patterns produced by a single or multiple points of pressure, as
shown in the figure below: the center of the pressure (X, Y), is
the center of gravity of the dark "spot", and the actual pressure
is just related to the radius of the spot (see figure below).

This computation can be done extremely fast, using a dedicated
image processing circuit developed in our lab: using our Vision
Chip, up to a thousand images can be treated per second [8].
Among other things, this massively parallel processor (containing
one elementary processor per pixel) is capable of thresholding,
extracting the center of gravity of the resulting binary image,
and calculating the size of the "white" area, all this (and more)
at a rate of thousand images per second.

Recently, a compact, USB-based version (SR3300) has been put on
the market by Nippon Precision Circuits. Since this first
released chip has a reduced resolution (48x32), the levels of
pressure resolvable by the screen is presently limited to around
fifteen, which is however quite sufficient for most applications
(spatial resolution is much better than 48x32, because the chip
computes the center of gravity of the spots, thus giving
super-resolved pixel positions).

Preliminary tests were performed validating each aspect of the
working principle. These tests consisted on projecting images on
a screen made of Lycra and estimating eventual occlusion and
shading problems using Vision Chip, as well as implementing a
prototype real-time 3D shape reconstruction algorithm using
Vision Chip, infrared sources, and solid - but curved - surfaces
[10]. Finally, at the present date (5 July 2005), the proposed
system is fully functional (although a different lighting
configuration was used, using low-angle infrared sources instead
of on-axis sources, see [14] for details).

Light Interaction

Since the detection is based on optical technology, the screen
can also be driven by light beams (click on opposite image for a
video demo). The "pressure" is related to the size of the light
spot; thus, an ordinary flashlamp with a focusing ring can be
effectively used to command position as well as pressure (see
video on the right) .

This double modality of interaction makes the deformable screen
interface extremely attractive for a variety of applications,
other than running the Khronos Projector installation. It is
possible to have long-range interaction using ordinary
flashlamps, as well as short range, physical interaction with the
screen.

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Images%20Demo/khronos_light_picture.jpg
Click on image to launch video [WMV, 2.4MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/khronos_luz.wmv]

It is interesting to note that this deformable screen, though
first conceived as a dedicated pressure-sensitive and deformable
screen for the Khronos projector, may represents itself an
interesting human-computer interface for defining and visualizing
arbitrarily-shaped slices of volumetric data (e.g. medical body
scanner images). In particular, it can be a starting point for
developing a pre-operatory interface capable of showing inner
body sections mapped onto complex surfaces, just as they would
appear to the surgeon during an actual operation.

Video Content

Perhaps the most interesting "khronos projected" videos are those
which are able to produce simple spatio-temporal paradoxes and/or
unusual visual effects.  Irreversible phenomena is an interesting
subject to shoot. As with the conventional cinemascope, these
sequences can be shown backward in time, but new, unusual effects
can be brought with the Khronos projector. This is possible by
shooting sequences where time and space remain orthogonal
narrative parameters.

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Images%20Demo/fountain.jpg
Click on image to launch video [MOV, 752KB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/Fountain.mov]

Images:

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/bicis_mut.jpg

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/bicis_izq.jpg

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/bicis_derecha.jpg

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/bicis1.jpg
Click on image to launch video [WMV, 5.6MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/Bicis_1.wmv]

In this sense, the Khronos projector is a suggestive tribute to
Einstein's Theory of Relativity: the temporal relationship
between two physically separate events is a perception relative
to the observer. Now, the Khronos installation is no more -and no
less- than a suggestive tribute to the theory (in its 100th
anniversary!) because it only describes through a metaphor an
otherwise well established scientific fact: that the universal
Time Arrow is just an illusion, "although a convincing one" as
Einstein himself put it.

In any case, it is not a serious platform for recreating any
typical Relativity paradox, because the interactive projection
infringes one fundamental law of Nature: although it is true that
temporal relationships are relative to the observer's inertial
frame, causality is not relative (this follows from the fact that
information cannot travel faster than light). Two events that are
in causal relationship should therefore always maintain their
temporal order. The Khronos projector breaks this rule, but this
is precisely what makes the experience interesting and fun!

Images:

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/Cruce_Dedo.jpg

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/crucetipo3.jpg

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/Deformauto.jpg

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/a_autoPunch.jpg

Video:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/StreetSequences2.mov

Also, the result of visualizing simple gestures using the Khronos
projector can be strikingly weird, probably because our visual
system is fed with information that almost make sense - but for
some subtle, continuous disturbance on the temporal coordinates
of each pixel.

The result of this reconstruction effort is that sometimes the
deformation is no longer interpreted as the result of an
isometric rotation or translation of the whole subject, but
instead as a tremendously deformed gesture.

There are some interesting things to explore here concerning the
emotional response to such "impossible" gestures, an perhaps the
Khronos Projector can effectively be used to explore some
cognitive aspects concerning our visual system (for instance, how
motion is integrated in the process of face recognition).

Animated Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/TourneMoni.gif
Link:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Khronos%20P5/test.html

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/Wob3.jpg

Exploring Time Lapse photography with the Khronos Projector.

Time lapse photographic sequences are formed by taking a snapshot
every minute, hour or day, from a fixed camera shooting at a
natural or artificial landscape. Some "classic" examples are a
one hour duration sequence, one snapshot per minute of a sunset
over the sea, a 12 hours shooting (one picture/ five minutes) of
a city as seen from a skyscraper. Interesting effects may result
from the slowly changing shapes of the skyscraper shades, the
reflection of the sun on the windows, changing color of the sky
and lights on the street, etc.

For instance, in the images below, a Time-Punch brings the night
as a dark eye in the middle of the sky. More simply (and
classically), a spatio-temporal gradient can be formed on the
image by selecting a plane temporal filter. The source material
for these images is a time-lapse photographic sequence lasting
for 3 hours, with a 3 minutes interval between frames. The view
is from an apartment  with a dominating view over central Tokyo.

Images:

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/punch_jeff.jpg

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/punch_jeff_flat.jpg

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/Punch_Tokyo2.jpg

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/efojo4%20.gif
Click on image to launch video [WMV, 6.9MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/TokyoView_3D_Push.wmv]

A bunch of interesting experiments can be performed by just
tuning a few parameters of the Khronos program. These experiments
may produce curious and aesthetic effects, or represent an
interesting interactive experience per se. They also point at
some ideas that may help contriving a custom-tailored movie for
the Khronos projector. These options will remain invisible during
the exhibition so as to avoid confusion and reduce the
interaction-learning time to an absolute minimum (no learning
necessary at all, only intuitive interaction by "pressing" the
screen). Some pre-tuning will be operated beforehand, so as to
simplify and purify the interactive experience. Parameters can
however be changed from time to time.

    * Painting with Time: by slowing down the reaction time of
the temporal surface filter, it is possible to hold for a while
the time coordinates at different parts of the scene. Time is
spread by the user like oil on a canvas. (A "gravity effect" is
also implemented that produce a temporal smearing of the image 
towards the bottom).

    * Bright Future mode: brightness of the image is proportional
to the temporal coordinate, such that the present is totally
black, and the last image of the sequence is normally lit. This
enhances the feeling that the future is being "discovered" (the
opposite, i.e., "Dark Future" mode produces a quite disturbing
feeling, metaphorically rendering our impossibility to see the
future).

    * Minimalistic temporal filters, for instance defining the
cutting surface as simple square windows, and making discrete the
way it translates in time and space too. The image is therefore
decomposed on cubistic square-shaped islands of time, producing a
"Vasarelesque" Sam Loyd's spatio-temporal Fifteen.

    * Time-tunneling: rapid background relaxation: the user only
sees the future in a very small window, and has to rely on memory
to reconstruct an ubiquitous-now. In an extreme situation, we get
the effect of a shower of time-bullets all over the image.

    * Aging Saturation. Other parameters have been implemented
allowing for instance to produce subtle changes in the color of
pixels as these merge in time; for instance, in "Aging
Saturation" mode, going back in time will de-saturate colors, so
the portion of the image would turn grayscale, somehow reminding
us of "old" times of black and white photography.

    * Spatio-Temporal Ripples, etc...

Video-Demos & Snapshots

The sequences feeded onto the program may be composed of several
hundred high-resolution images; it is not the number of images
that slow-down the real-time rendering, but the size of the
images, since the temporal fusion algorithm must sequentially
treat every pixel (when not using 3D textures). Using an Athlon
64 Processor 2.2 GHz (roughly equivalent in computing power to a
Pentium 3GHz) with a 3D graphic acceleration card NVIDIA GeForce
6800, the temporal fusion algorithm achieves smooth real-time
rendering (both in 2D or 3D mode) for VGA (640x480) images with
32 bit color resolution. Much higher resolutions can be used to
produce high-quality snapshots for printing purposes for
instance.

Example Video-Demos:

    * Okinawa Sunset [WMV, 14MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/Okinawa_2D_one.wmv]
    * Thanks to Roger P. Hangarter and his Plants-in-Motion
website:
          o Star Lilly [WMV, 2.2MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/StarLilly.wmv]
          o Tete a Tete [WMV, 4.2MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/Teteatete_1.wmv]
          o Tete a Tete (spilling time) [WMV, 3.7MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/SuiSen_SpillingTime.wmv]
    * Thanks to Naoko Itho and dancers from Mademoiselle Cinema
dance company:
          o Chromatic Danse II (Chromatic Time-Arrow mode) [WMV,
9.6MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/chromatic_danser.wmv]
          o Chromatic Danse II (discrete tesselation) [WMV, 14MB
-
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/squares_chromatic1.wmv]
          o Chromatic Danse I [WMV, 3.4MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/Chaine_2_ChromaticArrow.wmv]
          o Spilling Time Danse (Spilling-Time mode) [WMV, 264KB
-
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/danse_spilltime2.wmv]
          o Waving Good Bye [WMV, 1.7MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/WaveHand_2.wmv]
          o Solo Impro Dance I (flat & 3D view) [WMV, 6MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/SoloImpro_2.wmv]
          o Solo Impro Dance II (saturation mode) [WMV, 1.5MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/DansaProf_2.wmv]
          o Solo Impro Dance III [WMV, 2.6MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/SoloImpro_1.wmv]
          o Solo Impro Dance IV [WMV, 2MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/DansaProf_1.wmv]
          o Group Fall [WMV, 1.8MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/GrupoCaen_1.wmv]
    * Kinetic Sculpture [WMV, 6.3 MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/Aros_1.wmv]
    * Fire! - or what's like to be an X-men [WMV, 5.2MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/Fuego_1.wmv]
    * Playing Bass (thanks to Ito Keita from Kelly Churko Jazz
Band) [WMV, 6.4MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/bass.wmv]
    * Two Hands [WMV, 7.3MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/Two_Hands.wmv]
    * Single Hand [QuickTime, 2.3MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/Khronos_HandTurn.mov]
    * Time Lapse Photographic Sequence [WMV, 24MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/jefo3D.wmv]
    * Spatio-Temporal Aquarium [QuickTime, 1.2MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/SpaceTimeAcquarium.mov]
    * Scream [Avi, 565KB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/Scream.avi]
    * Fountain [QuickTime, 750KB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/Fountain.mov]
    * Street Sequences [QuickTime, 3MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/StreetSequences2.mov]
    * Spatio-Temporal Tesselation [QuickTime, 1.1MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/DiscreteTesselationFishes.mov]
    * Saxo Box [WMV, 826KB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/SaxoLycra_1.wmv]
    * Bicycles [WMV, 5.1MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/Bicis_1.wmv]

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/mademoiselle_2.jpg
Click on image to launch video [WMV, 2.6MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/SoloImpro_1.wmv]

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/StarLilly_0001.jpg
Click on image to launch video [WMV, 2.3MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/StarLilly.wmv]

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/Fuego_1_0001.jpg
Click on image to launch video [WMV, 5.2MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/Fuego_1.wmv]

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/painting_time.jpg
Click on image to launch video [WMV, 7MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/jefo.wmv]

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/espiral.jpg
Click on image to launch video [WMV, 1.9MB - ]

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/spilltime_danse_3d.jpg
Click on image to launch video [WMV, 7.6MB - ]

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/ShibuyaCrossing_0001.jpg
Click on image to launch video [WMV, 8.8MB - ]

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/Aros_1_0001.jpg
Click on image to launch video [WMV, 4.2MB - ]

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/Suisen_Relax_1_0001.jpg
Click on image to launch video [WMV, 4.2MB - ]

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Images%20Demo/dansa_tete.jpg
Click on image to launch video [WMV, 2.6MB - ]

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/CarvingSpaceTime.jpg
Click on image to launch video [WMV, 2.1MB - ]

Images:

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/gggg.jpg

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/levanta_c.jpg

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/lev1.jpg

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/q5.jpg

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/q6.jpg

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/q8.jpg

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/q10.jpg

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/q13.jpg

Animated Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/Caen_Danse.gif
Video:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/GrupoCaen_1.wmv

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/pez_balle1.jpg
Video:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/DiscreteTesselationFishes.mov

Images:

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/DAF2005/hanabi1.jpg

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/DAF2005/hanabi2.jpg

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/DAF2005/hanabi4_3d.jpg
(Above: series of interactive abstract paintings obtained during
a "khronos projection" of a simple sequence showing fireworks
[AVI, 533KB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/KHRONOS_AVI/MVI_6109.AVI])

Images:

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/puertaarriba.jpg

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/puerta2D_5.jpg

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/puerta2D_8.jpg

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/puerta3d_4.jpg

Images:

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Images%20Demo/Lentes_a_destiempo_3.jpg

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Images%20Demo/Lentes_a_destiempo_2.jpg

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Images%20Demo/Lentes_a_destiempo_1.jpg

Demo Applet

The demo applet (click here or on the image below) is a
simplified version of the software that runs the Khronos
Projector installation. It accepts input from mouse and
touch-screen. To be able to run the program online, you should
have Java installed in your browser.

This version (coded in Processing) will continue to evolve (in
particular, I would like to enable uploading movies from webcams
or personal files).

Applet Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/clickoverhere1.jpg
Applet Link:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/test/test.html

Note: the applet will never be as fast as the C++ version which
has been optimized for real-time rendering using 3D textures on
graphics accelerating hardware (and consecuently, it's able to
handle high-quality image sequences in real time), accepts input
from graphic-tablet as well as custom hardware such as Vision
Chip. However, due to specificities of my custom hardware, I
finally decided not to put the the main version of the program
(written in C++) available for download.

Conclusion and Remarks

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Images%20Demo/SequenceStrokeSpacetime.jpg

Something new can be expected to emerge from this interactive
experience: a new perspective on the recorded events and their
temporal relationship - something perhaps not even accessible to
the film maker in the first place. The spectator will be an
explorer, waking her/his own path on the bulk spatio-temporal
data of the movie, not helped nor constrained by the temporal
arrow that fills space, dictates causality and creates
understanding in a usual movie projection. At the same time, he
will certainly feel lost: for to understand what's going on, will
now demand an active participation, an exhaustive and conscious
exploration of each portion of the visual space. We can say that
by shattering the spatio-temporal volume of the movie, the
Khronos projector forces our conscious attention over silent yet
powerful perceptual-unification processes that encompass
intensive recalling, spatial memory skills and logic reasoning.
>From my own experience with the Khronos projection, I believe
this can be a puzzling and recreational experience for the
public.

Presently, even the film maker less prone to linear-narratives is
forced to integrate the screen-ubiquitous time arrow as a fact in
her/his work. Therefore, from the creator's side, something new
may also emerge from the idea of having a Khronos Projector
accessible to her/his spectators: a new way of approaching and
conceiving a visual narrative altogether. (By the way, I wonder
how many film makers have really integrated the fact that a large
audience can nowadays see their work using a digital player - and
thus being able to stop, rewind, replay and even skip some parts,
just as if their were reading an illustrated book. The result is
an interactive "audience's cut": people edit and post-produce the
movie at home) For instance, imagine a version of Hitchcock's
"The Rear Window" prepared for the Khronos-projector: as in the
original movie, the whole story is to be reconstructed from
pieces of sequences taking place simultaneously, but because of
the hidden correlation between facts, understanding must heavily
rely on memory. Now, thanks to the Khronos interface, we will be
able to go backwards or forward in time at - literally - the
desired window. It would probably destroy the interest of the
whole movie, since suspense is maintained thanks to our actual
ignorance and perpetual conjecturing. However, the movie in
question was shot only to be seen in a movie theater, using
conventional reproducing hardware, and having in mind that the
projecting hardware was precisely the kind that does not allow
the public to freely explore the space-time volume. The "Rear
Window" for the Khronos projector will perhaps contain several
possible interleaved stories, depending on the way the space-time
volume is explored.

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Images%20Demo/dansa_coeur.jpg
Link:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/Dancer_2D_1.wmv

In a word, the Khronos projector installation suggests the
possibility of freeing both the film maker and its audience from
the constraint of a pixel-ubiquitous time arrow. Despite this new
degree of freedom, the experience is not yet a simulation: during
a Khronos projection, we cannot change the nature of the
pre-recorded events, only the perspective, only the way we
perceive their temporal relationship. For a moment we are like
ghosts able to wander at will, both in space and time, in a world
of images frustratingly inaccessible. Interaction is impossible,
observation is all we can do. Yet this "controlled" observation
can produce deep changes in the way we reconstruct the patterns
of causality, exposing a hidden multitude of subjective
realities. In La invencion de Morel (1940), Bioy Casares
describes a character trapped in a three-dimensional recording,
which keep repeating over and over again. The character soon
discovers that this world is being created by a machine - a
sophisticated omni-projector - and that the plot has been
recorded years ago, immortalizing the characters, their bodies
and perhaps also their souls. To his despair, he also discover
that he is utterly invisible to these people. Yet he can wander
among them and fancy some interaction, stop the projection,
launch it again, and even record himself on it: in a sense, he is
"dubbing" reality. The Khronos Projector gives us a glimpse on
this thrilling possibility of being at the same time spectator of
a fixed movie content, and also and in a strong sense, director
in a personalized post-production. One aspect of this project
that I find particularly appealing is the fact that though the
interface represents an entirely new visualization technique, it
allows for the exploration of otherwise conventional movie
content. This may arouse the curiosity of anyone having access to
a camcorder. People may want to try their own movies trough the
Khronos projector. This also opens the door to the contribution
of other artists' works in present and future exhibitions, that
may find the project challenging and/or enriching enough.

For more details on this project as presented at SIGGRAPH 2005,
Emerging Technologies, take a look at the slide presentation
[14].

Future works

Last, I would like to point to some ideas for improvement of the
present interface as well as further development of the whole
idea:

    * Hardware: develop the tissue deformable screen to produce a
full-body interface, capable of capturing complex and large
deformations of the spandex fabrix. Using it, it would be
possible to physically "enter" the data stored in the video cube.
A more sensitive and larger deformable screen is currently under
development

Images:

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Images%20Demo/kiji_te.jpg

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Images%20Demo/kiji_cara.jpg

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Images%20Demo/full_body_interaction.jpg
Click on image to launch video [WMV, 1.4MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/full_body_interaction.wmv]

    * Add other modalities to enhance the experience, such as
sound or voice. A sample of "stretching-rubber" sound may be
heard as the surface is stretched and deformed, contributing to
an organic, non-digital experience. In the case of an interaction
controlled by throwing pebbles onto the deformable display, the
formation of "time-ripples" on the surface could be accompanied
by the sound of a stone plunging in the water. In sequences
involving talking persons, it would be interesting to
intelligently integrate the audio-track, for instance by clipping
and attaching phrases or words to precise spatio-temporal
coordinates (i.e. events). Then, sounds, words or phrases will be
triggered and modulated by the user pressure onto the screen.

    * Khronos Projector: Live. In its present form, the Khronos
projector displays a static image when there is no input
interaction. Although I believe this to contribute in a
meaningful way to the purpose of an installation that plays with
the concept of Time, it can be interesting to try a modified
version of the program having a real-time updated spatio-temporal
volume: the sliced sequence being Khronos-projected can be
updated through a web-cam either in the same room or somewhere
else. At any given time, the spatio-temporal volume will be
formed by a set of snapshots taken every minute during the last
12 hours, or every fraction of a second during the last minute.
At every capture, a new picture is added to the pool of images,
while the oldest is discarded - forming a first-input
first-output buffer of images. This way, the Khronos projectors
will display a live video in the absence of interaction. Of
course, this idea is stronly inspired from the Last Clock
art-installation [7].

    * 3D Khronos projector, using GLUT Stereo frames (with LCD
shuttered goggles). Feeded with stereoscopic video, the Khronos
Projector would stereoscopic spatio-temporal slices. In an
interesting variation of the idea, parallax could even be used to
adjust the time coordinate (so that when trying to see "behind"
some thing, would in fact be transposed as to seeing "before" (by
rotating the space-time volume).

    * Chromatic Time Arrow. The Khronos Projector interactively
"mixes" time and space; however, it is also possible to mix other
"spaces" - for instance the color space, the motion-flow field...
or even higher-level semantic spaces such as the result of a
segmentation of the image based on face or gesture recognition,
etc. Time would "freeze" around a sad face, or accelerate around
the shape of a person running. A (rather simple) example of
per-pixel luminance/time entanglement (speed of time evolution is
controlled by the pixel luminance) can be seen by clicking on the
image on the left. It is interesting to note that the projection
will either converge to a final static image, or cycle around a
finite set of images.

Images:

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/chromatic_danse.jpg

http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Images%20Demo/lumino-temporal.jpg
Click on image to launch video [WMV, 9.6MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/chromatic_danser.wmv]

    * Use image databases not necessarily coming from "slicing"
video or time-lapse photography. As said above, an interesting
example database may be a set of body scanner images; but it
would also be interesting to apply the interactive and smooth
"image-fusion" algorithm of the khronos projector to
geological/aerial/hitorical maps, architectural or mechanical
drawings, etc: in a word, to any set of images corresponding each
to a different information layer. (Additional "data" would appear
under the pressed area, smoothly blended/fused with the rest of
the image.)

    * Develop a completely different interface, that would enable
sculpting and carving into the spatio-temporal volume of the
movie as if it were made of clay; this simple deformable
tissue-based screen could be replaced by a more sofisticated
"tangible" display (using the amazing "GelForce" interface
developed at the University of Tokyo [11], or a "tangible"
display developed at MIT [12], or even an interface capable of
complex haptic feedback (such as Sony "TouchEngine") to achieve
direct "tactile" sensing of the spatio-temporal object being
sculpted and manipulated (e.g. spatio-temporal contours). This
work is closely related to [3].

    * Use the pressure=time paradigm not just to "explore"
spatio-temporal content, but also to create new content. For
instance, a similar interface could be used to search and place
images, alphanumeric data or sound in 3D space, thus converting
the space into a Volumetric Note-Pad. Of course, the depth
coordinate could readily represent “time” (hours, days or
months), making for a Volumetric Agenda.

    * Last but not least, the Khronos-projector can develop into
an interface for decrypting what's going on in complex physical
phenomena: for instance, recorded activity of neurons in the
surface of the brain or femto-second quantum interaction
phenomena in a lattice of atoms. In both cases, to be able to
"evolve" in time some parts of the image but keep others in the
present could be helpful to uncover long-range, causal
relationships.

Contributions & Acknowledgements

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/puertagoxa.jpg

First of all I would like to thanks the director of my
laboratory, Ishikawa Masatoshi, for allowing me to spend part of
my "serious" research time on the final phases of this project -
which, strictly speaking, is far from being a purely scientific
occupation. This is possible because he sees a deep
interconnection between Art, Science (and Technology), as these
are parts of a large, noble (and perhaps better left undefined)
human endeavor. I think It is no longer necessary today to prove
that the most interesting results and discoveries in any of the
above cited fields come from a cross-disciplinary approach - or
at least with a true open frame of mind. Had these noble
arguments not be sufficient to justify this escapade... well,
let's not forget about the fun of putting it all together and
enjoying exciting discussions with people from very different
fields. In particular, I am in debt with the following people who
contributed, each in their own way, to this work: Anchelee
Davies, "Jeff" Schneider, Marco Cuturi, Philippe Pinel, Eric
Augier, Stephane Perrin, Gonzalo Frasca - and especially Monica
Bressaglia, Luc Foubert and Jussi Angesleva. 

Alvaro Cassinelli, Tokyo, 10 January 2005

Latest supporters and contributors (update 25 July 2005):

    * Nelson Balbela (independent artist).
    * Takahito Ito, Master Student, University of Tokyo.
    * Roger P. Hangarter, Associate Professor, Indiana University
(contributed with time-lapse sequences of plants. Check his
awsome website - plants are alive and restlessly moving!
[http://sunflower.bio.indiana.edu/%7Erhangart/plantmotion/PlantsInMotion.html]).
    * Also, a very special thank to Naoko Itoh and all the
dancers from the "Mademoiselle Cinema" dance company
(http://www.wcities.com/outside.html?u=http%3A//www.session-house.net/).

Exhibition History

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/SpaceTimeRipples_People_0003.jpg

    * SIGGRAPH 2005, Emerging Technologies, Los Angeles, 31 July
- 5 August (2005) (http://www.siggraph.org/s2005/).
    * Interactive Tokyo 2005, Tokyo, 25-26 August (2005)
(http://interactivetokyo.jp/2005/exhibit.php).
    * NHK Digital Stadium, best selection award (BS2, 8.10.2005)
(http://www.nhk.or.jp/digista/onair/hall.html).

Contact

Image:
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/SNAPSHOTS/cafe_aparicion.jpg

Alvaro Cassinelli. Assistant Professor (Research Associate).
Ishikawa-Namiki-Komuro Laboratory - Dept of Information Physics
and Computing.

The University of Tokyo. 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033
Japan.
Tel: +81-3-5841-6937 / Fax: +81-3-5841-6952
Email: address@hidden

Some References

[1] S. Jaschko. Space-Time Correlations Focused in Film Objects
and Interactive Video
(http://www.sujaschko.de/en/research/pr1/spa.html). Published in:
ISEA Papers, Nagoya/Japan (2002). Also published in Future
Cinema.The Cinematic Imaginary after Film. Edited by Peter
Weibel, MIT Press, (2003).

[2] A. W. Klein et al. Stylized video cubes. Proc. the ACM
SIGGRAPH Symposium on Comp. Animation, pp. 15-22, (2002).

[3] S. Fels, E. Lee, and K. Mase. Techniques for interactive
cubism. In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Multimedia, pages
368–370, October (2000).

[4] Camille Utterback. Liquid Time Series (2000)
(http://www.camilleutterback.com/liquidtime.html).

[5] Toshio Iwai, Another Time, Another Space (1993)
(http://mitpress2.mit.edu/e-journals/Leonardo/gallery/gallery332/iwai.html).

[6] Z. B.. Simpson. Novel Infrared Touch-Screen Technology and
Associated Artwork. Emerging Technologies, SIGGRAPH 2004, Los
Angeles, (2004).

[7] J. Angesleva and R. Cooper. Last Clock
(http://www.lastclock.co.uk/). Emerging Technologies, SIGGRAPH
2004, Los Angeles, August (2004).

[8] T. Komuro, I. Ishii, M. Ishikawa and A. Yoshida. A Digital
Vision Chip Specialized for High-speed Target Tracking. IEEE
transaction on Electron Devices, Vol.50, No.1, pp.191-199 (2003).

[9] A. Cassinelli, S. Perrin and M. Ishikawa. Markerless
Laser-based Tracking for Real-Time 3D Gesture Acquisition
(http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/fusion/LaserActiveTracking/).
SIGGRAPH 2004, Los Angeles, (2004).

[10] Y. Ugai, A. Namiki and M. Ishikawa. 3D Shape Recognition
Using High Speed Vision and Active Lighting Device. The 4th SICE
System Integration Division Annual Conference (SI2003) (Tokyo,
Japan, 2003.12.19) / Proceedings, pp. 113-114, Dec. (2003).

[11] K. Kamiyama, K. Vlack, T. Mizota, H.i Kajimoto, N. Kawakami
and S. Tachi. GelForce. Emerging Technologies, SIGGRAPH 2004, Los
Angeles, (2004).

[12] H. Ishii, C Ratti, B. Piper, Y. Wang, A. Biderman and E.
Ben-Joseph. Bringing clay and sand into digital design -
continuous tangible user interfaces. BT Technology Journal, Vol.
22, No. 4, pp. 287-299, October (2004).

[13] Levin, Golan. An Informal Catalogue of Slit-Scan Video
Artworks, 2005. Web:
<http://www.flong.com/writings/lists/list_slit_scan.html>.

[14] A. Cassinelli, T. Ito and M. Ishikawa. Khronos Projector.
Emerging Technologies, SIGGRAPH 2005, Los Angeles (2005). One
page abstract (english/japanese) [PDF, 2.1MB -
file://///D0/wwwedit/members/alvaro/Publications/KHRONOS_PROJECTOR_SIGGRAPH_EandJ.pdf].
Power Point presentation (with abundant video) [PPT, 10MB -
http://www.k2.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/alvaro/Khronos/Video_Demos_shorts/KHRONOS_SIGGRAPH_2005_Slides.ppt].
 

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