king talk

It‘s almost two days ago that we launched the decoded conference, an event which will interconnect people from the field of design and programming.

The decdoded conference is focusing at the development process of interesting projects within the limits of design and code/technology. The projects should be inspiration and build a base for further discussions. At this conference we will online show projects, that have been done or which have been prototyped already. Ideas and visions have to be brought into reality. The conference will foster the cultural interchange between the fields of design and tech. Topics and projects about generative design, gaming and human computer interaction will be presented by the speakers.

Our featured speakers are:
Mario Klingemann – Schönes aus Code
Moritz Stefaner – Ästhetik von Information
Benedikt Groß & Hartmut Bohnacker – Generative Gestaltung
Tilman Reiff & Volker Morawe – Games, Art & Testosterone
Massimo Banzi – Tinkering with Arduino

Like the decoded concept itself the the organisation team is a mixture of the fields of code and design. we as envis precisely, a design studio for interface and interaction design, are organizing and hosting this event together with our nerdy coding friends from reppa.net. We are looking forward to see you there…

You can find more information about the conference and ticketing at
www.decoded-conference.com

After weeks of sleep deprivation and a lot of hard work, the ZNT (»Center for New Technologies«) at Deutsches Museum in Munich finally opened its gates to the public today. It’s a fully interactive permanent exhibition about bio- and nanotechnology – with an interaction concept conceived and produced by envis precisely in cooperation Haslbeck Ausstellungsprojekte and other partners – introduces its visitors to the world of very tiny things.

The whole  concept is based on 33 interactive mini laboratories made of steel and glass. They provide the guest with information about the opportunities, risks and the fascination of nanotechnology. The visitors are no longer just spectators – they become explorers in this exhibiton.

The widespread use of digital technology has become commonplace in modern science and is also reflected in the exhibition. The entire front surfaces of the cabinets are actually touch-sensitive panels. By simply pointing to an object, the visitor gets access to additional information on the central information display. This interface then offers further explanatory pictures or short films.

Closing the gap between the visitor and the information as directly as possible was one of our main goals. We created the interfaces, interactions and the media systems for the labs and other special units as well as the motion design of all informal short movies.

A lot of positive press feedback was published just in the last few hours. German TV news show »ZDF heute journal« calls the exhibition a »spectacular, new, interactive show« and the Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer believes it is »the new crown jewel« of the Deutsche Museum. We humbly agree.

You can watch the whole clip of heute journal (Minute: 22:04 – 26:06, German) or visit our ZNT flickr set for some more pictures if you want. Some additional information and an entry at our portfolio will be published asap…

Hello everybody. It´s time to introduce you to the brand new issue no.2 of Germany’s finest magazine for interaction design called weave. It will be released on Monday, the 16th.

And envis has written an article again. This time it´s all about prototyping, but I don´t want to tell more about it. Just go to the next kiosk and grab yourself a weave…

Everybody knows Pong – one of the earliest arcade video games which is simply based on the elementary idea of tennis. We decided to take this concept one step further, so Phil wrote a nice color tracker, which is capable of tracking two different hues. In this case it recognizes two different socks put over the hands of each competitor. We were using a installation made of white corrugated fiberboard found in the leftovers from Atzinger Verpackungs GmbH in Munich. The tracking cam is a second hand PS2 eye toy camera which we bought for 14,99 EUR at gamestop store just around the corner.

The well-known software we were using is processing, a programming language and integrated development environment (IDE) built for the electronic arts and visual design communities. We had to build the prototype both quickly and cheaply, so it was more important to be functionally efficient rather than aesthetically perfect. In the end the whole assembly cost us 15 EUR and took just an afternoon to build.

This pong game is in fact a mashup of the results of our 24h toyhacking session which took place on Friday, and the week-long SHARE project from Yannick Assogba  (MIT Media Lab / Sociable Media Group)

Having a big ass multitouch table at home might be cool. But while you are developing the awesome apps you gonna run on it, it´s quite annoying to test them on that big thing. Basically there are 3 alternative ways to more or less »simulate« the multitouch behaviour:

1. iPhone/iPod Touch > OSCemote > flosc > Flash

My favourite one is using the multitouch ability of my iPod Touch. Running OSCemote (iTunes) on your iPod you can send the multitouch input via WiFi to your MacBook Pro. There you just need to forward the data via FLOSC (Flash Open Sound Control) to use it in Flash. This setup provides the best multitouch feeling for the least effort.

Alternate tools, but more or less complex to handle: TouchOSC, MRMR or SWAP.

2. cardboard prototype > CCV > Flash

Before using my iPod as tracking device I used »NHALT«, a Cheap Multitouch Pad we built in about 30min. using a white paper, some slices of a packing case and a 3-year-old Webcam (Logitech Quickcam) for about 30 EUR. Since the NUI Group upgraded their Tracking Software from »tbeta« to »CCV« it is the only step you need between the pad and Flash. This solution is real fun if you like a little DIY and is the one closest to a real table.

3. SimTouch > SocketServer > Flash

You don’t have an iPod Touch, DIY is not your thing or you don’t want to relay on good lighting for testing your awesome app then SimTouch might be the solution for you. This multitouch simulator  is an elegant semi-transparent window you can lay over your flash application. Via SocketServer the signal gets relayed to Flash and off you go!

If you know a possible fourth solution. Feel free to comment it…

Sorry, there was to much SPAM to leave the comments open.