I recorded 3 episodes yesterday, and have another 2 to do on Friday. I really enjoy working on voice over projects as its so much fun.

An attempt to build a responsive screen, that reacts to the viewer’s position to create the illusion of depth.

A small video camera picks up the scene, and (using Processing) attempts to find the user’s position via Face Recognition. This information is then fed back to update the outputted graphics.

We originally attempted the visuals as fully rendered 3D images, but couldn’t get the application to shift through that many 1024×768 images quick enough, so fell back onto a basic ‘popup book’ (2.5D) style scene.

This project was developed for the Media Sandbox project, between HMC Interactive and Aardman.

As always with R&D there’s loads more we’d love to do with the project, but we’re very happy with the results so far.

Thanks to Dan for the video.

Merging animation with real life video footage on screen is something that has been done for years. Classic films like ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit?’ have spellbound adults and children alike. What if this could happen in real life? Can a cartoon reality become part of our reality, creating an augmented hyper-reality?

This project will examine platforms that allow HMC to bring Aardman characters to life, utilising a number of playful and interactive delivery systems in and around locations across the City of Bristol. The Project aims to understand the city as a canvas, and experiment how digital media can augment space and location, culminating in an event that will showcase the methods that have been uncovered.

HMC Interactive is an award winning multimedia production company, based in Plymouth, UK. With a passion for exhibition and educational output, HMC have enjoyed success with a range of projects for clients such as National Museum of Scotland, Battle Abbey Visitor Centre, the Royal Observatory, the National Waterfront Museum Swansea and Cadbury World.

Aardman is a multi-Oscar winning studio and a world leader in character led 3D animated film production making animation for idents, short films, commercials, web series, web content, TV services & feature films. Best known for Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, Creature Comforts, Angry Kid. Recent commercials clients include British Gas, CocaCola, Johhny Walker, Kelloggs, Hovis & Budweiser.

HMC Interactive have been commissioned by Atomic TV to create an “Angry House” for The Big Chill multi media festival held at Eastnor Castle Deer Park in the Malvern Hills. The idea behind Angry House is to create an interactive, performance-based installation, where this notion of the emotional house is played out. It looks like a wooden, backyard playhouse, which is designed in a cute, mini-house style, so it is attractive to children. It sits in on a manicured piece of land, surrounded by trees. It has the appearance of innocence and calm. When no one is around, the house sleeps…all is quiet, except for the wind chimes hanging above the door.

But the house is sentient. It knows when someone approaches and from what direction. Proximity sensors embedded in the front of the house, detect the distance and movement of the visitor. As they get closer, the house stirs, getting angrier, it growls and bangs the door from inside. Sometimes, a bright light will shoot out of the small windows, projecting shadowy figures onto the adjacent trees. The house will appear to be alive and active, attracting attention with its internal, flickering light and sweet chimes. The Angry House is always locked and visitors can never go in, but curious folk can always peer through the windows at the dark secret within.

I worked on this project, so here’s the video. More explanations to follow shortly!

HMC Interactive have completed work on the first of three major two-day conferences for the Driving Standards Agency. A touch-screen based interactive voting system was designed and built to allow nearly 300 conference attendees to ask questions, fill out surveys and leave feedback about the conference. This interactive allowed a live Q&A system where DSA employees were able to anonymously ask questions to the Board of Directors about the company and these were answered in situ.

As well as the touch screen system, HMC Interactive created an extra special centrepiece for the conference. A classic Mini Cooper painted in DSA’s brand colours was pimped out with a plasma screen TV and custom video diary software. The ‘Diary Wheels’, as it became known, used the well-known voice of Big Brother to ask conference delegates questions about the DSA. Their answers were automatically recorded and edited into a vox pops video to give everyone a taste of the conference.

This interactive was highly successful amongst the delegates as it was the perfect non-intrusive feedback system which was also fun to use and original.

For the past 3 days I have been working on a really nice project in Alton Towers for the DSA. Its been a lot of fun, but I’ve had no sleep whatsoever! I will be posting pictures as soon as I can, and you will see the amazing interactive Mini Cooper we produced. Its a beautiful old mini done up to the nines with an amazing bright orange paint job. The inside is modified with a huge plasma screen, video camera and interactive steering wheel. It features the voice over from the Big Brother guy, and records Diary Room style video from inside the blacked out mini. It has been so popular over the past few days.

We have also installed 32 interactive touch screens in the conference rooms for live voting and crowed interaction. Its really sweet.

This video talks about Visual Voice Pro, the software I designed for music therapy rooms. It was filmed at PMZ.

Here are two more high resolution photos of us behind the scenes at Living coasts. One is of myself testing out our interactive floor with its state of the art infa-red sensors in a system I designed and tested myself. The other picture is of Luke Angell testing out the 3 touch screens mounted into the walls.

If you cant get to living coasts, you can always add Ping the penguin to your facebook friends! He’s so cute… but he smells of fish!

I have been working really hard on an amazing new interactive floor for Living Coasts. It should all be ready by next Tuesday, and we are all really looking forward to it. Its been a really interesting job and i have learnt a lot about penguins.

I have been working on an “Eco-floor” that has life sized interactive ecology games where kids can clean up a virtual oil slick or rescue trapped animals. Its going to be interesting to see how people react to it. Rather than just being a simple use of interactivity for entertainment this floor has a real educational message.