The flocking system in Stardust was taking shape. Talking with my tutors, I learned that there was a way to work with flocking systems in a way that was easier to display in real-time than what I had. This involved using a frame buffer object, or FBO, and “place” the flocking system in it. I learned an FBO is an extension to openGL for rendering in a more flexible way. This slideshow was very helpful to grasp the concept of FBOs.
I started by studying examples in OF that had FBOs, and then build up from there.
Fbo trials example in openFrameworks.
Built up on examples to place webcam feed inside an FBO.
While testing I noticed these weird trails instead of the boids…
It turned out I needed to check that it Cleared for RGB and Alpha channels. Clear (0,0,0,0).
After that, I managed to get my boids to run smoothly inside the FBO 🙂
I discussed with Joel *my progress and he mentioned he used FBO’s in his ScreenLab project. I also learned from that project (portals) how to use FBOs. Portals allows “for the mapping of horiztonal beams onto a body in real time – face, chest and crotch. The project uses a Kinect as gestural input.”
I had fun testing Portals for myself, so thanks to Joel for that awesome project!
Portals calibrating…
Full-size screen test.
Portals (screen interaction).
Projection mapping on the body setup. (The original project is like this).
Light beams on crotch, chest and eyes.
Participant’s view, looking down.
*Joel and Pete have been my external tutors at the MA. I was very lucky to also intern at their studio in London. Good friends and truly generous, great guys.
