Impressive Art Video Created Using Three Microsoft Kinect Game Controllers

In a project by Daniel Franke and Cedric Kiefer three Kinect controllers were used to create a 3D depth map image of a dancer in motion. This video becomes “a moving sculpture from the recorded motion data of a real person.” Undoubtedly, there is a computer involved somewhere to render the final file but it does show the potential for art from the Kinect.  Most of the interesting video done with a Kinect seems to flow from German roots which gives it a Kraftwerk aura  for recreated video sources.

The three-dimensional image allowed changes in perspective without the limitations of camera placement.  What is interesting with this is the video can be “re-shot” ala lightfield camera focus where  new versions of the video can be created with each offering a different composition of the scene/performance as the camera footage allows any imaginable perspective.

Video is below (sometimes it can get laggy) -

unnamed soundsculpture from Daniel Franke on Vimeo.

Daniel Franke’s bio states he works as an artist, designer and music video director in Berlin. His works challenge the restrictions of conventional spatial frameworks and – concepts: digital simulations should no longer be limited to an on-screen-display; instead the digital might be imagined as transferable into real space and thus extend perceptions of “the real”. Ultimately digital spaces should leave the realm of the virtual and enter the tactile. This approach is present in works like „Spatial Sound Sculpture“ and „Durchsehen Exp. 01 (Augmented Perspective)“.

Daniel is at the University of Arts where he is currently preparing his masters degree (Meisterschüler) mentored by Prof. Joachim Sauter and Prof. Alberto de Campo.

Cedric Kiefer studies in communication design at HfG Karlsruhe and FH Potsdam.  He also teaches generative design and Processing at HAWK Hildesheim, FH Wiesbaden, FH Mainz.

A link to a more detailed but not highly technical discussion of the piece is here.

 New and Much Less Expensive Light Field Cameras in Development?

Perhaps in response to the introduction of the Lytro camera, two independent attempts to develop light field cameras in a much less complex and costly fashion have appeared. Both approaches focus on the use of mask based light field cameras. Based on the edits to one of his web pages, Amit Agrawal with the Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs and Visual Information Processing Group (UGR) under the direction of Rafael Molina have both recently proposed different approaches using masks in front of image sensors.

Agrawal in his page called Lytro vs Mask Based Light Field Camera makes the argument that while Lytro has provided a powerful solution, there is another way. Video is below:

The video shows an alternative but it requires physical manipulation of the lenses. Agrawal states: “There are several ways to capture the light field. One way is to put a lenslet array in front of the sensor such that the main lens is focused on the lenslet array and the lenslet array is focused on the sensor. This is the approach used by Lytro, which is offereing the first commercial light field camera. Now the cone of rays from a focused scene point falls on the lenslet which diverts the rays to different pixels on the sensor. One can thus capture the angular variation among rays. This is a form of integral imaging, which has roots as far back as 1908 when Lippmann proposed such a design for 3D photography. However, spatial resolution is lost since the sensor pixels are now used to sample the angular variations. A hand-held light field camera using lenslets was demonstrated by Ren Ng at Stanford in 2005 with beautiful results on light field applications such as digital refocusing. Their proposed design uses a Contax medium format camera resulting in approximately 300 by 300 spatial resolution and 14 by 14 angular resolution.

The above approaches are based on refractive elements. Our design is based on non-refractive elements such as masks. In our design, a pinhole array mask (transparency) is place in front of the sensor. Each pinhole samples the angular variation by forming the image of the aperture on the sensor.”

It seems as if the Visual Information Processing Group has taken the approach specified by Agrawal advanced it through the use of an LCD mask that can be transparent or made variously opaque.  Video is below:

Computational Photography Prototype from Visual Image Processing Group on Vimeo.

Additional images and results are shown here ( link ).

Agrawal believes that the cost of his mask solution to achieve light field results is about $5 but, as shown in the video, it is very much a manual process.  The Visual Information Processing Group solution is likely to be more than $5 but also is much less than a light field camera using a microlens setup.

Raytrix Light Field Technology Wins CHIP Award Presented During CeBIT 2012

Rayrix GmbH announced that it was recognized during CeBIT 2012 with a 2012 CHIP award for Innovation of the year 2012: Light field camera technology. The translated announcement states: “Raytrix implements the first real digital darkroom and shows us the next generation photography.” Certainly, Raytrix is not the only light field camera for sale these days, but they have done stunning work in the field. The text of the award is here.

CHIP bills itself as a testing facility, technology guide and trend barometer in one.  Through its awards at CeBIT, the technology magazine rewards extraordinary achievements from the highly innovative branch. The CHIP AWARDS ceremony is the top event at the largest IT trade fair worldwide.

The Incredible Shrinking Pixel

Nokia with the introduction of its 808 PureView camera has put a 41 MP sensor into a smartphone camera. However, as I researched the story a little more, the most interesting fact was Nokia’s claim that pixels are generally shrinking in size over time.  The result is that a larger sensor in terms of pixel count may not be clearly superior to one with a lower number of pixels. There is no hard and fast rule but pixel size and overall sensor area are the key factors to pay attention to.

In their whitepaper, “PureView imaging technology” Nokia makes a reasonable case that pixel counts should be taken with a grain of salt.  “The main way to build smaller cameras over the years has been to reduce the pixel size. These have shrunk just over the past 6 years from 2.2 microns, to 1.75 microns . . . Some new products are on the way with 1.1 micron pixels.” So within 10 years pixel size will have dropped about 50%.  Nokia further argues that all things equal, this is not a move forward for imaging as reducing pixel size alone can result in more visual noise in images/videos.

Smaller pixels can provide a path to richer detail on an image but all things equal on a sensor, if a pixel is just smaller that pixel will just capture fewer photons. With the pixel being smaller, the sensor could be made smaller but an 8MP sensor with a smaller area will produce a poorer image than an 8MP sensor with a larger total sensor area. The sensor with larger pixels and more surface area will capture more light and give more image detail and light to work with.

In future discussion of new cameras the number of pixels will be important. However, the pixel size must be an important consideration as that will allow greater detail. The size of the sensor is critical as well in that it determines the amount of light captured for an image.  Finally, the “effective image size” in MP will be important as it shows how the pixels will be used to generate an image.

Scalado Software Can Make Your Smartphone Seem More Powerful than Your Camera

Scalado recently announced that it has released a new revolutionizing product named Remove. Remove is a technology that automatically highlights and removes any unwanted object from a captured photo.

Remove is the world’s first Object removal software to be released on a mobile device.

One of the more common consumer photographic problems is unwanted objects in captured images, such as people getting in the way of our camera shot. Scalado’s Remove software detects and selects the unwanted objects which can be removed automatically or through touching the selections on the screen after capturing the image.

“After Zero Shutter Lag, Burst, and Rewind Scalado continue leading and changing the capturing landscape by bringing in new unique and needed capturing innovations”, says Fadi Abbas, CMO/VP BizDev and Co-founder of Scalado, -”What differentiate us is the combination of customers who believe in our superiority, leading industry partners and continuous innovations”

In 2011,  Scalado released several innovations including its Rewind software which allows the users to capture perfect group shots by automatically selecting the best shots in a burst and merging them into one perfect image. Rewind is already shipping in millions of mobile phones.  It looks as if the only thing separating your best camera from your mobile phone is a lens. UPDATE: It appears that in fact, your good smartphone is much more powerful than a good camera. (link)

Scalado is headquartered in Lund, Sweden, with regional commercial and development facilities in USA, Korea, China, Taiwan and Singapore.

The Camera Phones Moving to Become the Dominant Imaging Device

IC Insights, Inc. is a leading semiconductor market research company headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA recently reported on research that shows not only are camera phones becoming the main imaging device for the vast majority of the population, they are also beginning to set the standard on features as well.

Shipments of 3MP or greater camera phones are expected to grow faster than DSC

IC Insights reports that “With most cellphones now containing multi-megapixel cameras, many users have left digital still cameras (DSCs) and video camcorders at home and opting to take snapshots and HD-movie clips with cellular handsets instead. For several years, camera makers fought off the encroachment of camera phones by continuously increasing the megapixel resolution, but most camera phones have reached the point of providing “good enough” picture quality to satisfy most consumers. ”

A key feature is the ability to upload files to email and the web via the phone. Other new systems include  called electronic viewfinder interchangeable lens (EVIL) cameras.  These are are thinner than D-SLR cameras because they do not use mirrors between the image sensor and optical-eyepiece viewfinders since they have all-electronic viewfinders built with LCD technology.  The result is  the ssmall body of compact point-and-shoot DSCs with the  interchangeable lens-mounting systems of D-SLR models

Our featured blog series continues with Industry Voices.  Each week, CEOs, photographers and students will share their views on products, techniques and the future.  Check out previous entries here.