Thursday, December 31, 2009

Happy New Year


Some Studio Artist 4 temporal rank filter processing using source video footage of fireworks ringing in 2010.

Kaneohe Driveby


This started with some video footage taken out the car window while driving through kaneohe on Oahu. It was then processed with the Studio Artist 4 temporal scan tracker.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Faces of 2009


Studio Artist 4 Vectorizer interpretation of the LA Times faces of 2009.

Maui Vog Landing


This is a temporal synopsis of our plane landing on Maui during a particularly voggy day. The static photo started with a video sequence shot out the window of the plane as it came in for landing at Kahului. This particular landing is unusual because the plane is coming in from the north. Typically the plane will fly over central maui from the south for a landing. The source video footage of the landing was then processed in the Studio Artist 4 temporal scan tracker with a top to bottom scan direction and the new smart seam interpolation option.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Road to Hana 2


This started with some video footage taken while driving towards Haiku on the Hana Highway. The layering you get from the coarse smart seam interpolation and the vertical scan direction is interesting. When you first look at it you get tricked into thinking it's a fog bank. Another one of those images where your brain generates a perceptual image that is artificially constructed and doesn't necessarily match the physics of the actual location.

Honolulu Takeoff


Temporal composite image of the view from a plane taking off from Honolulu airport. This started with a video sequence taken out of the window of the plane during takeoff. That source video was then processed with the Studio Artist 4 temporal scan tracker to build the static image. I used a bottom to top scan direction and the new smart seam interpolation. This particular approach to generating a static temporal image from the video footage provides a nice visual synopsis of the journey.

Monday, December 28, 2009

North Shore Vista


This started with some video footage taken out of the front window of a moving car while driving on Maui's north shore. I used the new smart seam option in the Studio Artist 4 temporal scan tracker 2 to build the static panorama image of the vista seen while driving in this particular spot. This was taken on the Hana highway headed from Haiku back to Paia.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Onion Ring Volcano


Time lapse photo of the onion skin volcano at Benihana. The static photo started with some source video footage taken at dinner that was then converted into a static image using the Studio Artist 4 temporal scan tracker.

Stuck in the Obamajam


We made the mistake of driving through Kailua right as the Obama motorcade was coming back and got stuck in the traffic jam. We were too far back to see anything other than a bunch of flashing lights in the distance and some black range rovers turning in. The second picture was taken as we passed the concrete barriers on the street leading into where he's staying at Kailua beach.

The pictures started with video footage taken from the car that was then processed using the Studio Artist temporal scan tracker to get the static images displayed.

KMart Temporal Stretch


This kind of looks like a slit scan but i'm using the smart seam interpolation in Studio Artist 4's temporal scan tracker. What i'm finding is that the new smart seam interpolation gives a much better image then if you just did a more conventional slit scan effect. This started with some video source footage taken with a Zi8 video camera that was then processed in Studio Artist 4 into a static temporal stretch or smear.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Hawaiian Takeoff


This started with some video footage taken out the window of a Hawaiian Airlines flight taking off from Kahului on Maui. I then used some new smart seam features in the Studio Artist 4 scan tracker to to build the static image from the video footage shot out the window of the plane as it was taking off.

The fascinating thing about this kind of static imagery is that you can construct images that appear to make visual sense but would be impossible to take with a static camera (because they don't actually exist). The plane is doing a pretty wide turn during ascent so you could never really generate the static view shown in this constructed temporal image.

Friday, December 25, 2009

Road to Hana


More smart seam experiments in Studio Artist 4. This started with video footage taken out of the front window of a moving car while driving on the Hana highway on Maui. The video was then processed in Studio Artist 4 to generate the static image.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Temporal Windsurfing


Working on the new smart seam interpolation features in the Studio Artist 4 temporal scan tracker. Scan tracker 2 lets you zoom in on a particular sub area of the space time continuum while generating super-resolution in the static time slice output image. This started with a video sequence taken with a zi8 video camera on Kailua beach.

Paia Garden Produce


Trying some experiments with adding smart seam as a new interpolation option to the temporal scan tracker in Studio Artist 4. This started with some video footage taken out the window of a moving car while driving through Paia, which was then processed in Studio Artist 4 to generate the static image.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Kahului Driveby


This started with a 120 degree panning video sequence taken out the front window of a moving car in Kahului. I used the Studio Artist 4 temporal scan tracker with a coarse horizontal scan and a reduced coverage setting to pull out the visual stutter that accents the motion in the video sequence.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Paia Intersection


This started with a video pan taken at the traffic light in Paia. I then processed the video sequence with the Studio Artist 4 temporal scan tracker to generate a static image. The video processing for this particular image is interesting because it gives a somewhat more urban impression of the landscape and Baldwin street in particular than the actual reality of the location.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Christmas Hula


This started with a video sequence shot at the mall on Maui. I processed the video sequence in Studio Artist 4 with a vertical slit scan to generate the static image. The rotating motion of the dancers works well with the vertical scan direction.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Big Guy


This was generated with a newer version of the Studio Artist 4 scan tracker that is under development. It's a time stretch image as opposed to a spatial warp. So the person's movement in a video sequence over time is encapsulated into a single static image. The original video footage was taken in the Maui airport concourse with a zi8 video camera, and then processing using the Studio Artist 4 temporal scan tracker 2.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Video Slice


This image was generated in Studio Artist 4. It started with a video sequence taken at the Maui airport that then had it's time axis rotated to become a spatial axis in the image plane. The trails correspond to objects moving in the video sequence over time.

Friday, December 18, 2009

New Vector Output Ideas


I've been playing around with using the Studio Artist 4 to generate vector output. Here's one example. The idea is simple but effective. Kind of reminiscent of pantograph etching or engraving effects. You can use the paint synthesizer to do this kind of thing. But this particular image was generated using some experimental MSG processing.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

New Photo Mosaic Approach


Trying out some new approaches to building photo mosaic effects in Studio Artist 4. The new approach is interesting. You use the paint synthesizer to draw a series of modulated black lines on a white background to partition the image plane. That canvas is then used as the current region selection. One of the region selection path start regionization generators in the paint synthesizer is then used with a graffiti movie brush to generate the photomosaic image. So you can get regular and irregular cells based on image features in the same imaging grid.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Haiku Parking Lot 2


Another parking lot panorama taken in Haiku on Maui. This was generated with a video pan taken by rotating the camera in a static location. That video sequence was then processed in Studio Artist 4 using the temporal scan tracker to generate the static panorama image.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Haiku Parking Lot


This was generated from a video shot taken out the side window of a moving car driving through a parking lot in Haiku on Maui. The video was processing in Studio Artist 4 using the temporal scan tracker with a coarse time sampling setting to generate the choppy static pano view of the video frame's movement over time.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Paia Monster Truck


This started with a 180 degree video pan taken in Paia while waiting at the traffic light. That video sequence was then processed in Studio Artist 4 using the temporal scan tracker to encapsulate the traffic motion into a static image. I'm using a coarse scan with this image. If you narrow the slit you can get more of a continuous feel as opposed to the visual stutter effect.

Honolulu Airport Night Shot


This static image encapsulates some motion seen in a video sequence shot with a zi8 camera at the Honolulu airport at night. The video footage was processed with the Studio Artist 4 temporal difference matte to generate a single static image.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Car Movement Temporal Scan


This started with a video sequence shot with a zi8 video camera from a moving car. That video footage was then processed in Studio Artist 4 using the temporal scan tracker to encapsulate the movement in the video sequence. I used a vertical scan for this particular image to match the forward motion of the video sequence. The video was taken in a parking lot in Paia on Maui.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Simple but Effective


This is the worlds simplest visual effect but it can be pretty effective. Modified the random block exchange ip op in Studio Artist 4 so it can do this kind of thing.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Steak Plate


This started with some really dark video footage taken near dusk in Honolulu from the window of a moving car. I used Studio Artist ip ops to restore the detail in the shadow areas before doing some additional cartoon style processing for the final print.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Temporal Cirque


Trying out some temporal video processing with Cirque source video footage in Studio Artist 4.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

MSG Spiral


Trying out some new abstract procedural image ideas using MSG in Studio Artist 4.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Temporal Head Shot


This was generated by processing a short video sequence with the Studio Artist 4 temporal rank filter.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Static Temporal Shot 3


One more example of a new idea i've been trying out for generating a static image from temporal processing of a video sequence in Studio Artist 4. This was generated from video footage taken out the window of a moving car in Paia.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Static Temporal Shot 2


More experiments with new ideas for generating static imagery from a video sequence using temporal processing in Studio Artist 4.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Static Temporal Shot


Trying out some new ideas for generating static images from video sequences in Studio Artist 4. This was generated from Flip video drive by footage in Paia taken from the window of a moving car.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Paia Driveby 2


Another Paia drive by video panorama generated using Studio Artist 4 scan tracker from Flip video taken out of a moving car window while driving through Paia on Maui's north shore.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Paia Driveby


This started with some Flip video taken out the window of a moving car while driving through Paia on Maui. That source video was then converted into a static panorama image using the Studio Artist 4 temporal scan tracker.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Max Pizza in Haiku


Max Pizza in Haiku has great breakfasts as well as pizza. Panorama was generated using the temporal scan tracker in Studio Artist 4 from a Flip source video taken out the window of the car as we were driving.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Temporal Head Turn


Static image generated from a video shot of a head turn taken with a Flip camera at Sammy's in the Maui airport. This was generated with the new Studio Artist 4 temporal ip op that is a different variation on the ideas in the temporal difference matte.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Sammy's


No trip to the Maui airport is complete without a stop in at Sammy Hagar's bar. The static panorama image was generated by processing a Flip video pan with the Studio Artist temporal scan tracker.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Headed for Maui


Candice and i needed to head over to Maui at the last minute so we decided to take Go airline instead of Hawaiian. They have these cool little jets. The ride as you come in for a landing on Maui is always a little crazy but especially on these smaller planes. The panorama was generated using the Studio Artist 4 temporal scan tracker to process a Flip video pan.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Temporal Fish Imagery 3


Another temporal underwater fish image generated from Flip video footage taken at the Sydney aquarium. This was generated with a new temporal image processing effect i'm adding to Studio Artist 4. Like the temporal difference matte but different.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Temporal Fish Imagery 2


Another temporal underwater image generated from the Flip video taken at the Sydney aquarium in Darling Harbour. This is a slit scan generated using temporal image processing in Studio Artist 4.

If you look closely at the image you can see the horrendous Flip avi frame indexing bug associated with Quicktime and the avi compression codec that Flip uses for the video files the camera generates. When you use the Quicktime apis to index the frames sequentially the actual video frames you get back are sometimes not correct for a given frame time. The bug seems to position itself along with the mpeg key frame indexes, so you see it every 20 frames. As you sequentially access the frames in Quicktime one will jump ahead too far, then the next one jumps back in time, then they advance forward in time again. It doesn't appear to happen when you play the video in real time, just when you try to access individual frames, which is what you need to do during video processing.

I can't believe it took me this long to notice this bug associated with the Flip camera on the mac. Most of what i do is either temporal processing where the frame order being slightly offset would not be noticeable since you are processing a big chunk of frames, or the scan tracker where it's going to be less noticeable. But looking back through my old slit scans you can see this problem, i always thought i was shaking the camera. When i started in on writing an image stabilization algorithm for Studio Artist to smooth out shaky video shots the real problem because apparent.

I ordered the Kodak Zi8 high def pocket video camera the day after i figured out this Flip bug was there. The extra resolution will be greatly appreciated. I started a dialog with Flip and Apple to try and resolve this problem, but i don't expect anything to happen quickly.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Temporal Fish Imagery


This started with some Flip video taken at the Sydney aquarium in Darling Harbour. The video motion was then processed into a static image using the Studio Artist 4 temporal difference matte.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Gallery Show Fun


Random image generated during some Studio Artist 4 gallery show testing. The gallery show feature set continues to expand over time.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Waikiki Hula Show 2


Another static image generated from temporal processing in Studio Artist 4 of some Flip source video footage taken at the nightly hula show in Waikiki.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Waikiki Hula Show


Static image generated from some temporally processed Flip video source footage taken in Waikiki at the nightly hula dance show.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Temporal Symmetry


Trying some new experiments with temporal symmetry effects in Studio Artist 4.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Temporal Processing 2


More experiments with new temporal image processing ideas in Studio Artist 4.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Temporal Processing


Working on some new temporal image processing effects for Studio Artist 4.