Project Description

I decided to create an interactive visual installation that uses a webcam to capture real-time motion and transform it into a moving particle effect on the screen. As people move in front of the camera, their motions generate particles, with faster or larger movements creating more intense effects. Because it runs in real time, the project creates a live, abstract art piece that reflects a distorted version of the person interacting with it. The goal is for users to see themselves in an abstract, ever-changing form, adding a surreal, dreamlike quality to the visuals.

Plan

My plan is to start with a simple tutorial as a foundation, which will guide me through creating this interactive visual project. I will add music to the final video using Adobe Premiere Pro. The project will be built entirely with 'TOP' operators in TouchDesigner, and I will adjust the webcam settings to capture mostly the light reflecting from the face with the help of a 'Threshold' operator. This setup will allow particles to create a distorted, abstract version of the person on screen. I will add a ramp for colors based on what the camera detects and apply a bloom effect to make the particles appear as if they are glowing in the dark. It is almost the same effect one of the big movies "Avengers: EndGame" has for when Thanos snaps his fingers and half the population disappears.

Summary

There were a lot of things I did not like about the tutorial, so I had to adjust the settings to get the result I have now. One issue was the brightness, it stayed too high even after lowering it. I fixed this by adjusting the 'Threshold' operator. I also had a problem with the particles showing up as large black blobs instead of small white ones. To fix this, I reduced the particle count and played around with the 'Render' settings and 'Fade In'/'Fade Out' parameters, which made the particles clearer and more visible. Overall this was a very fun project to take on and I hopefully I can figure out how to possibly make it into a projection map to make it a bit more interactive and more interesting.