Inition has successfully contributed half of the software and technology to allow the audience of the UK’s biggest consumer electronics show to interact with the Gadget Show presenters on stage. The organisers asked Inition to develop three new high tech technologies that would give the audience an unforgettable participatory experience on the back of a successful collaboration for a previous Gadget Show TV challenge (embedded link).
Down to the Bare Wire(frame)
The audience got the opportunity to see the portable LILA lightbox as used in a previous Gadget Show challenge to drive a live avatar of Suzi Perry who presented an episode the show from hundreds of miles away . To demo the marker-less credentials of the LILA system, Jason stepped in to the holodeck style cube and mimed a strip tease. As the fourteen cameras translated Jason’s awkward moves, the audience watched Suzi’s avatar strip to a wireframe model on two giant screens (video above).
When referring to the LILA system, Gadget show veteran presenter Suzi Perry even said that during seven years of The Gadget Show, “it’s been the test technology they have ever tested”.
Mass Drone Gaming
Thousands of audience members participated in mass drone gaming via audience motion capture. Split into two groups, the audience used the volume of their voices and the motion of their arms to steer a real flying helicopter towards a circle on a giant LED screen.
Large Scale Voting Quick as a Flash
Inition technicians invented an entirely new speedy way to register audience votes via mobile phone technology. When asked to decide which pop star impression they preferred – Ortis Deley’s____(what was his singer?)or Pollyanna Woodward’s Lady Gaga, each person was invited to hold up their camera phone and register their preference by taking a photo with the flash activated. Three webcams registered every single flash with pin point accuracy which was then counted by Inition developed software within a few seconds.
The finals votes were revealed on the April 18th episode of The Gadget Show on channel 5.
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Inition has worked with music video director Andras Ketzer for his Keane promo, ‘Spiralling’.
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Live 3D Surgery Broadcast
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Gadget Show Live
The producers of the UK’s largest consumer electronics show – The Gadget Show Live, worked closely with Inition to develop ideas and technical solutions to engage the show’s audience in groundbreaking, fun and genuinely new ways.
Inition operates a busy R&D department which always sets out to go beyond the standard brief and for The Gadget Show Live, we developed bespoke software and technical solutions to achieve just that. We developed a unique vote capture system, a mass interactive game and a motion capture showpiece.
Flash Camera Voting
In a signature Gadget Show challenge, two of the presenters went head to head to win over the audience with a singing performance. Rather than asking people to vote for their favourite performer via SMS, Inition created a voting system that could register an individual’s preference via a flash from their camera phone.
Within two seconds, a camera rig on the stage captured each flash of light/vote which was processed by proprietary software developed by Inition Creative Production (? - IS THAT RIGHT). The system was able to register and count each vote and present the results graphically on large LED screens within 15 seconds.
Robust and highly accurate, our reliable system could even detect (and disregard) multiple votes from a single individual up to 80 metres away. It is highly scalable too. With more cameras, we could even increase the field of view of the rig up to 360 degrees and register the votes of tens of thousands of audience members up to 150 metres away and beyond.
Mass Drone Gaming
For the mass drone gaming section, a divided audience competed with the other half in a challenge to steer a mini drone towards a circle on a large LED screen using the motion of their arms and pitch of their voices. The winning team would be the one best able to co-ordinate their arm movements and voices as detected by the Inition sensors. Three standard 720p USB webcams were housed in a single rig angled in multiple directions. Rewritten drivers and settings would achieve the desired framerates. Inition’s own software, based on proprietary and various open source libraries, could accurately translate the motion of people's gesticulations to guide the flying drone towards a target. Further software was able to detect the pitch of vocal noises from the installed microphones - the higher the pitch, the higher the drone would fly.
A Virtual Strip
To get Suzi's avatar to do the strip, Jason entered the marker-less LILA system which is portable enough to be easily rigged up on stage. Jason mimed the start of the strip up until a key moment when an Inition developed animation of a Suzi Perry avatar stripping to a bare wireframe model seamlessy blended into Jason's real time avatar motion.
Conclusion
The Gadget Show Live event was regarded as a huge success receiving exceptional feedback from the audience, producers and even the presenters themselves. The system we used for the Gadget Show Live is part of our growing collection of mass audience interaction software called 'TAP' which features audience movement detection and sound processing for control, driving games with coloured steering wheels and quizzes.
Inition will be running a 'TAP' quiz event in Rome at the end of august which will use coloured voting cards and we are currently in talks with largescale live event organisers which will run up to the end of the year.
Inition Takes Nanotechnology into the Diamond Age
The NanoPhysics group at the University of Bristol led by Prof. Mervyn Miles were supplied with two Cyberglove and Cyberforce arm systems from Inition. Inition advised on, and installed this advanced setup for the University to put them at the forefront of the emerging field of nanomanipulation with force feedback.
The University of Bristol have created a haptics system that allows a user to feel the forces exerted by microscopic/nanoscopic objects as they interact with them. Using their dynamic holographic assembler (DHA) they could use microspheres to squeeze a biological cell and, by mapping the resulting force changes to larger numbers, enable a user to feel the cell deform as they apply pressure to it.
The haptic element needed to be accomplished using a form of force feedback glove, with accurate 3D positioning and force mapping. The wireless CyberGlove II with CyberGrasp and CyberForce Arm is the system Inition recommended, sold, and installed for the University of Bristol. Inition also trained the University of Bristol in the use of CyberForce Arm which is a force feedback armature that conveys realistic grounded forces to the hand.
Manipulation and Feedback of Molecules
Inition believes this is a world first. The manipulation of molecules and atoms is the extension of predictions by visionaries Eric Drexler and Ralph Merkle, where manipulation of atoms leads to production of materials with diamond like strength. Neal Stephenson's book, The Diamond Age, popularized the engineering of materials in this way.
Keane 3D Live: A Milestone in 3D Broadcasting
The live 3D transmission of a performance by Keane at Abbey Road Studios to a domestic 3D television marked a major milestone in the history of 3D broadcasting and pioneered many of the 3D transmission techniques to follow.
Inition conceived the idea in 2008 and was the primary technical partner behind the project which was backed by BSkyB, Island Records and Nineteen Fifteen Productions.
Keane 3D was broadcast simultaneously to three very different mediums – The Vue’s flagship Leicester Square RealD cinema; a dedicated website where Keane fans could watch the performance in anaglyph (red/cyan) mode and over the BSkyB transmission infrastructure becoming the first ever live 3D transmission on their network.
Sky Transmission
The Keane broadcast was the first ever 3D transmission to be broadcast over the BSkyB transmission infrastructure to a domestic display. The 3D feed was transmitted as a side-by-side frame compatible signal over a high definition satellite transponder using SENSIO encoding which was linked to two Hyundai 46 inch high definition 3D TV screens. A VIP audience in Abbey Road's world-famous Studio 2 were able to watch the full live Sky transmission nearby.
3D Webcast
A separate 3D webcast was streamed over the Internet in anaglyph (red/cyan) mode. This was the world’s first ever live webcast in 3D which Keane fans around the globe could watch in 3D by wearing a pair of anaglyph glasses. The webcast later went on to become nominated for The Innovation Award at the UK Music Video Awards 2009.
Vue Cinema Showing
A live broadcast via a satellite uplink to the 3D-enabled Vue cinema in Leicester Square, using SENSIO's 3D Cinema Encoder.
The Set Up
Inition supplied five 3D rigs for the historic event – three mirror/beamsplitter rigs and two side-by-side rigs (I thought there was a Toshiba MiniCam set up?) (one SteadiCam and one PoleCam). Each left and right camera recorded the Keane 3D broadcast in full HD for archiving purposes.
On set was a Jib cam, PoleCam, a dolly, a 45 degree angle shot and a wide angle shot. The Inition crew monitored the live and preview feeds via several StereoBrain Processors which can output a left and right signal in a variety of 3D modes.
As access to Abbey Road Studios were very limited, Inition’s production team pre-planned every single shot using stereo pre-viz animations. This allowed the team to determine the best focal lengths, rig positions and stereoscopic effects weeks in advance.
All the planning paid off and each individual transmission was a technical and creative success which was later praised by the national media.
Watch an interview with the band about their 3D performance here
Click here to read an article about the event in TVB Europe Magazine
MagicSymbol AR: Launch of the Audi A1
After highly successful MagicSymbol augmented reality campaigns for BMW, Toyota and Kia, Inition were approached to deliver a new augmented reality campaign to launch the Audi A1 in showrooms across the UK.
Visitors were able to interact with a photorealistic model of Audi’s new hatchback before its official launch. By holding up a special Audi branded ‘MagicSymbol’ printed in brochures in front of kiosks, software would recognise the symbol and augment a fully detailed 360 degree model of the A1 as if it were parked on the brochure held by the viewer.
Inition’s skilled animators created the detailed image and animations of the car in 3D Studio Max using references from Audi’s original CAD data which were optimised for real time rendering.
Using proprietary algorithms, Inition created a fully realistic experience with no lag between the movement of the MagicSymbol and animation of the car.
Extending the experience to the home
Inition also extended the experience to the home. Users with a webcam could download an Audi logo that had been specially encoded for use with the MagicSymbol augmented reality technology. By printing it off and holding it towards their webcam, users would see the Audi A1 appear on their monitor and be able to interact with the car's features as if they were in the showroom.
By rotating the MagicSymbol, the car would rotate too and users could explore the car further by clicking on any of the on-screen icons such as “add panoramic roof” and “open the boot”.
Audi were so pleased with the results that they commissioned Inition to create a similar campaign for the Audi A7 Sportback where Inition added even further interactive features such as the ability for the user to change the paint colour and take the car for a ‘virtual test drive' using the arrow keys on their keyboard.
Virtual Botox: Haptic App Simulates Injecting The Real Thing
Allergan, the company who make Botox, needed a simulator to allow doctors to practise injecting botox for treating muscle spasm. Inition worked with InViVo Communications to develop a PC-based haptic simulator to allow doctors to feel an accurate representation of the sensations involved in piercing the skin and the layers of muscle underneath.
We built the system around Sensable's high-end Phantom Desktop device. This device can simulate sensations of touch very accurately through a pen-like device attached to an articulated arm. We designed and 3D printed out a custom attachment for the device using our in-house 3D printer that enabled the haptic device to be controlled by a hyperdermic needle, producing a realistic interface for doctors.
After real-life training to get a feel for the 'real thing', our team designed a virtual 3D human bust with realistic muscle structure to act as a 'Guinea Pig' for our the simulation. Bespoke simulation software designed by Inition allowed users the freedom to view the patient from any angle, peel away layers of virtual skin to reveal the muscle structure beneath and ultimately practice injecting into the muscles with accurate force-feedback sensations of the elasticity and piercing of the skin. Under tuition, doctors can be assessed as to the accuracy of their aim thanks to a point mark being left behind at the point of injection.
Our simulation was used at pharmaceutical exhibitions around the World with enthusiastic reception from the experts in the field.