Tilt a chat a blob dodo, Parallax a Penguin, Multi multi user touch, Spectral Flash with Dan Zen

Dan Zen comes out of hypernation with a collection of advanced interface Birds – Birds? – for Flash.

FLASH FEATHERS

ROBIN – multiuser chats and realtime games with Flash and PHP
FALCON – easy data transfer between Flash and server scripts
HUMMINGBIRD – parallax effect with mouse for 3D menus
GOOSE – multitouch emulator with just Flash and Browsers
PENGUIN – tilt emulator and processor for tilt and translation apps
WOODPECKER – sound frequency and wave animation for MP3
OSTRICH – motion capture cursor follows your Web cam motion
DODO – blob detection of motion in a Web cam

Thousands of lines of code has gone into the Flash Feathers series so that designers and developers can create the functionality of each in a half dozen lines of code.  So… let anyone you know who works in Adobe Flash about the Flash Feathers site at:

http://flashfeathers.wordpress.com

If you are interested in advanced interfaces but do not code then you may still want to watch the video section of each bird site as we go through the examples.  All the working examples are in the zips.

Dan Zen will be performing Hula songs in Hawaii for the next while and may have some time for a feature later in the summer.

Modes of Tilt and Translation Interface for Mobile Devices

Tilt Emulator Showing Front View Yaw Mode

Imagine we have a mobile device with hardware and software that can capture tilt (pitch, roll, yaw) and translation (x, y, z) motion.  An accelerometer can more readily find tilt but a camera can find tilt and translation.

If hardware and software can leave this information in the format of a TiltML (Tilt Mark-up Language – XML based) then front-end software such as Flash can make use of the information as interface.

A simple example would be to look down on the mobile device and tilt the device to roll a ball through a maze.

Here is an example Video:  Tilt for Mobile Devices Video

Tilt Emulator with Top View Tilt Mode

A device can be looked at in either horizontal or vertical orientations.  But there are a number of different ways these two orientations can be viewed.  We will call these ways, modes.  Here are six modes of interface:

MODE 1:  Top View Tilt
Looking down or up at the device and tilting in pitch and roll. Rolling a ball through a maze.

MODE 2:  Front View Tilt
Holding the device in front of you vertically and steering with yaw. A racing game  where the device is like a steering wheel.

MODE 3:  Top View Translation one Axis
Looking down and using one translation (y axis) as motion and tilt to steer. Walking or running creates motion in the game, pitch and roll or yaw to steer.

MODE 4:  Front View Translation one Axis
Looking forward and moving forward causes forward motion in game (z axis).  Walking, running or driving creates motion in game and then steering with yaw.

MODE 5:  Top View Translation all Axes
Looking down and mapping out two or three dimensional space with translation and yaw.  Finding virtual items in real space looking down (or up)

MODE 6:  Front View Translation all Axes
Looking forward and mapping translation z plus pitch or roll to map real space.  Avoiding obstacles or capturing items as you walk

Combining these modes leads to Full Space where the device acts as window to alternate virtual space in full 3D.  Putting these devices in front of your eyes is a form of mediated reality where you can diminish or augment reality.