“Motion Phone” by Snibbe
Conference:
Experience Type(s):
Labs Type(s):
Title:
- Motion Phone
Program Title:
- Digital Atelier
Organizer(s)/Presenter(s):
Description:
otion Phone is an experiment in pure visual communication. Users sit at workstations that display digital animation loops and use a tablet to choose colors and drawing tools from palettes on the screen. As the users draw, the speeds and locations of their marks are entered into the animation loop. Additional marks are added into the same animation loop, allowing users to sequentially layer multiple rhythms of form and color. The non-modal interface allows users to simultaneously modify shape, size, and color by varying the pressure on the tablet, pressing keys, and using the surrounding interface. Users quickly learn to recognize and control the subtleties of motion in their hand-gestures – information that is normally lost or hidden by most computer art and animation tools.
When one animator decides to interact with other users, a connection is established by simply clicking on an icon. Then two people can communicate using motion, form and color in an unpredictable and sometimes startling interaction. Since the animators’ marks are preserved over time, there is a sense of history to their dialogue. The resulting communication can be chaotic or graceful, but it is always engaging.
The tools provided in Motion Phone are primarily two dimensional: lines, circles, polygons. Since the animation is stored in a display list, each viewer can translate over the infinite plane of interaction, or zoom into or out of parts. With more than two users, this space becomes an immense landscape upon which many dialogues are taking place.
