Projects
Examples
Experiments
Mixed Reality Performance

'Dragons´ World' - an interactive Music-Show

We tested teaching across the three areas of art, dance, and computer science at a third grade. The children made up a story, which was then developed by the teachers and pupils into a mixed-reality-performance.

The stage consists of two spaces.

• The interactive front of the stage, decorated with little pasteboard trees and fixed virtual locations. These locations are programmed to react with the story via a camera, which is linked to a picture recognition software (VISION COMMAND).
• An animation video played on a screen in the background which shows a wild landscape surrounding an - at one point erupting - volcano, trees, moving dragons, a draw-well and much more.

The children are dressed up as dragons. They act and dance to classical music by Sergej Prokofjew. Both the music and the animation structure the story and the atmosphere.
Special about this mixed-reality-performance are the special-effect sounds that are activated by the children through certain movements on the virtual spaces on stage.
The children recorded the sounds earlier on, like wind, thunder, the erupting volcano, cracking of twigs, and many more. They are activated by slow or fast movements or colored accessories (yellow lightening, an orange watering can) on the virtual spaces.

Presentation of the interactive music-show at the Elementary school 'Lauerholz', April 24, 2002, see: VIDEO (for REAL PLAYER 8 BASIC).

(l) Building the landscape for the animation, (r) Test for the animation of the eruption

(l) Landscape, (r) Detail with well and riverbed

(l) Recording the sounds, (r) Developing the story

(l) Building the paste-board trees, (r) Rehearsal

(l) Setting the interactive spaces on stage, (r) Fixing the picture recognition

Programming surface of LEGO® MindStorms vision command™

In this project the 'real' world turns into an interface to the 'virtual' world. The physical space for interaction is enriched with digital data and interpreted by the software. The exploration and use of virtual space connects with the children's physical space.

The children attain artistic and computer skills in a joyful and self determined manner.