Interactive Media Design

an interdisciplinary and project based study course which teaches design, informatics and management.

October 1, 2013   ·   University of Applied Sciences Darmstadt,h_da

NYMA

6th Semester
nyma is an ambient intelligence space installation concept that reacts to movement of the user through immersive visual and sound effects and lets them reach a "flow" state.

"flow", also known as being in the zone, is the mental state in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity.

Concept

Though the immersive experience the the user is able to learn subconsciously new movements and can train in the perfect state of mind. Every movement is reflected visually within the system and processed to give a response or challenge him through a more motivating music or game elements. The visuals are mapped perfectly onto the 270° thorugh rear projection and a kinect is tracking every movement of the user.

At the same time he is wearing a mindwave with an additional pulse sensor. Therefor we also implemented a machine learning algorithm to analyze the tracked data and create a suitable response. This Proof of Concept was developed fully in vvvv and is showing how the future of sports and personal development can look like.

Mindwave

concentration
focus

Pulse Sensor

endurance
exhaustion

Kinect

movement
interaction



Team: Alex Henker, Ivan Iovine, Nadine Mlakar, Lukas Rabenau, Doreen Scheller


BIOHACK

3rd Semester
the human body merged with technology. Body hacks are already a topic in our society and are controversial about their purpose. With the interactive installation BIOHACK we wanted to simulate how one of these futures could look like.

In this future the chip is able to save all bio and localisation data, so we know at any time what is happening with the user's body, where he is and what he does. The body of the user becomes the payment method, the smartwatch or the beacon.

Interaction Design

The interaction is simple: If you place your hand under the scanner, which is a kinect, data is loaded and projected around the arm. By moving your hand sideways you can see your financial data, what you bought in the past, your calories consumption, your movement and health status. This projection mapping conecpt was developed during a vvvv Elective in the 2nd Semester. So the question arises: Is it good to have this kind of information in the digital world?

These chips could make our lives more comfortable but at the same time new dangers emerge and our privacy could be harmed. I guess insurances would be very glad to have this kind of data available … This project is not showing a realistic future or a coming trend but rather the possibilities of a cyberbody that already exist and we are glad not to have for ourselves. Or maybe not?

Team: Alex Henker, Christian Tielmann


3D Rendering Elective

Concept for an Interactive showroom which was created in Cinema 4D
3rd Semester


FEAR

2nd Semester
Project FEAR simulates what you experience during an interactive horror movie, which is perceived in small black room we built, so that you are alone with your fear.

If you enter the box the user has to clip a pulse sensor to your ear, input his biological data, put on noise cancelling headphones and take a video camera into your hands and start to experience the horror.

Interaction Design

There are several features that allow the user to interact with the experience:
The video camera reveals the user the part of the movie he sees. Your view is limited to a flashlight circle you create with your camera and everything else is blacked out.
The pulse sensor on your ear interacts with the story. If your heart rate stays low, the scenes become more horrifying and are switched to more intense cuts. If the rate is too high, the simulation shows you scenes that are more story based than scary or it can even stop by letting the main character die. With simple kinect gestures the user is able to decide if he wants to open certain doors or choose between different paths to go.

After your experience you will see an output of how your body reacted to the scenes and if you were scared or not. We researched how humans react to fear and if there are any bodily signs. What we found was the inspiration for this project and if you see your output graphs, you are able to pick different events like for example a release of cortisol in your body. But what is cortisol? To implement a learning possibility the user can hover over the cortisol marker and is able to watch a video explaining it.


Team: Alex Henker, Ivan Iovine, Volker Matthes, Christian Tielmann