Rick Reifenstein

I spent much of today creating media to be played in a Silverlight player for the latest interactive kiosk in the Harrison Institute main gallery. This is v.2 of the kiosk. The aim of this version was to create a full screen player with a playlist that a user could navigate easily by touch. While Windows Media Player has big buttons for touch screens; the playlist is a little too tight for navigation by finger. Silverlight has some great tools built in that allow for large easy to navigate playlists. I also decided that I wanted some movment on the screen, but something that wouldn't seem out of place or distract the listener. I decided to create little movies based on slideshows using the cover art of the CD that the music was pulled from. Using the latest Windows Movie Maker software I created a neat little slidshow with fades and title FX. The slideshow was then imported into Expression Encoder 4 as many times as there were tracks. Then using the overlay feat...

I started working on the new touchscreen installation for the main exhibit gallery this morning. The original touchscreen failed to restart after a power glitch during a storm last week. The machine was due to be replaced anyway. I dismantled and removed the old machine from the pedestal. It will be replaced by an HP touchscreen run by a computer in the cabinet of the pedestal. However much to my disappointment the Bose speakers that are built into the pedestal take up too much space inside the cabinet of the pedestal to allow for a regular sized PC in side. At first I thought of using a small form factor Dell that we may have in surplus; but my colleague suggested a more devious plan. You see Apple doesn't have support for true multitouch for displays without a home brewed solution like Lux. Plus because of my development work for our Microsoft Surface located in one of our other galleries, I'm getting more comfortable and familiar with XAML and C#. SO.. the devious plan is to...

Last week and this week have been centered on the creation of interactive touch computer programs. For the University Library I've been working on a plan to use moble devices and Microsoft tagging software to create an augmented experience in our exhibit galleries at the Special Collections Library. I'm also working on multi-touch based programs that would allow visitors to explore interactive maps and other learning programs centered on the archeological research that was done at the Flowerdew Hundred farm in Virginia. I have also been working on multi-touch software that would aid in the teaching of children with learning struggles. My wife and I homeschool our children and are always looking for new and exciting learning tools. NUI designs are actually an easy choice for children that require a tactile approach to learning. The hands on learning that can be achieved through touch computing combines both tactile learning and computer aided learning. I've decided to use ...

I'm deploying the latest interactive kiosk I've designed and set up for the new exhibit at the Mary and David Harrison Institute and Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia. The interactive display is running a media player that visitors can use to select and listen to African tribal music. It's part of the larger Global Collections exhibit at the Harrison/Small Library. More information on the exhibit can be found here... Global Collections Exhibit My major goal in this installation was to strip away the Windows desktop and replace it with a desk top with only the media player icon. The reason was so that I could achieve total lock down on the machine AND even after a reboot, only the media player with the current play list was available.

I had a great Labor Day weekend. Spent time with the family. Just hanging around the house. I did get some time in the studio and recorded some new material that I will post before too long. As you know I also am involved in some NUI (New User Interface) development at part of my work at the University of Virginia. I produced the following video to show of the Microsoft Surface computer table that I developed some applications for as part of the "Declaring Independence" exhibit at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library. I hope you all had a great weekend.

I thought I would post a few entries from my Twitter feed that might be interesting for you guys.I wrote the guys who makes the MIDI controller. I'm really excited about the Fantastic Voyage re-work. I loved that movie when I was a kid and can't wait to show my kids. I'll wait till the renewed soundtrack and DVD come out. The David Lynch movie was cool. Not a biography but more of a film about what life would be like just hanging out with David.  Lunch time discoveries: MIDI Controller http://youtu.be/M3Zad5_eWVA about 3 hours ago via TweetDeck    Restoring the Weird Interior Sounds of Fantastic Voyage http://bit.ly/cb8ajD They are using Cedar plugins and a SADiE system. Fun read. 10:00 AM Sep 1st via TweetDeck      About to sit down and watch "Lynch...

Learning how to do camera tracking and some animation using Blender and Voodoo. It not too difficult. In a normal production having a story board and shot list would make things easier when you trying to keep track of where you are during the animation process. Plus I was doing this at home so there were some interruptions. This example didn't have a lot of tracking for Voodoo to do. It was a still shot which and was pretty steady. I have another example which I'll post later that shows footage shot with my iPhone and tracked. Then flew in a model from "Sol Command". It turned out OK. I want to next work on creating some atmosphere effects as well as some blender "camera" focus effects. Not bad for an hour or so of work.