We present Picture This! a new input device embedded in children's toys for video composition. It consists of a new form of interaction for children's capturing of storytelling with physical artifacts. It functions as a video and storytelling performance system in that children craft videos with and about character toys as the system analyzes their gestures and play patterns. Children's favorite props alternate between characters and cameramen in a film. As they play with the toys to act out a story, they conduct film assembly. We position our work as ubiquitous computing that supports children's tangible interaction with digital materials. During user testing, we observed children ages 4 to 10 playing with Picture This!. We assess to what extent gesture interaction with objects for video editing allows children to explore visual perspectives in storytelling. A new genre of Gesture Object Interfaces as exemplified by Picture This relies on the analysis of gestures coupled with objects to represent bits.
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Picture This leaflet
1. Picture This!
When the hand becomes the eye ...
Cati Vaucelle . Tangible Media Group . MIT Media Lab
2. Picture This! When the hand becomes the eye.
Concept
With Picture This! children ages 6+ can make a movie with
their toys, about their toys, while playing with their toys. They
discover unique visual perspectives by alternating between
being the toy and being the movie maker.
A quick gesture language alternates between which doll is
recording, strings together sequences of separate shots, and
finally, replays the entire movie! Because the child holds the
doll that holds the video, the hand becomes the eye. The
child explores the environment from the point of view of her
cherished toys with her body actions and perspectives.
The dolls become the body. The hand becomes the eye.
3. Picture This! When the hand becomes the eye.
Key design principles:
- The dolls become the body - a point of new perpective.
- The hand becomes the eye that grabs visual discoveries.
- The toy offers its visual perspective.
What if any object could share its perspective? Wouldnt this
open a new world to the child?
4. Picture This! When the hand becomes the eye.
Inspiration
With the apparition of the camcorder and its preview display,
the relationship between the actor and the cameraman is
transformed. The actor has more control over how her actions
are represented in the global scene. Through the preview
display, the actor is given real-time visual feedback and can
adopt different postures accordingly.
In Picture This! the
traditional camera-
human relationship is
modified. The point of
focus of the movies being
the characters, children
are guided towards
creating a conversation
which provokes a shift
in perspective. Children
have an object to focus on
for their movie allowing
them to iterate back-and-
forth, stepping back from
the scene and immersing
themselves into it.
5. Picture This! When the hand becomes the eye.
Children gradually project themselves onto their toys,
embedding persons they know in their stories and character
toys, and adopting a gods eyes view to obtain a deeper
understanding of their own stories. Here is the excerpt of a
video story by Jeremy, 10 years old.
6. Picture This! When the hand becomes the eye.
Vision
Children project their personal experiences onto their toys and
reflect their discoveries and hypotheses about the world they
live in.
The child storyteller enters the world of the movie maker.
Cameras become part of a toy system showing how things look
from a toys point of view. They can be integrated into Lego
people, car drivers, and even coffee mugs!
7. Picture This! When the hand becomes the eye.
What if we could touch small animals and be projected
visually into their lives ...
8. Picture This! When the hand becomes the eye.
Assignment Design a new platform for the making of movies
In Picture This! I combine the activity of play with the video
making process. Whereas play emphasizes spontaneity and
improvisation, video making necessitates deliberate structure
and composition.
SOFTWARE DESIGN
The gestures analyzed to drive the system support natural
character play movements, such as jumping and shaking.
The motions that are detected by the system are
anthropomorphized. The dolls need to jump in synchrony at
completion and shake for attention, as if the doll wants to say:
film me, film me!!
HARDWARE DESIGN
I use a low-cost Piezo vibration sensor (PVDF). I distinguish
between vertical and horizontal motions despite the use of
a single axis accelerometer, which only detects mechanical
stress.
I detect small variations of the off-axis motion with the on-
axis accelerometer, categorizing strong motion in one axis and
weak motion in the orthogonal axis.
9. Picture This! When the hand becomes the eye.
In the piezo vibration sensor,
crystal structures are stressed
which generate voltage that can be
converted to acceleration.
Piezo Sensor
MiniSense 100 is a vibration
sensor loaded by a mass to
offer high sensitivity at low
frequencies.
Impact containing high
frequency components
will excite the resonance
frequency (1oohz).
10. Picture This! When the hand becomes the eye. 10
Choice of technology
Why use a Piezo film?
A Piezo vibration sensor is low-cost, easy to use and it offers a
clean signal, but it is sensitive to temperature variations.
Why not use optical flow calculation?
Because the doll wears a camera, we could take advantages of
the camera as input to detect when it is moving. With the use
of a piezo film, we avoid the problem of line of sight from the
optical flow calculation.
The camera is on the doll.
To be recorded the doll has
to shake! film me!
The optical flow vector of
a moving object in a video
sequence.
11. Picture This! When the hand becomes the eye. 11
Avoiding the problem of line of sight
There is a problem with the optical flow method: the child
can easily occlude the camera because she shakes the doll
that will not record, thus does not have a direct feedback
for motion detection occlusion.