Prof. Golan Levin, Carnegie Mellon University, Fall 2015.
Course numbers: 16-461 (Robotics Institute), 60-461/761 (Art)
M/W 1:30-2:50pm, in the STUDIO (CFA-111) and HL-A10A.

This is an interdisciplinary course in experimental media practices that arise from using devices to "capture" the world. We will survey state-of-the-art techniques and emerging ideas, in the industry and in academia, to capture, model, and render objects, people, places and events. The course evaluation will be project-based, in which students will capture a wide variety of things, and develop projects around the data they collect. We will cover capture techniques including motion capture, video-based capture, panoramic and hyperspectral imaging, depth sensors, 3D scanners, hand and eye-gaze trackers; classic and contemporary representations of face and body pose and motion; and recent progress in animation, synthesis, classification, and rehabilitation on new forms of displays. Please note that there are usage/materials fees associated with this course.

This syllabus contains many contributions from James George and Alexander Porter (of Specular.cc), Pablo Garcia, Jeffrey Hinkelman, Kyle McDonald, Matt Gray, Yaser Sheikh, Suzie Silver, and others.

--

This is an interdisciplinary course in experimental media practices that arise from using devices to "capture" the world. In particular, we are concerned with how we can understand and build representations of the world using devices that sense beyond the limits of human perception. In this course, we seek:

• To explore the affordances of exotic, forgotten, and nascent image capture technologies in revealing unseen or alternative realities.
• To explore the use of computation in expanding our expressive vocabulary for representations of people, objects, environments, and events.
• To question the practical and epistemological assumptions that underpin the project of capturing representations of reality with devices.

At the conclusion of this course, students will be able to:

• Recognize and identify the use of expanded capture techniques (such as photogrammetry, motion capture, hyperspectral imaging, binaural audio, stroboscopy, etc.) in popular and experimental media.
• Demonstrate understanding of the scientific principles and/or engineering foundations underlying such techniques, in revealing phenomena beyond the limits of ordinary human perception.
• Demonstrate understanding of the poetic and elucidative potentials of such techniques, and their application to the production of expressive and provocative new culture.
• Command the practical use of one or more such techniques.

--

• Deliverables
  1. An Object, due 9/23
  2. A Person in Time, due 10/21
  3. A Place, due 11/18
  4. Final Project, due 12/9
• Student Area
• Tutorials
• Calendar
• Readings
• Course Policies
• Daily Lecture notes

--

This is a partial list of some of the capture technologies and techniques we will discuss this semester. Some of these pages are still under construction.

• What is a Camera? Conceptual Cameras
• Capturing and Representing Objects: Still Life & More
• Multispectral & Hyperspectral Imaging
• Gesture recording and playback; 2D & 3D motion capture
• Silhouette (Blob) Tracking
• Depth Sensors and RGBD
• Photogrammetry and 3D scanning
• Overcranking (Slow-Motion)
• Undercranking and Time Lapse
• Long Exposure and Light Painting
• Bullet Time (Array Videography)
• Pixillation and Stop-Frame
• Synthesis from Image Databases
• Backwards (Retrograde) Time
• Looping (Canon) Time
• Gonioreflectometry
• Multitrack Time
• Slit Scanning
• Moving Cameras (shutter stroboscopy)
• Panoramic imaging, 360-degree, and environmental capture
• Stereography & Binocular Imaging
• Experimental Audio Capture
• Perspective Capture and Representation

And:

• Portraiture: Capturing People and Movements
• Landscape: Capturing Places
• Remarks on Project 3 (Place)
• Remarks on Final Project Proposals
• Remarks from Project 4 Interim Critique

--

• How to take screengrab documentation
• Some software tools used in this course
• Some equipment used in this course
• How to use Git and Github

• Submitting Work
• Course Code base
• IDeATe Course Lab Fee
• IDeATe Room Reservation
• Enrollment Questionnaire & FERPA Waiver

Remaining: a large landfill of as-yet unsorted links and resources.