Umajin Creative -Digital Story Telling for Interactive Whiteboard or Touch Screen- free demo available

Umajin Creative is an application designed for digital storytelling. I haven't had a chance to preview it. I was impressed with the pictures on the website. If you use this application, please leave a comment. It looks kid and teacher friendly. I can see that it has potential!

According to the website, you can "compose multi-page digital documents with rich text, digital photography (including blue screen support), illustrations, sound, video, 3D models, particle fx, interactive functionality, and so much more... runs on both a Mac and PC. It also supports interactive whiteboards and touch screen PC's.. so you can interact directly with the content. With the HP Touchsmart PC you can use real brushes on the screen..to experience digital painting with variable width brush strokes!

Interactive Digital Storybook:


Below: Cool-looking digital brushes.

Above- Sample 3D models
Below- Sample of blue-screened cutout images

Below: Samples of animated particle effects

Seven Custom Functions:

I think the people from Fingertapps are responsible for UMAJIN. Below is a video highlighting multi-touch applications:

Windows 7 Demo on a Dell laptop: More Multi Touch

Video: Multi-Touch in Windows 7

Via SoapBox, Greenbush Labsand CNET

If you are new to this blog and would like to learn more about multi-touch interaction and technology, enter a keyword in the search box.

Also take a look at the Technology Supported Human-World Interaction blog.

For multi-touch DYI, check out the NUI Group!

Wet Sounds 2008: A Festival of Underwater Sounds- I want to go!

I was sitting at the kitchen table, looking at the paperwork I need to finish, and daydreaming about what I want to do this summer, when I came across information about Wet Sounds 2008: A Festival of Underwater Sounds. If you visit the website, move your curser, (or finger, if you have a touch screen) around the page. Bubbles float around, as if you are under water.
Unfortunately, the nine pools hosting Wet Sounds are in England.

WetSounds is sponsored by NewToy, a company that is involved in sound design, films, theater, new media, art installation, video art, dance, and radio.

"The audience dips in and floats around, ears submerged, absorbed in sounds coming from underwater speakers".... "Sound travels 4 times quicker than in air, due to the water's density, it is perceived not only by the ears but also by the bones and body. The sensation is similar to a floatation tank effect. The activity promotes relaxation, listening, openness to sound art and enhanced audio perception".

Phoenix Mars Mission Website

The following is part of a related post from the TechPsych blog about the Phoenix Mars Mission:

If you are an educator with access to an interactive whiteboard and can integrate a visit to Mars into your lesson plans during the last days of the school year, a trip to the Phoenix Mars Mission website is a must! The website is well designed and user-friendly.

Renderings of the Phoenix Mars Lander

Here are few places to start:

Phoenix Mars Mission News
Web Exhibit -Mars: The Search for Water, the Search for Life
Flash Video Stream (the video has relaxing ambient music, by the way)
Images
Videos and Animations
Just for Kids - this site was designed with content by kids to share with others.

From Mars to Earth: An Interactive Timeline

Enjoy!

Virtual Architecture, Virtual Archeology

It is interesting to see how interactive technology is cutting across so many disciplines!

Raising the Titanic

Ken Rigby's company, MellaniuM, developed the plugin for this project. To learn more about this project, check out Electric Archaeology: Digital Media for Learning and Research, and the related links:

Shawn Graham, Archaeologist
Agent Based Modeling in Archaeologists
http://electricarchaeologist.wordpress.com/2008/04/22/autocad-into-unreal2/

AutoCad Plugin for Unreal
http://mellanium13.blogspot.com/2008/02/mellanium-virtual-architecture.html

Dance.Draw Project : Exquisite Interaction - Collaboration between Software Information Systems -HCI- and Dance Departments at UNC-Charlotte

DANCE.DRAW: EXQUISITE INTERACTION
(Updated)

"The movement of the visualizations are artifacts in real-time of the movements of the dancers. They draw while they dance, they dance together and they draw together. Every performance generates a new visual imprint." -DanceDraw website

Interactive multimedia technology, blended with the arts!

Dr. Celene LaTulipe, from UNC-Charlotte's Software and Information Systems Department, Professor Sybil Huskey, from the dance department, dance students, and others collaborated to create an amazing performance that I had the opportunity to see performed during the Visualization in the World Symposium in April (2008).

If you look closely, you will see that each dancer holds two wireless mice, one in each hand. The mice trigger the visualization that is projected in the background. Dr. LaTulipe has focused some of her research on two-handed computer interaction. It is interesting to see how her work has been applied to this beautiful "off-the-desktop" application.

Dance.Draw is a work in progress- visit the following links for more information:

Website (Updated)
Movie
Technical Info
Dr. Kosara's Eager Eyes post about Dance.Draw

Note:
Dr. LaTulipe was my HCI professor- Dr. Kosara was my Visualization/Visual Communication professor.