January 2nd, 2009
To see what sort of results I might expect from monitoring biofeedback from a user listening to music I have selected several tracks to be listened to while running a biofeedback grapher. I’ve tried to select a broad selection of very random tracks ranging from game music (this is good because they usually have a purpose creating a specific atmosphere like a movie sound track) through to more traditional pieces.
Once I’ve tried it out myself I intend testing other people to look for any form of correlation. Additionally, I would have them fill out a form of questionnaire during the session to quickly gather what mood each piece puts them in, and whether they are familiar with a particular track already.
More to come…
December 16th, 2008
Using an existing product, the Journey to Wild Divine biofeedback reading device, I have started to experiment to see what sort of responses I should expect from listening to music.
Here is the data compared against the actual waveform of Dire Straits’ Where Do You Think You’re Going?:
December 6th, 2008
Ultimately the point of researching how to create a Media Player visualisation was to be able to include DirectX capability.
After a lot of searching I found information on the subject (http://www.tech-archive.net/Archive/Development/microsoft.public.win32.programmer.directx.graphics/2004-11/0316.html) saying that the Summer 2003 DirectX SDK features a demo being implemented in a Media Player visualisation.
The Summer 2003 SDK: The Summer 2003 DirectX SDK
December 2nd, 2008
I vaguely remember trying out something a long time ago with an old SDK and an old educational version of Visual Studio (obtained from university in the first year). There was a sample visualisation in C++ that could be immediately tested out in Windows Media Player.
But this was a long time ago and the files have been lost under several OS reinstalls and the voluminous expansion of accumulated stuff. Instead I would have to start anew with recent SDKs and the new Visual Studio 2008 for my Programming for Digital Media module. But because this wasn’t straightforward, and the number of circles I’ve had to run in will prove tedious to recount, I’ve decided to simply post what you DO need to do to get this to work.
Read the rest of this entry »
November 22nd, 2008
Here is a diagram to demonstrate my final year Project concept as an interactive process between the user and a virtual space:
Read the rest of this entry »
November 19th, 2008
When I work on vector icons I am usually viewing them very magnified so it is a shock when I zoom out to see the final product. As ever this was the case with my three Project icons, so I decided to save them at 400% before using smaller versions in the upcoming Project Model deadline.
The ear and headphone:
Read the rest of this entry »
November 13th, 2008
It was suggested that before I go about planning and building a PCB to take biofeedback readings from a person to push as a stream of analogue data into a computer, I should see how easily I can get such information into C++, DirectX and of course eventually media player.
Read the rest of this entry »
November 2nd, 2008
I downloaded the example Games Module critques and immediately realised that one of them was about a game that has been produced using an interface quite similar to what I want to produce as part of my final Project. The game in question is called Journey to the Wild Divine, and it turns out they use what they call a biofeedback device - which of course opens a new keyword for me to search for.
I’ve already been looking into Galvanic Skin Response and how to produce a PCB that will allow me to take continuous readings from a number of points and feed them into a computer, most likely via USB.
I have already been considering building some form of GSR mouse input device, because it has the advantage of being familiar and one of the most commonly used input devices that people use. On the other hand, the only time people are likely to sit with their hand on a mouse all the time is during a pretty mouse intensive activity, like a 3D first person game and not listening to music.
Links
Journey to the Wild Divine uses a ‘biofeedback device’ to measure how calm the user is:
http://openeeg.sourceforge.net/doc/links-biopsy.html
The flash actionscript behind this is flexible enough to allow for any size
puzzle to be created and jumbled as many times as I like. In addition to this,
the difficulty of rotating pieces is also a feature.