Computer Vision for Artists and Designers: Pedagogic Tools and Techniques for Novice Programmers
This week’s reading introduced us to “computer vision” which is a method that allows computers to make use of digital input e.g. videos and images and make inferences. Since the new wave of digital art has come forth, this method of work allows a lot of room for creativity for artists to work with. The 4 ways mentioned in the article about how computer vision can work is: 1). Detecting motion: movements of people within the video frame can be detected and quantified using frame differencing. 2). Detecting presence: background subtraction. 3). Detection through brightness thresholding: objects of interest can be distinguished based on their brightness in a threshold value. 4). Simple object tracking: finds the location of the single brightest pixel in every fresh frame of video.
For my final project, this text really encouraged me to not forget about the physical components of my work as I may get too involved in software and forget about the other constraints. The physical aspects of the project are just as important as the software; therefore, it reminded me to work out which software techniques are going to be best compatible with the available physical conditions. As I am hoping to use IR camera and simple object tracking, I learned that “using IR significantly improves the signal-to-noise ratio of video captured in low-light circumstances”, since light is critical, I need to make sure I test my project out beforehand in the location of the exhibition.