Hacked Kinect Allows Singer to Really Shine

By Joshua Schnell

PCWorld | Apr 27, 2012 8:45 AM PT

In the video below, Olga Bell sings her song, Chase No Face. In contrast to the song's title, though, you'll notice light being chased across her face in interesting patterns. You might at first think that these light patterns are random, but in fact they respond to Bell's performance, adding a unique visual element to her song.

The video is an art project undertaken by Francisco Zamorano and his team. To create the video, Olga and her crew used a hacked Kinect, a laptop, an LED projector, and a DSLR camera. Different masks of light were created using face tracking code; some responded to the movement of Bell's face and others responded to the sound of her voice.

This is a really cool application of technology in the world of art. It's pretty neat to think that every song would create a unique light show. In fact, it's likely that no two performances would ever be the same.

Below is the video of Bell singing Chase No Face, along with a second video that features some behind-the-scenes footage if you'd like to see a little bit more on how this was all put together.

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