Hand Drawn Mapping from Retchy

You read it right. Part of our creative community since 2007, Retchy (aka Graeme Hawkins) is a quirky animator with a curious esthetic sensibility and a taste for making it live. Graeme's work is definitely a soft spot for me. There is humor, illustration and a general air of adventure and sincerity.

Via the message system on vimeo I was able to ask him a few questions about this project and his relationship to modul8 and vjing:

m8.us: In one of your clips you mention that you were making it for VJing and you did not get to VJ or something like that. Is this still true?

Graeme: Yeah I've only just started in the last few months to actually get out there and do some vjing with a friend - that film was just an FCP edit of some content I'd created a while ago and which I'm now using in vj sets. To be honest, my VJ skills aren't really up to scratch yet. I need a lot more practice and content... love playing about with theses techniques though.

m8.us: Are you using a midi controller? If yes which one?

Graeme: I've got an M-Audio Trigger Finger drum pad that I use for triggering clips and cross fading etc, and a Behringer 2000R that I don't really use much.



m8.us: I love the TF. Its quite possibly my favorite. Its a damn shame that it has been discontinued. Can you expand a little bit more on the live drawing mapping project? Your ideas behind it? Motivations?

Graeme: The project was part of my studies at Norwich University College of the Arts where I was doing an MA in animation and sound design. It was really a series of experiments using the mapping technique, trying to find different uses for it other than on architectural, 'static' objects, but I kind of ran out of time for it on the course as I had to move on to other projects. With the first few tests I was trying to create floating, animated objects that I could move the camera around to create the illusion of movement.

The hand drawn version was really just an attempt to get away from the sterile, neon glow of the other tests you can see on my website, and I had grand visions of a really intricate, detailed setup with loads more transitions and movements (something similar to Michel Gondry's White Stripes projection video) but I just didn't have the time or resources to do anything like that. Plus it was bloody cold in the middle of winter in an abandoned warehouse - I couldn't leave the set up over night cos it might have been stolen, so everything had to be done pretty quickly and with very stiff fingers :D

My knowledge of the technology was perhaps a bit limited back then too - it was a struggle to get the dualhead2go even working! - but I reckon I could do something much better now if I were to go back to it.

And with that we both 'got back to it.'

If you're looking for some inspiration overload I highly recommend having a look at Graeme's website and his vimeo page. Personally looking forward to seeing him expand and blend his crazy animations with his ideas for mapping objects.

Live drawing demo by VJ2C

. modul8 v2.6(beta) wacom tablet from a nomad on Vimeo.

My hat is off the VJ2C for delivering to us this very clear and straight forward demo of how to use a Wacom tablet with modul8s Painter module. His little trick with repeatedly pressing the 'add frame' button with a key to reproduce a 'drawn on' look is something I never thought of. Always great when someone not in the modul8 team figures out a way to do something we never thought of. It means that the user base is really energized in exploring all of the possibilities and in return inspiring us with our development efforts.

I recommend you to show it to your friends who use modul8 and even show it to people who simply enjoy drawing and are maybe interested in VJing but are not video loop fanatics. As I have seen with the growing community of the open source TagTool platform, there is tremendous creative potential in this tool being that unlike TagTool you can mix in the usual tool box of VJ materials.

The Painter module is one of those modules that most everyone seems to have missed since its inclusion in v2.5. For me though it was one of those blessings. Firstly because I simply love to draw. I am not one to just sit there (no offense) letting the BPM do the work, and so what better way to pass a night of VJing then to add some live drawing to the mix?


JAB:Visual. A demo. 2008 from ilan katin on Vimeo.

I also found myself looking for creative work arounds to the limitations of the module. Firstly without proper Wacom support there was no pressure sensitivity. My solution for this was to use a MIDI knob bound to the 'dot' width so that I could emulate pressure sensitivity by making the 'dot' size small at the beginning of a line and then making it wider towards the middle giving it that hand drawn feel. It was tricky to do. Try drawing and moving a MIDI knob. It took a bit of practice but felt very satisfying.

Now there is Wacom support. And that is a good thing. For those who may have avoided the Paint module due to this lack of support the path stands open before you.

We still have a ways to go with this though. Would be nice to see the 'pen' tool also have pressure sensitivity added to it. At the moment the Paint system in modul8 needs to be modified and I hope that this can be added in 2.7.

But lets get 2.6 released first.