Interactive II exercise: Brad Pitt

So for our second Max exercise, we are to do a face swap using Max MSP. I decided to swap my face with fergie.

So after editing her image to remove the background, it is saved in the same folder as the rest of the items.

Basically, it is using the same Face detection tool that was used in our previous mirror project. We have to import that into our max file. Next, the new image replaced Brad Pitt in the Step 1 patch, just by changing the name.Then the file had to be banged again.

The issue is to resize the image to fit my face, which is something to which I thought was the issue of the fergie file, that it was not big enough. But using a much larger sized image somehow does not alter the end product in Max. Moreover, what can be improved is the flickering of the Fergie image, which is most likely due to the camera not detecting my face. Hence, improving the detection by playing around with brightness/contrast/threshold would probably be the best solution to do so.

After some researching, jit.op@op + @val 0.5 (or whatever integer would be best) will increase the brightness of the image. And many more elements can be found in this explanation here.

Interactive II: Mirrors

Our first attempt for Max was to recreate an artwork done by artist, Christian Moeller. The mechanics of his work was a mirror that fogs up as the individual approaches the mirror, and eventually blocks out his/her reflection.

It was tough for me to catch up in class (I am just a slower learner), so I appreciated that we had time to explore the software. Jiaman and I paired up and started to deconstruct the final work that was posted, as both of us are very unsure of how the software is to work. So the first thing we did was to create a video.

Next was understanding Patches, which was something I did not understand until experimenting and using it on my own. Similar to the patch created in the final folder for p faces, we clicked “Command E” to lock the Ain file, and double clicked on it to create our own patch. This was when I realised that whenever we created a patch, we need to have an input and output to connect the patch onto the main piece.

The we had our first question: What does the resize @size function alter?

After trying but failing to understand the help function on max, we carried on and realise that we can change the colour of the boxes, text and lines. Besides improving our aesthetics, I think it will help with organising our work.

But we understood that it splits the output and goes into area2brightness, which patch helps with changing the colour to black as the user approaches. Then we broke down split and scale for our understanding.

Then we were stuck at this place for awhile, and then we realised that the values did not go through because we did not add the”,”, which is a a decimal place for the scale.

Another area we were stuck at We then “Command I” to alter the value to the slider.