[sdiy] Video-synth DIY ?

[rkmoore at memphis.edu]

Right now I'm using MATLAB to process grayscale images for school.  It
is not real-time, by any means, but MATLAB makes it possible to
manipulate images in a lot of ways.  There are functions to generate
matrices that describe filters of different topologies that can be
applied to the images.  They are really just two dimensional discrete
filters that can be lowpass, bandpass, or highpass with specified
bandpass and bandstop frequencies.  Pretty much anything that you can do
 in matrix arithmatic can be applied to images in MATLAB.

MATLAB will handle color images, too.  It represents the images as a
matrix of values for red, a separate matrix for green, and a third
matrix for blue.  So you could apply the same or different processing to
each layer.  You can also string along the images to make short movies.

I am not familiar with hardware or software for realtime video
processing, but I have seen on Grant Richter's site that he used a PAiA
4700 system to do some video stuff.  Maybe he'll respond and give some
insight.

Richard Moore  
----- Original Message -----
From: Metrophage <c0r3dump23 at yahoo.com>
Date: Tuesday, June 28, 2005 10:56 am
Subject: [sdiy] Video-synth DIY ?

> Does/ has anybody here tinkered with making video synths or 
> processors?
> I have been interested in video art for most of my life, but it has
> always been an elusive thing. The hardware was never widely produced.
> The classic works of the medium are not readily distributed for people
> to see. Years ago I got to see some analog video work from Nam June
> Paik, Ed Emshwiller, Dan Sandin, and others - these made a lasting
> impact on the ways I think about video.
> 
> I am aware that video signals run faster, with the various components
> synchronized together. What I have read on the topic at
> AudioVisualizers and other sites is not terribly specific about
> implementation. A lot of the older systems (circa 1968-1974) appeared
> to be analog modular (audio) synths which had interfaces hacked into
> video scan modulators, ramp generators, etc. Lots of emphasis on
> oscillators being "phase locked", which I'd guess is like hard sync?
> 
> Thinking ahead, since I will have a few panels together this year, 
> I am
> wondering how I can interface these to video gear. My computers 
> are not
> fast enough for most video stuff I have tried, and I am less inspired
> by the After Effects and Arkaos ways of doing things. NATO or Jitter
> would be fun, but are too expensive for me now, and I'd need a faster
> computer. So I am determined to learn more about video synth DIY. I
> currently have way too much stuff on my plate to fix, mod, and 
> build -
> so I will start messing around with this stuff next year.
> 
> I'd be more than psyched to hear of anybody's experiences with such
> things!
> CJ
> 
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