Many people with disabilities have amazing talents and heightened senses. Some express these attributes using their artistic abilities. 42 Interactive were privileged to work with Digby Webster for this years Tumbalong Lights Vivid inclusive play space.
Digby is a widely exhibited, Sydney-based visual artist, his canvases burst with vibrant colours whether they are abstracts, portraits or landscapes. Digby’s perception of the world around him is fascinating.
“See What I See” is an interactive installation that gives visitors a chance to experience the way Digby sees us. Stand in front of the frame and see yourself mirrored through advanced facial recognition technology that interprets your features and expressions into a morphing vision of colour and light that is uniquely Digby in style.
We want the experience to be exclusive as possible with the smallest friction possible. Face and body tracking would be the best way to make it work where everyone can play. This was the brief on how the creative should be, inclusive and can be enjoyed by as many people as possible.
To achieve this we’ve designed the interactive screen to be large with a detached tracking camera and computer box in front of it. We need to do this because the installation will primarily be active at night time and the lighting condition with the light flood from the LED screen would be a challenge for the tracking camera.
We’re using Microsoft Kinect V2.0 as the tracking camera, and utilising its face tracking feature to control Digby artwork. We’ve scanned his hand drawn artworks and separate its facial features to create a randomly generated faces for users. Combined with the unique backgrounds, the experience creates endless combinations and unique face digital painting for each user.