Interface Idea

The previous post talks about the idea of the application and the technical process of how it will work. This post is going to talk about the idea of using a custom interface in order to use the application effectively and with minimal confusion.

The idea of reducing the number of symbols and reusing the same ones multiple times is the first step to hopefully creating a fairly complex sound application without having to make the process of music creation complex. The use of finger and hand symbols is another way of simplifying and making the process of interaction different to that of the regular symbols placed on the Reactivision table/ deck. By using the hands and fingers the user should become more familiar with what each finger and palm symbol does for each instrument based upon them controlling the same or similar functions. This way the user will know what each symbol is to do and they don't have to search through a field of symbols to find what they want as it will be attached to them.

I can't rely on the reduced number of symbols and similar function symbols alone, so I plan to create a graphical interface to accompany the application. I haven't quite decided how the application will work yet, whether I will simply create an interface in photoshop to overlay over the max patch or whether to go down the animated flash interface route. However it is done the interface will be designed to change as each new instrument and effect is added to provide the user with real time updates of exactly what is going on and what each symbol on the hands of the user does for that chosen instrument/effects unit.

First thing to do towards this project is to project it from underneath rather than above as seen in the previous assignment, that revealed a few issues both with lighting and the covering of symbols with hands etc. The underneath projection of symbols seems the more safer and reliable option.