About

Now

I like to work on projects that extend Flash beyond conventional screen based interaction and provide tangible and immersive experiences. My research involves using hardware such as Wiimotes, webcams, range sensors, IR lights and cameras, multitouch, bluetooth devices and anything else that can be plugged into Flash that is not a mouse or a keyboard. I also work with the open source art & design centred programming languages Processing and openFrameworks.

I’m currently working for the award winning London based digital agency Skive as an Actionscript developer making Flash games and websites. The eventual aim of this research is to integrate this exciting area of technology into our creative output.

Then

With a background in traditional art and little computer experience, I took a degree in Software Systems for the Arts and Media – now called Mulitmedia Design in 2002. After this, I studied for an MA in Hyperfictions. This involved using digital technology to communicate narrative forms while drawing on a wide variety of disciplines such as art, literature, media, cultural studies and programming. I focused on generative and installation art – see my portfolio for examples (It’s mostly Uni stuff – I havn’t updated it for about 3 years). These projects were by far the most rewarding that I have worked on and I have continued to build interactive artwork since.

10 Responses to “About”

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  1. 1 Tiago Ferreira March 7, 2009 at 6:19 am

    Hello, im new in processing.
    First time that im see processing.
    Iam trying to make a simple prog with webcam like you have but i have some problems, can you give me a hand?

    sorry my english, im portuguese

  2. 2 jamesalliban March 7, 2009 at 1:47 pm

    Hi Tiago. First off, are you using Windows? If not I can’t really help you. If you are I would recommend you do the following to get started.

    To use a webcam with processing you need to make sure you have Quicktime installed. You also need to install WinVDIG 1.01. You can get this from Dan Shiffman’s site – http://www.shiffman.net/vdig.

    I would suggest getting a decent webcam too. I always go for Logitech. At the moment I use the Quickcam 5000. I also adjust the settings so that there are no automatic adjustments for white balance, gain, exposure.

    The next thing you should do is look at the examples that come with Processing. They can be found at File > Examples > Libraries > Video(Capture). Playing around with these sketches is a great learning exercise.

    Finally, if you find the code in these sketches too complicated, I would recommend buying ‘Processing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists’ by Casey Reas and Ben Fry. It was written by the creators of Processing and is a great book for both newcomers to programming and people coming from a different language.

    Hope that helps

  3. 3 Chris Grayson June 24, 2009 at 12:01 am

    Nice business card up on YouTube.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qoucBw60jM

    Can I be so bold as to offer advice?

    URLs placed in a video description on YouTube (to the right of the video) automatically convert to links. Put it in the first two lines and it will be ‘above the fold’ in the default “less info” position, so people won’t have to expand it by clicking “more info” to see it… and so they don’t have to wait to the end of your video to get your URL, and then type it into their browser manually. I highly recommend it. That video should get you some work. Help it work harder.

    Nice work.

    cheers,
    Chris

  4. 4 jamesalliban June 24, 2009 at 12:48 pm

    Thanks Chris. I didn’t realise that. Just updated.

  5. 5 Chuck July 7, 2009 at 7:30 pm

    Hello,
    I am new to the flartoolkit. I am currently using CS3 and need assistance getting the flarttoolkit setup. I have downloaded the toolskit but am have a problem getting it setup. Is there anyway which you can assist me getting this setup. I have a skype number account and am located in the eastern time zone in the USA. I f you can not do you have a video tutorial on how to configure or set this up or know where I may be able to find some like that. If you can assist me please email me privately and I will send you my skype address.

    Thank you,

    Chuck

  6. 6 jamesalliban July 7, 2009 at 8:59 pm

    Hi Chuck

    I believe you need to use Flex or FDT to compile your project as files are embeddde using AS3 (Can’t do this in Flash). You might however be able to use the Flash IDE if you use the FLARManager framework:

    http://words.transmote.com/wp/flarmanager/

    The best introduction to FLARToolkit is:

    http://www.mikkoh.com/blog/?p=182

    Another great resource is the FLARToolkit forum:

    http://groups.google.com/group/flartoolkit-userz

    I must warn you though, if you are new to Flash, FLARToolkit can be very tricky.

    Good luck with it and let me know how you get on.

  7. 7 John Goode July 14, 2009 at 5:06 pm

    I really like your work. Just followed you on Twitter

  8. 8 jamesalliban July 14, 2009 at 8:20 pm

    Thanks very much

  9. 9 Jaimie July 17, 2009 at 4:55 am

    Hi James!
    I was just wondering which programs you use to do your work. I love what you do, and I want to use them to be a bit more creative. I never wanted to AR until I saw you on Gizmodo.com. You have inspired me :)

    Thank you in advance.

  10. 10 jamesalliban July 17, 2009 at 10:07 am

    Hi Jaimie. Thanks very much for your kind words. Glad to have inspired. I mainly use Flash (both AR projects were built in Flash) but have also delved into Processing. I describe in each post what I have used on that particular project. I’m currently looking into openFrameworks.


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