eMotion is a tool for creating interactive motions of objects for live visual performances. Electronic motion seems often artificial, synthetic... well... in fact it does not convey any emotions. By defining new rules to create movements, eMotion is a new kind of software made for visual live animations. As it is based on real world physics law, all motions seems natural, full of emphasis. It allows to manipulate different kind of objects like still image, videos, text, drawing. Targeted mainly for theatre/dance performances, it can be used in broader situations.
Main concepts : eMotion is based on objects (like particles, text, drawing strokes, quartz compositions). The creation of motion in the program is laid on a physical model, aka physical forces that are applied to the objects. The forces can be created by using movement brushes or by defining a relation between a controller and a set of objects (for example a wiimote and some text). The objects are organized in layers, and each object can have his own sets of physical rules. The evolution of the physical rules along the time can be recorded in the script window. A script is the only way to record/save your animations.
To summarize:
- physically based animation rules
- multi representation particle system
- layered behaviour
- scriptable
- incredibly smooth
- support multi inputs interactions including Wiimote nunchuk, sudden motion sensor, wacom tablet, midi, audio analysis, and by using Open Sound Control (osc) it can be extended virtually to any kind of controller.
- link any physical parameters to the inputs
- all is LIVE
It can be used for interactive installations, live performance, visual arts, strange subtitling, and so much more. imagination is your only bound. It can be seen as a "live-photoshop", and it want to be a simple but powerful solution to construct and explore the world that new technologies bring to live performances.
Written in cocoa, exclusively for Mac (10.5/intel), eMotion is still in alpha stage, some functionalities are not fully implemented, and the user interface needs a lot of work.
