THE STICKSTERZ: AN AUDIO PLAYER VISUALIZATION Independent project performed out of curiosity - Fall 2000 This free visualization for Real Networks and Windows Media Players showcases dancing stick figures that improvise their choreography based on simple audio transients and simulated physical constraints. Rather than scripting dance moves, the figures decide on the fly which one of their degrees of freedom (or "joints") they'll move and by what amount. Simulated inertia and gravity take care of the rest. Forcing additional constraints among their "joints" varies the nature and feel of their improvised choreography. The minimal 3D rendering and dynamics were written from scratch (ANSI C). Since their first release on Halloween 2000, there has been an estimated excess of 40,000 downloads. Halloween 2000 - Releasing version 1.0 of the SticksterZ Adam and Mideve were the names I had given to a couple of dancing stick figures back in my days at the Media Lab. It occurred to me that the so-called "visualizations" that are advertised buy Real Networks and the like would be the perfect scene for these heroes to make their long awaited come back. No SGI and no GL this time, I decided to (re)build them from scratch, taking some inspiration from the simple 3D rendering technique I had developed for a Java applet back in 96. Download and install the RP visualization: Anyway, if you're a user of RealPlayer (I think you might need version 8) or RealJukeBox on some Win32 plaform, and if you are into funky stick figures dancing to your favorite tunes, you can download Stz1_0.zip. That zip contains a "rpv" file, which is essentially a DLL I believe. In order for RealPlayer of RealJukeBox to use it, you have to drop it into your "Visualization" folder. On my desktop (WinNT), that folder is located at: Program Files\Common Files\Real\Visualizations\ October 2001 - Announcing version 1.1 of the SticksterZ It has been a year and I've decided to make a few modifications to the visualization. In addition to a few minor changes and optimizations, I've decided to disable the RealPlayer's native "effects". Also, the dancers have a few different types of choreographies they cycle through. Each choreography is essentially a lose set of behavior rules. Download and install the RP visualization: Following the same procedure that is outlined above, download Stz1_1.zip. That zip contains a file entitled "stz1_1.rpv". In order for RealPlayer of RealJukeBox to use it, you have to drop it into your "Visualization" folder. On my desktop (WinNT), that folder is located at: Program Files\Common Files\Real\Visualizations\ January 2003 - Announcing Window Media Player version of the SticksterZ The core of the visualization is basically the same as the version 1.1 for the RealPlayer. Download and install the Media Player visualization: First, download WMStz1_0.zip. That zip contains a file entitled "WMsticksterz.dll". It is recommended (but not necessary) that you save this DLL under the Media Player's "Visualizations" folder. On my computer, it's under Program Files\Windows Media Player\Visualizations Next, you must run you Windows Media Player (version 7 and above) and "Add" this new visualization. In version 7.01, you do that using the "Tools/Option" menu item and select the "Visualizations" tab. Clicking the "Add" button in this tab should open a file dialog box where you'll browse your system to select the "WMsticksterz.dll" file you've just saved. Later versions of the player might have a slightly different way to do it.