Christopher Cosner: MAT 594 Final Project


MAT 594 - 2008S		Christopher Cosner - DOG VISION 3000! v2

Description		Dog Vision 3000! v2 is a web application that I created using Adobe Flash CS3. It is an interactive applet that allows the user to see their environment how dogs theoretically see. To use it, Dog Vision 3000! v2 requires Adobe Flash Player (which you will be prompted to download if you don’t have it!), a webcam, and most importantly an open mind. Through my research in the field of animal perception and vision, I believe that I have been able to accurately demonstrate and show how dogs see the environment they are immersed in. Dog Vision 3000! v2 is simply an attempt to create an interactive artwork that translates our human visual spectrum to a dog’s visual spectrum. Here are some example images of it in action… The use of artistic design, and, computers and optics, is an integration of art and technology that creates a product which aims to be scientifically accurate and aesthetically pleasing. Dog Vision 3000! v2 is this product. My intention is to educate the user on how animals perceive their environment differently from humans so that a higher understanding of these creatures and their behaviors can be achieved. The application itself is fun to experience and it is interesting to see just how different dogs see colors from humans.

Dog Vision 3000! v2		Image Source

Details		I used Adobe Flash Actionscript 3.0 to create Dog Vision 3000! v2 because of Flash’s unique ability to publish applications in the form of web applets. Because I wanted to be able to share it with everyone, Flash Actionscript 3.0 seemed to be the most logical choice of programming languages to use. I began by researching how to use the Bitmap API feature and importing live camera feed into Flash. By importing the live video from the web camera and implementing the Bitmap API feature, the base layer of the video image is converted to a constantly refreshing bitmap image. Its pixel arrays can then be sampled to determine the alpha-hexadecimal numeric value (or in other words, the color) of each pixel. This initial step was difficult to figure out and it is the key to converting colors in the visual spectrum.. The next step involves the actual conversion of the human visual spectrum to the dog visual spectrum. I created two new bitmap layers on top of the base video layer; one converts half of the colors in the visual spectrum to blue and the other to yellow. The color thresholds are determined by the dog’s visual spectrum that I researched. So the final product is a live video feed with the colors of the human visual spectrum converted to the dog visual spectrum, hence the name dog vision.

Links		Dog Vision 3000! v2 Source Code (.fla requires Adobe Flash) Research Project WarpYourPerception.com is a website that I am currently developing to showcase artworks like Dog Vision 3000! v2. The site will feature dynamic interactive content generated by all kinds of artists that focus on using art and technology to show their viewers the world in different and strange perspectives. The expected fully functional launch date is set to be around September 2008. © 2008 christophercosner.com Art & Design by Christopher Cosner Stumble It!