Matthias & Maki testing live animation features of Tagtool for iPad

When we started the next-generation Tagtool project, we wanted to make a hardware controller that people can buy from our website. We managed to secure some funding from Departure, the City of Vienna’s creative agency. We wanted to do things right and go deep under the skin of the design challenge at hand – how to make the Tagtool more accessible to people without specialized knowledge in software and electronics. We embarked on a research mission and interviewed Tagtool users in several countries.

We found that while people absolutely love Tagtool when everything is set up, they are intimidated by the long and complicated road from wanting to owning a Tagtool. They complained that the full Tagtool setup is to big, too heavy, has too many cable connections and is expensive when you consider everything. People without gaming experience – especially traditional artists – have trouble using the gamepad for animation. And the list went on. In the end we were able to compile a detailed specification of requirements, which sketched out an ideal instrument for animated projection painting – unreal, like something out of a science-fiction novel.

Kommissar Hun was fast asleep during the design process

With a small team and a very limited budget considering the task at hand, we knew things were not going to be easy. But sometimes you’re lucky. When we finished our design requirements, one of Apple’s Steves went on stage to announce the second iPad. We weren’t especially keen on mobile gadgets at the time. But when we looked at our requirements, and compared them with the different hardware platforms available, the truth was hard to ignore. After mentally brushing aside all the smoke-and-mirrors marketing gloss that comes with a tech giant flaunting its wares, we looked at the iPad and saw pretty much our science-fiction Tagtool.

An image of our first outdoors test session with Tagtool for iPad

We became app developers. We designed the software, made a prototype, and iterated until the major conceptual questions were taken care of. As our concept matured in the design process, we realized we had something very special in our hands, something worth protecting. So we filed an international patent application, number PCT/EP2012/058054, covering a system for collaborative visual expression on a portable computing device in a shared workspace. The whole process was incredibly interesting and helped to sharpen the vision on many levels.

This is how you mix colors the new way

Nearly one and a half years after the official start we are now shortly before the release of the software. It’s not finished yet, but all major technical hurdles have been overcome and we can focus on tweaking and optimizing the experience. Completely wireless operation is achieved using Wifi (to connect the iPads) and Airplay (to send the image to the projector). We have tested collaborative sessions with up to 8 iPads with promising results – the Tagtoolista orchestra is about to become a reality.

Our beta-testers honing their ambidextrous skills

For the initial release, we are focusing on implementing the core features. You can control the color and quality of the line while you paint using gestural brush controls. Finger-painting together with friends is incredibly satisfying. It made us think of cave people gathered around a fire, using the walls to share images from their experience and imagination. In the 21st century, the medium of choice is light, and the paintings are alive. Talking about the animation part – there’s simply no better way to breathe life into images than to grab them with your hands and act out the movement.

Birth of a new logo

So what does all this mean for the existing Tagtool community? For the DIY fans – we can assure you that we are proud of our hacker roots, and that the existing Tagtool system will continue to be open source and freely available.

More information on Tagtool for iPad can be found on the official website.

Tagtool for iPad was unveiled at Mapping festival in Geneva on May 16th 2012. It was released to the Apple App Store on December 19th 2012.

We spent four weeks building the Tagtool in time for Frames Per Second, part of the Glasgow Film Festival. Breaks were filled with these animations by our friends from Toad’s Caravan.

This time around, we decided to keep the workshop groups small, so people could focus better on producing a result they are happy with. We had four participants at the Tagtool workshop, all of them complete newbies on the instrument. I was surprised how good they got in just two days of training.

We started the workshop by learning the basics as well as some advanced tricks. After looking for inspiration in the archive of tagtool.org, each participant created a short storyboard. The second day we produced all the clips on two Tagtool stations with two projectors overlapping on one screen. Everything was recorded with a videocamera. For each clip, creator of the storyboard was the director of the recordings, coordinating the actions of the whole group.

Afterwards, it took me only some hours to edit the clips and add some music. I am really happy with the result: Each video has the personal handwriting of its creator and together they are a good example the various styles you can achieve with the Tagtool.

So, a big thank you to Astrid, Holger, Markus and Christoph for a most productive time. By the way, it was great fun as well! And of course thanks to our sponsor Come On – Lower Austria.

This is a short clip that sums up all the workshops of the event:

And here some other drawings by Merkus, Markus and Holger:

A project by Media Mash+Up:

We packed our bags, grabbed our head-torches and braved the cold for Nottingham’s Light Night. We were lucky enough to project our live drawing and animation system onto the entrance of St Mary’s church, in the Lace Market area of the city. Despite our fingers dropping off from the minus temperature conditions, hundreds of people packed the church grounds to look at our work. It was fantastic to have such a big crowd and to receive such positive and encouraging comments from people on the streets. A big thank you to everyone that came along and spoke to us.

Tagtool session @ Narvarte in Mexico City in 2011 – music by blood sucking “Lechones Sangrientos“.