February 22, 2006

Isadora Software from Troika Tronix

I'm beginning to experiment with software programs that are used for creating interactive dance performances. Yesterday, I started working with Isadora from Troika Tronix. Mark Coniglio, a composer and new media artist, created the Isadora software program, which was first used by Troika Ranch, a dance company which Mark co-directs with choreographer Dawn Stoppiello.

With Isadora, dancers, choreographers and new media artists can create interactive performances that enable the movements and gestures of dancers to control, in real-time, the video sequences, images, sounds and lighting patterns viewed by the audience. Isadora is considered a graphical programming environment because you can control, in a visual manner, how this software program will output different types of media without having computer programming skills.

Yesterday, I started working with the Windows public beta version - a Mac version is also available and is the more commonly used edition. You can take Isadora for a test drive for 30 days at no charge. The program sells for US$350.00.

I've only used Isadora for about 2-3 hours. But at this early stage, I think the program is fascinating and well designed - I did encounter a couple programming errors with the Windows version. I've worked through the first two tutorials which walk you step-by-step through the process of choosing media - such as a video clip - and then outputting the video with a variety of visual effects. Next, I'm going to attach my camcorder to my computer and start experimenting with the real-time manipulation of live video feeds.

Isadora comes with sample files and a user guide that is about 275 pages. Once you install Isadora, I recommend that you first load the sample files and then turn to the user guide and follow the instructions for each of the 10 tutorials. The user guide is very well written and helpful.

After learning Isadora, I'm going to start working with Max/MSP from Cycling '74. My understanding is that Isadora is easier to use - so I figured it was a good place to start.

To learn more about Isadora, you can visit this page for this application which includes a detailed description as well as links to reviews.

To learn about Troika Ranch's latest performance work, "16 [R}evolutions," you can access this page to learn about the motion tracking and other technologies used as well as watch a 2 minute video clip.

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