AllofUs brings an interactive canvas to ReMix

Digital agency AllofUs tells us how it created an incredible interactive installation allowing visitors to Microsoft's ReMix UK conference to share their thoughts and ideas – using Expression Studio and WPF.

Microsoft’s annual ReMix UK conference took place in Brighton in September 2008. The event featured the Microsoft Interactive Canvas (MIC), a unique installation by London-based AllofUs. This exhibit, featuring a six-by-three grid of plasma screens and sensors measuring 1.6-x-5.6 metres, was created to get visitors excited about the possibilities of Expression Studio and Windows Presntation Foundation (WPF) – which were used for its creation.

On the Interactive Canvas, users are encouraged to express themselves using a handwriting interface. Attendees can write or sketch into one of the message bubbles and then share it with the world by dropping it onto the large-scale display.

Users can decorate the moving backdrop using predefined drawing tools and animated behaviours, designed to make the landscape come alive. Visitors can interact with the main display, or interact with other visitors’ messages in more detail, creating a responsive and intuitive experience.

The team at AllofUs has produced many interactive installations, including a comparable piece for Motorola. “This was a similar-size display using LED, rather than plasma, screens,” says Mark Hauenstein, head of R&D at AllofUs. “The user input was captured via a camera that analyzed the movement and colour of individuals and then created dynamic audio and visual content.”

For the Microsoft Interactive Canvas, AllofUs worked with WPF for the first time. The electrical components are an array of plasma screens fitted with infrared sensor banks to measure user interaction, as well as a user kiosk, which allows users to draw directly onto the screen. The final installation comprised a computer to power the kiosk and its 21-inch Wacom screen and pen, a second to run the wall itself, and a third acting as a file server storing the data input by the users. The computers, all on Windows Vista, are locally networked.

After approval by Microsoft and three design phases over the next three months, the project took shape. The final phase involved manufacturing the hardware and creating all the final graphic assets, then integrating this into the code and testing the setup. “Visual Studio 2008 is the main IDE used when developing any WPF application,” says Hauenstein. “This new version of Visual Studio is a great code editor which features top quality IntelliSense, code refactoring and an integrated debugger, which all make development of a WPF application far easier.”

There are a number of programming languages that can be used when developing a WPF application.

“In the case of the MIC we used C++,” says Hauenstein. “However C# could have just as easily been used."

This flexibility was invaluable, he says, as it allowed the team to get started on the project almost immediately, using the skills that the team already had access to.

"At the core of WPF is a clear separation between the graphical user interface and the logic of the application, all facilitated through the use of XAML," says Hauenstein. "For us, this meant that once the initial structure of our application was in place, the designers and developers were able to work in parallel.”

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