This whole conversation was really interesting. Here in the Digital Media Design program at VUW we encourage students to learn how to research and teach themselves what they need create projects in response to design briefs. We give them starting points to begin their inquires. We don't require students to purchase particular software in order to complete a degree(I doubt that architecture students are required to buy super expensive CAD programs for their degree). When the program was started the Design School bought some Max licenses, we have people here that know and use it so it seems like a logical starting point for student projects. That being said, whenever possible we have open source alternatives for the majority of the commercial software on the lab computers.
I had explored PD in 2003 mainly through my graduate studies at ITP. Hans Steiner was there at the same time and was doing some really great haptic work with it. He continues to be very involved in the PD development community. At that time the video capabilities were not fantastic, but it has come a long way. I obtained the latest release of PD-extended and it seems much better for creating visual based work. One of the issues with PD is that it can require a bit more "under the hood" tweaking to get it going in different configurations. As students develop and explore on their own they can engage it on that level, but going down that rabbit hole for students with varying levels of computer background can hinder creativity(in some cases). This paper is less about particular software than it is about problem solving, interaction design, and creating compelling performance and user based interactions. We use a variety of tools to achieve those goals and Max/MSP/jitter happens to be one of them. I'm really glad to have been re-introduced to PD as a viable option for visual design. thanks, Morgan _______________________________________________ Ada_list mailing list [email protected] http://aotearoadigitalarts.org.nz/
