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* confirmed for Release version, tentative launch in September 2011

Back in 2007 I developed a work call The Moving Mao

Which uses a low-res portrait, something around 40x40 pixel, to generate a painting from body movement captured by a webcam. It was done in Processing and it used real time physics of springs with elasticity and damping. I didnt develop further to this work until last December, I met a music composer Gaybird Leung who are planning for a music performance Digital Hug with custom-made instruments. My work SoundGyro captured his attention and we wanted to do an app that can response to body movement, something like a theremin. Eventually we combine the idea of The Moving Mao and SoundGyro to create Squeal/Singing Face, an interactive portrait. The portrait "sings" when you tap certain part of the face, tilting the device will alter the pitch and make it possible to perform music. I updated Moving Mao from square pixels to Delaunay Triangulation for better definition of the face detail and more realistic facial movements. I used Openframeworks and OfxDelaunay library to create Squeal.

This work is currently in development, although Delaunay Triangulation is a common technique, using upon portraits was a well-established style developed by Jonathan Puckey. To avoid association to his works, further exploration in the rendering style, and interactive functions is needed to make this work more unique.