morph me growing up − 9 October, 1999
I really like digital effects that create experiences that would be impossible to imagine without the help of the technology. I have had a lot of fun playing with morphing tools and am surprised even now how few teachers are aware of how easy, cheap and interesting this simple technique can be.
Essentially the process of morphing two pictures together converts static frames into dynamic time based media, inventing lots of new images by describing the space between the originals. I like to think that morphing is a tangible example of the phenomena John Berger described in Ways of Seeing where the bits we make up are as important as the stuff we are given at either side.
I first came across morphing in Peter Gabriel's xplora CD which has a postage stamp sized morph of him growing up and I suspect in 1993 it took a team of programmers at Real World to get this working. I was also enthralled by the morphed faces at the end of the video for Michael Jackson's Black or White which has much higher production values and moving rather than static images.
Since then a number of free morphing tools have become available, MorphX for the Mac and WinMorph for PCs and I have enjoyed exploring the technique. This is my version of Peter's growing up morph. I scanned a bunch of old passport photos of me (see below) and created a sequence of morphs which I pasted together in QuickTime to create the final movie.
I was going to upload the movie using YouTube but as the final movie is square rather than the normal aspect ratio and YouTube stretches it and makes it look horrid. So I tried uploading it to eSnips instead which held on to the original aspect ratio and played it back perfectly. I really wanted a thumbnail of the video to be displayed here as part of this story and then discovered eSnips widgets, which provide a bit of html code to copy and paste into your website. I was not convinced it would work, but if you click on the thumbnail below you will see that I was wrong!
I'm now off to play embedding sound files into my other stories using the eSnips sound widget that actually puts an audio player in the window... this stuff is so exciting!
Essentially the process of morphing two pictures together converts static frames into dynamic time based media, inventing lots of new images by describing the space between the originals. I like to think that morphing is a tangible example of the phenomena John Berger described in Ways of Seeing where the bits we make up are as important as the stuff we are given at either side.
I first came across morphing in Peter Gabriel's xplora CD which has a postage stamp sized morph of him growing up and I suspect in 1993 it took a team of programmers at Real World to get this working. I was also enthralled by the morphed faces at the end of the video for Michael Jackson's Black or White which has much higher production values and moving rather than static images.
Since then a number of free morphing tools have become available, MorphX for the Mac and WinMorph for PCs and I have enjoyed exploring the technique. This is my version of Peter's growing up morph. I scanned a bunch of old passport photos of me (see below) and created a sequence of morphs which I pasted together in QuickTime to create the final movie.
I was going to upload the movie using YouTube but as the final movie is square rather than the normal aspect ratio and YouTube stretches it and makes it look horrid. So I tried uploading it to eSnips instead which held on to the original aspect ratio and played it back perfectly. I really wanted a thumbnail of the video to be displayed here as part of this story and then discovered eSnips widgets, which provide a bit of html code to copy and paste into your website. I was not convinced it would work, but if you click on the thumbnail below you will see that I was wrong!
I'm now off to play embedding sound files into my other stories using the eSnips sound widget that actually puts an audio player in the window... this stuff is so exciting!
Me aged 4
Me aged 7
Me aged 11
Me aged 14
Me aged 16
Me aged 18
Me aged 20
Me aged 22
Me aged 25
Me aged 30
Me aged 35
Me aged 40
Me aged 45
Comments:
pepero (February 27, 2007. 08:38pm)
i *love* your <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Ramone">*johnny ramone*</a> pic when you were 18. that's so cool. :-)
kga245 (February 27, 2007. 10:32pm)
I have to try this! Thanks for sharing!
italkart19 (March 5, 2007. 07:23pm)
You look like Jim from "The Office" in your Age 20 picture.
eshender (May 9, 2007. 07:09am)
Awesome!
newbluedoor (June 25, 2007. 11:22am)
Went to see Peter Gabriel perform live on Saturday at Hyde Park calling - goodness me he's looking old. The show was very uplifting despite the torrential rain. Liked the fact that his daughter was performing with him.
kga245 (June 27, 2007. 11:34pm)
Not to age you, but "So" came out when I was in 6th grade, I think. It was my favorite album for a few years there. It brings back so many memories. Red Rain is one of the most heartbreaking songs ever. It was a highly formative song for me. Turned me into a life-long peacenik, really.