Description
The Orb is the second entry in the Controller Project series — a collection of interactive art installations built around a core idea: take an unconventional controller, route its signals through MIDI, and use them to drive real-time visual effects in Unity. The first version established that concept using a bank of traditional MIDI controllers feeding visuals out to Resolume. The Orb pushed the idea further by replacing physical buttons with something less tangible: the movement of your hands. The series continued with The Controller Project v3, which scaled the concept up to drive live visuals for an entire festival stage.
In this incarnation, the installation took the form of a low pedestal topped with a spherical projector. The orb displayed particle systems that responded in real time to the movement of anyone standing in front of it — turning gesture into light.
Inputs
Control was handled through a Leap Motion hand tracker, which captured the position and movement of the user’s hands without any physical contact. As users moved their hands, the intensity and direction of the particle systems inside the orb shifted in response. A MIDI controller allowed switching between visual presets, enabling transitions between different visual states during the event.
Outputs
All visuals were displayed within the orb itself — a spherical projector that made the installation a self-contained object. Unlike later versions in the series, the display was intimate: one person, one orb, the visuals responding only to them.
Software
Visuals were built and run in Unity, with hand tracking data from the Leap Motion routed through MIDI to control the particle systems in real time.
Fabrication
Like the other entries in the series, The Orb was fabricated using CNC-cut Ultra Light MDF.
Final Product
The Orb was shown at art events in San Francisco and Oakland, where it drew in curious onlookers who found themselves absorbed in the experience of shaping light with nothing but their hands.