Newcomer to MaxMSP, can it help me out.

    wheatln2
    Dec 14 2006 | 11:27 am
    Hi everyone,
    So I'm in college and as part of our final year project we spend 6 months developing something. We've chosen to create a video installation. We will have 4 screens and we need something that the user puts pressure on a midi touch sensor that it changes the video. There is only one change in the whole piece and it selects what video is shown.
    If we put the 4 screens aside for a moment, what I'm wondering is can MaxMSP (or Jitter?) be programmed to respond to a midi (or other) type of 4 button input? I think our hope is to have a video playing, then it stops and you select what path to take in the story by either pressing a button or walking onto a floor pad. While we have ambition to bring in more interaction and programming, this is the only major thing that we need to have functioning.
    I'm a complete newcomer to all this so any pointers, ideas, suggestions or just about anything would be very welcome.
    Cheers, Nigel
    PS, i am aware I may be in the completely wrong section of the site, but really I'm quite clueless to it all, so if someone wants to point me in the right direction, thats cool too. many thanks.
    • erichonour
      Dec 14 2006 | 2:55 pm
    • seejayjames
      Dec 15 2006 | 5:22 am
      Max is the master of MIDI interactivity! (midiin, ctlin)
      Once you have your data in, those numbers can do anything you want.
      Like the others have said, try not to get too heavy into the features... featuritis.... it can be rather distracting to the project at hand. That said, it's a wonderful environment for doing just about anything you can imagine. Just remember that there are always other projects in the future, not every one has to have every possible interaction. That's always been my problem... the possibilities are a blessing and a curse!
      --CJ
    • wheatln2
      Dec 15 2006 | 10:49 am
      Thanks everyone for the responses! I will be starting work on in early Feb so plan to spend january doing some testing and trying to get the bits and pieces together.
      We're quite focussed on one main interaction and all that it needs to be is to have the video playing according to which floor-pad/sensor you walk up to. So really the first challenge is in getting that information from the sensors into the computer.
      Incidentally, what do people think the best approach to the issue of 4 screens is. Are there video cards that can handle four outputs or should we have separate computers synced up somehow?