Spear Morgan is a small software development company, with a strong, ongoing background in video control for live events, including trade shows, concerts, live television and corporate events.
Our flagship software is Fresco, which has been used to control video switching and playback on hundreds of events since it's introduction in 1997. The current version uses TCP/IP and Midi to control a wide range of devices using plug-ins.
Also, working closely with clients, we create custom applications for specific control needs.
Meanwhile, we have a few irons in the fire. We're working with Synchromesh LLC on a startling new video playback system, we have a new control system on the drawing board, and we have a new version of Fresco in a prototype form that has direct control of Barco Encore processors.
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| Kerplunk |
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| Written by Bruce Wheaton |
| Sunday, 06 December 2009 11:56 |
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Kerplunk was a program to drive a system of Bill Bell's 'Lightsticks', an early LED project, that used fast eye motion to create floating images, and also featured some whimsical animations that worked on a stick by stick basis (apparently). It was created under contract for Creative Technology. Spear Morgan reverse engineered the system, with the help of Bill Bell and the original source code. The system consisted of a PowerMac with three custom NuBus cards and a program written in Forth. We repackaged the LightSticks from an 'Art Install' to a rentable road package, which involved case design, ruggedizing, connector and cable reconfiguration, and re-implementing the software as a flexible cue based system, using C and QuickTime. The program could also be run on another machine in a visualizer mode. We created an open protocol to trigger image playback on the 'sticks, but primary control was from Fresco. The repackaged system performed well on many live corporate events, parties etc. Bill's version can still be found, for instance in the San Francisco Exploratorium.
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