Software Engineering with an Agile Development Framework/Iteration Three/Deployment and packaging

Case study Virtual Butterfly - Metamorphamatic

Group: Naz Taylor, Adrian van Leeuwen and Brendon Mills


The interactive 3-D project will allow museum visitors to design their own digital butterfly using a touch-screen interface, watch it move through the life-cycle then fly above a digital world.



Case study Data projector control system

Group: Jim Campbell, Mark Allen and Don Brewer



The bane of the presenters life, the projector. How many times have you been in a flash lecture and had a pause in proceedings while the lecturer fumbles with the remote, turns the lights off and accidentally turns the projector off when they meant to advance a slide. This project has developed software and hardware solutions that work with a range of data projectors so that the control of the system is driven by simple icons on the projectors computer. No longer will you have to "talk among yourselves" while a frustrated lecturer runs for a technician.

The project saw the delivery of a working system in institutional theatres. This though is only a part of the deliverables. In addition to the application, commented source code was supplied. The system was also designed to cater for new and different projectors, with configuration data separately managed. As part of the delivery the group also ran an extensive training campaign for academics using the new system, including signs and videos.

Client satisified: "A real problem with the benefits of a simple solution" , "I was impressed that they were focussed on a simple practical solution. My initial concern was that we would get an expensive prototype but instead I got a production system. I enjoyed the team's enthusiasm…their positive attitude always gave the impression that they would produce a result"



Case study Timed Lapse

Group: Daniel Himburg and Jade Thomlinson for Lloyd Godman


Timed Lapse” is the result of a collaboration with a photographer, Lloyd Godman. We have worked with Lloyd for six years, developing various exhibition pieces mostly involving plants and light controlled via a computer according to either the state of the plants or the visitors. For an international exhibition “Accelerating Sequence” (at MOCA, Atlanta Georgia), artists were challenged to explore time and aging. Timed Lapse is a combination of plants growing (and dying) while the images of visitors are collected and displayed in an ever increasing time lapse sequence.

The project students didn't get to go to the States. Instead they had to prepare the exhibit to a stage where Lloyd could set up the work himself. As he was purchasing much of the equipment remotely, the system had to be designed to be configurable by him. When a camera failed at the last minute, the project team wrote code and remotely fixed it from a distance.