Oasis

OASIS (HD) - sand from yunsil heo on Vimeo.

A surface covered with black sand turns into a pool full of life when people grab and remove a handful of sand away. In this micro-world, virtual creatures are born, live and perish.They recognize their spatial boundaries and obstacles of living and respond to peoples' touch in various ways.
A real-time computer vision engine has been developed to interpret the physical status of diverse materials of the installation. The program populates creatures with various characteristics and controls their behaviors in real-time. A swarm intelligence has been implemented to simulate the flocking behaviors of the creatures and their life-like motions.

'Oasis I' used various natural materials: sand, pebbles, water & leaves.
The major interaction people can enjoy with is shaping a pond and watching creatures staying in it. People enjoyed shaping complicated territories, making canals between large ponds or trapping creatues in small areas. Also, creatures are designed to avoid pebbles that people placed inside the pond area and get surprised when people make a loud noise by dropping pebbles.