As seen in the New York Times

Posted on December 3, 2008
Filed Under: Surface | Leave a Comment

Sifting through some of the new press Vectorform has received post-BMW Configuration release, and was surprised by a write-up in the New York Times. The article is an oldie but goodie, referencing last month’s highlights, including: the Vect-O’Lantern, NBC, and SNL’s MegaPixel Touch Map.

Check it out:
Microsoft Surface in the wild

Beemin’ a Surface Auto Configuration

Posted on December 3, 2008
Filed Under: Creative, Development, Surface | Leave a Comment

It all started with the BMW x6 Surface Configurator Prototype. We kicked that out in abnormally fast time…thanks in part to our world traveling German Creative Director who spent at least six sleepless weeks in our Michigan office. In all fairness, our tech team didn’t sleep either. The end result: The prototype was a huge success, for Vectorform and for BMW.

This led us to the BMW 7-series Surface Configurator, created by Vectorform to ultimately enhance the BMW dealership purchasing experience, starting with the mother dealership—BMW Welt. And yes, many, many more sleepless nights…

So what is it?

The BMW 7-series Surface Configurator allows customers to personalize and fully experience the BMW brand through an intuitive and Natural User Interface (NUI). While customizing their automobile, customers are immersed in a sensory experience by using real paint chips, leather, trim and rim samples. Interactive designs allows a 360° view of interior and exterior images, giving customers the ability to fully explore their custom configuration. The BMW Surface Configurator allows for saving and building a virtual garage of configurations and to further the overall experience, customers can view BMW lifestyle videos, digital images, spec sheets of various automobiles and copy them to an external USB drive.

BMW 7-Series Surface Configurator

We think this was a perfect use of the Surface platform and real world objects. Being able to configure a car or anything for that matter, by use of tactile real world objects opens up a ton of possibilities. We are excited where this will lead Surface application development in the B2C market.

Big thanks to everyone who made these projects possible from the Surface guys at Microsoft, the wonderful folks at BMW and the Creative and Tech teams at VF who pulled it all together.

SKOAL!

We have a PhizzPop Winner!

Posted on November 13, 2008
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Some of the hottest design firms in New York came together in November 2008 to compete for the PhizzPop Design challenge 2008 with a focus on creating a K-12 Learning Interface. Congratulations to Team Vectorform for producing the winning application “Study Right”. A convergence and Interactive Media application using Silverlight 2 and Expression Studio to create Web and Surface experiences for Teachers, Students and Parents. Check out this VIDEO here on the PhizzPop Website.

Vectorform presents at the American Consulate in Germany

Posted on November 7, 2008
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During the US elections, the American Embassy in Germany held an event and Vectorform was there to show of the goods. Here are some pics….

SurfaceDJ Rocks Channel 9

Posted on November 7, 2008
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Markus and Joe rock out the Surface DJ for Adam Kinney at PDC 2008.

Surface beats with Vectorform

This Just In-Weekend Update Debuts MegaPixel Giant Touch Map

Posted on October 28, 2008
Filed Under: Surface | 1 Comment

It is wildly gratifying when an application you helped create provides a little bit of inspiration for a Saturday Night Live skit. Poking equal amounts of fun at the different multi-touch political news apps out there, including NBC’s Electoral Surface Applications, this skit had all of Vectorform in stitches. See the video below for some interesting political scenarios, including New Hampshire’s secession from the US.

Vect-O’Lantern

Posted on October 20, 2008
Filed Under: Creative, Development, Surface | 1 Comment

Halloween is right around the corner, and here at Vectorform we are setting the mood with our newest Surface Experience: Vect-O’ Lantern. Created using Microsoft Expression Blend, this application is proof that developers can make unique and engaging Surface Experiences with simple controls that come bundled right in the Surface SDK. Vect-O’Lantern is made by using an Ink Canvas layered with effects to make a highly addictive Pumpkin Carving Experience.

So this year, instead of going through the trouble of buying a pumpkin, carving tools, and covering kitchen tables in newspapers, we can all draw on our pumpkins on a Surface. Save as many custom Vect-O’Lanterns as you like, then watch it come to life, flickering with a soft candle glow and cycling through other pumpkin creations. Okay, okay maybe this year we don’t all have a Surface…next year then!! (~_^)

GO is a go on Surface.

Posted on October 8, 2008
Filed Under: Creative, Development, Surface | 1 Comment

Authenticity is the driver for the cool ancient Chinese board game of Surface GO. When the Microsoft HPC group approached Vectorform with this concept, we jumped right in and crafted the NUI to drive home the Surface experience through intuitive gesturing game play actions, design and functionality.

Using WPF coding allowed us a shorter development time and gave our creative team the ability to make larger contributions. We used Microsoft Expression Blend to build UI elements such as clam shell and slate stones and a fully 3D rendered wood grain board.

To round out the authenticity of the experience, we added in ambient and game play sounds. Surface GO features multiple game play options including a 9×9 board, a 19×19 board, handicap options, and most exciting is that you can chose between human vs. human, AI vs. human or AI vs. AI. That’s right, you can chose from a list of GO engines and pit super computers against each other. This game has more move combinations than chess and will be featured at Microsoft PDC 2008.

Check out these design studies:

The Surface continues to head the battlefront for NBC…

Posted on September 22, 2008
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Check out Chuck Todd as he shows off more features of the application we built for MSNBC featuring several new poll panels as scatterview items, and navigating to the Pennsylvania state map. Be sure to stay tuned to NBC and Chuck Todd on the TODAY Show throughout the election season for more reports on the Microsoft Surface. 7:00 - 7:30 am (the country’s most-watched morning television program.)

Frances sounds off from Web 2.0 - New York 2008.

Posted on September 19, 2008
Filed Under: Development, Surface | Leave a Comment

As many of you are aware of, Vectorform totally rocked-out the Web 2.0 conference here in NYC (literally rocked out…). As Kevin noted, we had the most happening spot in the center. People just couldn’t get enough of the Surface DJ, and by the end of the two days, Markus, Kevin, Christina and myself were doing a demo every 10 minutes for the growing crowds. We even had it down to somewhat of a science—while one of us manned the machine, the others answered questions in the audience.

We learned a few things over the last two days, but the most important thing was the emphasis on the Surface as a social experience.

Here are a few more images from the show—just look at those smiling faces!

Vectorform’s apps are being highlighted at the Web 2.0 conference in NY this week.

Posted on September 18, 2008
Filed Under: Creative, Development, Surface | Leave a Comment

Rock out with DJ Kev himself on the Surface DJ!!
Test your drumming skills with the VF Drumkit.
Leave messages for the VF team with newly developed VF Fridge Magnets.
Play political pundit with the same election software you see on MSNBC!
And many more…

If you’re around, come by the Microsoft Surface booth and see us!

*********************************************

Direct from the conference and DJ Kev:

We are booming. Our booth has been overwhelmingly crowded, and everyone is loving our apps. Our business card supply has pretty much been depleted.

There have been a lot of people who recognized the NBC apps as well, and they now know which company created them.

Anyway, congrats everyone, you are apart of “the coolest stuff at the conference” (quoted from many attendees).

Kev

Up close and personal with a few apps we developed for MSNBC

Posted on September 8, 2008
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We had a blast creating the applications MSNBC is using on the Surface, and it’s been pretty exciting to see them in play. Each one is unique with a different theme and function—we’ve provided a little more info below on the ones you saw today. Check back for more details as MSNBC uses the other applications to delve deeper into the upcoming election.

The Electoral Map
The Electoral Map provides an interactive tabulation of the electoral vote, by State. While on-air, Chuck Todd can indicate a state as likely or leaning toward a candidate, or as a toss-up. By quickly changing the State’s status with just a touch, Mr. Todd can demonstrate how different scenarios affect the total electoral vote. In addition to voting predictions, the map interacts with musters and displays factoids about each state. Like all the applications, the map can accept hand-drawn annotations.

The Battleground States
As the whole country learned in the 2000 Presidential Election, one swing state, also known as a battleground state, can have a deciding effect on the next American president. Vectorform created the Battleground State Application to help MSNBC and Chuck Todd demonstrate the importance of a battleground state’s vote.

Check out our pictures from our day on the set, and we will be posting more information in the coming days and weeks, so stay tuned for more!

Florin with the electoral map

Chuck Todd preparing the bobbleheads:

Group Shot!

Vectorform makes world debut on MSNBC

Posted on September 8, 2008
Filed Under: Surface | Leave a Comment

We made our world debut on television today, and Microsoft Surface took center stage. We developed a suite of Surface applications for MSNBC and Chuck Todd, NBC News Political Director, which aired for the first time at 9 o’clock this morning. If you caught today’s broadcasts you have already seen the Electoral Map and the Battleground States in action. If not, stay tuned as they will be using the Microsoft Surface up until the election. Check out the video below!

Moving Full Throttle

Posted on August 26, 2008
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We recently completed our first implementation of the Vectorform Surface Trivia Engine, Full Throttle. Players answer questions about automotive finance in a head to head race with friends to rack up points and race across the country. We knew it would be a challenge to make a fun game out of finance trivia, but after a couple of pizzas, a few liters of soda, and the helpful testing of some local students, we found our first game is hard to put down.

It just keeps growing..

Posted on August 24, 2008
Filed Under: Creative, Development, Surface | Leave a Comment

The Vectorform Surface team that is. Since receiving our first Microsoft Surface in April, our team has grown up and out quite a bit. We now have eight Microsoft Surface units in the house and have expanded the team to 20+ people. The team definitely stays busy. At times, there’s a backlog of people that need to get onto the machines for something or other.

James Ryan of Mercedes-Benz Dual Wields SurfaceDJ and Vector Drums

Posted on August 22, 2008
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James Ryan, an executive from Mercedes-Benz Financial, stopped by for his third demo of our entertainment apps and ups the ante by simultaneously playing SurfaceDJ and VectorDrums at the same time. Check out the video below to see the rhythmic action…

Vectorform.com on the Surface

Posted on August 22, 2008
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We have to admit that the site is a tad old and ready for a refresh, but it is fun to interact with an old friend in a new way…

The S-Files

Posted on August 20, 2008
Filed Under: Surface | 1 Comment

Time to let the BAT out of the bag. Vectorform Labs is pleased to officially unveil our latest skunk works project—application development on the Surface platform. We’ve been working with the Microsoft Surface team and the Surface SDK for the last five months, so while other companies are still un-boxing their units, we’d like to show you the applications we have built on ours. Our videos aren’t much, but we feel the work speaks for itself. We will be releasing our internal blog entries over the next few weeks, as well as providing code samples, tutorials and sneak peeks of our next big Microsoft Surface App.

What the hell is a muster?

Posted on August 19, 2008
Filed Under: Surface | 1 Comment

You might be asking yourself, what is a muster, anyway? A “muster” is a term that was coined by our office in Berlin, and refers to any real-world object that provides a way to interact with a Microsoft Surface. Initially, we created musters using 1.5×1.5 wooden blocks, with an image on one side and black foam on the other. The muster would then be “tagged” with a sticker allowing the Microsoft Surface to associate the object with information, and display the related information.

Official musters made their grand debut when they were introduced on the BMW project. Each muster- approximately 20 in number – was created using images from BMW catalogs using authentic paint chips and actual materials from the car. The musters represented interior and exterior color and texture options, wheels, trim, and accessories as an interactive tool for viewing and selecting particular car choices. Our musters were designed with the customer in mind, to provide an interactive selection process through the use of real-world objects.

We’ve since expanded our idea of musters, tagging just about anything we can get our hands on.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/muster

Surface in the Sauna (w/Drinks)

Posted on August 18, 2008
Filed Under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

At Vectorform were all about enhancing user experience, and what better way to enhance the Microsoft Surface experience then by placing it in the Vectorform Corporate Sauna. That’s right– sweltering temperatures, cedar walls and multi-touch goodness. After a series of tests we were all shocked at how well the Microsoft Surface performed at over 120 degrees.

Join us next week as our Surface stress tests continue with Surface Skydiving.

Surface Trivia Engine

Posted on August 15, 2008
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Most early adopters of Microsoft Surface technology are likely to have the resources to develop custom applications, but as multi-touch technology becomes more accessible, a large class of Microsoft Surface owners will not have the resources to develop custom applications. As consumers become more familiar with multi-touch applications it will become increasingly important that every Microsoft Surface deployment provides a unique user experience, or consumers will grow bored with the technology and adopt a “seen one–seen them all” mentality.

To help every Microsoft Surface owner provide a unique experience, we are developing applications that can be rebranded and customized by end users. One application we are working on is the Surface Trivia Engine. The Surface Trivia Engine allows non-technical users to build interactive trivia games. These customized applications and owner-friendly controls will ensure that every time a user sits down at a surface, they will get a totally new experience.

SurfaceDJ 1.0

Posted on August 2, 2008
Filed Under: Surface | 1 Comment

For all you techno-loving wannabe DJ’s out there, SurfaceDJ 1.0 is the killer app to get your groove on. I had the idea of creating a Mixer-type application for the Microsoft Surface shortly after creating VectorDrums. I brought this idea up to Joe who loved the concept. After some long hours during the day, we opened up a bottle of our favorite drink (gotta love a glass of… coke) and sat down and began prototyping. Within an hour, we had a simple app that played some sounds when objects were placed in a specific area of the Microsoft Surface. As fun as that sounds, we needed something more.

As an amateur music producer, I was struggling to figure out a way to incorporate music into this app. A mixer is great and all, but it isn’t really creative. It’s just a playlist with cross fades… meh. So we had an app that plays sounds and a new innovate device with a completely new interface to computing. Where could we go with this? Then it hit me.

I went home and started writing musical loops that would sound well when layered on top of one another. The idea was to create an application that allowed multiple users to work together to create a song that sounded good without any musical experience. Heh, yeah it’s not that easy. I brought in the loops the next day and added them to the app and invited people to mess around and see what they thought. The response was overwhelming. I had almost everyone in the office hovered around my Microsoft Surface waiting for their chance to collaborate and develop their own song. The app was very simple, which allowed anyone to use it, but provided a unique experience that cannot be found anywhere else on any device.

As with the VectorDrums, we invited James Ryan, an executive from Mercedes-Benz Financial Services, to check out and play with our new creation. He immediately began to sequence his own song, starting with a simple kick drum and eventually layering more complex melodies on top of it. His performance was taped for your viewing pleasure. Check it out below.

Since the initial prototype, SurfaceDJ has been re-skinned and shown to Microsoft who praised the application and will demo it at their upcoming Surface Release Party. Who knew that having the ability to touch their music would be so fun?

Flickr on the Surface

Posted on July 28, 2008
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The Microsoft Surface is awesome for viewing images. Throw an image in a Scatterview and viola… you have a nice object that you can scale, rotate and flick about the screen. After trying it out with some default test images, I thought it’d be nice to see some quality photos, so I converted the Silverlight Flickr Viewer I made to a WPF Surface application. The app receives a feed of 100 photos tagged “interesting” by Flickr users.

From Pilot to RTM

Posted on July 1, 2008
Filed Under: Creative | Leave a Comment

Our first initial batch of Microsoft Surface units that we received came pre-loaded with the pilot version of the Microsoft Surface SDK. This pilot included a few demo applications that served as tech demos for the product’s capabilities. However, after developing a few applications for the Microsoft Surface, we began to notice a slew of performance problems, mostly regarding contact recognition and overall sluggishness.

On June 30th, 2008, Microsoft released the RTM build of the Microsoft Surface SDK. This new release promised performance increases, improved stability, and better contact capturing and recognition. After the long update process we finally had our units running the shiny new SDK. The first thing we noticed was a modified version of the default Attract Application. Attract apps are designed to attract users to the Microsoft Surface with useless, but fun, very small apps that entice users to touch and play with it. Microsoft’s default Attract Application is a top-down view of a small pond that allows water to move in sync with your hand gestures. With the new version, not only can you change the background image as you might expect, but you can also change the reflection map. Cool! There are underwater lights in each corner and an overhead light. With the ability to change these settings based on time, you can really make a simulation that impresses people over and over again. However, we still had one lingering issue: contact hover. The Microsoft Surface will capture contacts that are up to an inch high from the table top. This produces many unwanted contacts and forces us to do a lot of contact filtering in code.

The RTM build also included a few new demo applications and updates to previous demo apps. However, the most exciting addition was the update to the Microsoft Surface SDK’s APIs. Microsoft introduced new events and functionality that we can use to create even more exciting apps. Needless to say, we’re eagerly anticipating Microsoft Surface SDK 2.0.

Pilot Attract Application

RTM Attract Application

Drum roll, please!

Posted on June 23, 2008
Filed Under: Surface | 1 Comment

After many late nights, and several long jam sessions, Vectorform-Labs is ready to share our first entertainment application for the Surface, The Vector Drum Kit. This Surface experience not only allows you to rock out to a 6-piece drum kit, but showcases the durability and responsiveness of the hardware. The ingenuity of the Vector Drum Kit is attributed to our latest addition to the Surface team at Vectorform-Labs, Kevin Foreman (aka DJ Kev).

Check out our video of Mercedes-Benz Executive James Ryan rolling up his sleeves to rock out with DJ KEV on the Vector Drums, and the evolution of the kit’s interface.

The Surface Team

Posted on June 20, 2008
Filed Under: Surface | Leave a Comment

The members of Vectorform Labs newly minted Surface team are starting to get their hands dirty and make some really sweet stuff. Our assembled A-list includes Joe, Dan and Brad, the genius minds driving new technology and interactive development, and Florin, Clemens, Aaron and John, masters in user experience, interface design and motion graphics. Today, the guys are exploring the capabilities of the Microsoft Surface SDK, as well as the applications that came preloaded on our unit, including:

• Data Visualizer
• Controls Box
• Finger Fountain
• Grand Piano
• Paddleball
• Photopaint
• Scatter Puzzle
• Shopping Cart
• Virtual Concierge

And many more…

The B.A.T. flies into the cave

Posted on April 3, 2008
Filed Under: Surface | Leave a Comment

The B.A.T. flew into the cave. The eagle has landed. Santa Claus has come to town. That’s right; today we unboxed our first Microsoft Surface unit! It took an eight-person team, and the removal of our front door, but VF-HQ finally has a Microsoft Surface to call its own. Over the next few weeks we’ll be getting our hands dirty figuring out just what this big ass table can do. But first, we are going to turn it on and bask in its sweet, fluorescent glow.

Check out pics from the unveiling