ColorfulBit is a young company based in Karlsruhe, Germany working with some of the most fertile and creative minds from design, media, and technology.
We apply and develop new media technologies such as Augmented Reality, Natural Interfaces, Responsive Environments, Physical Computing and Interactive Surfaces. Through a global network of partners we can offer you teaching, consulting and development.
Our Name
The name ColorfulBit is composed of two words, the first 'colorful' representing creativity and art while 'bit' represents technology – the two core fields of our mission.
Vision & Mission
Our Mission
ColorfulBit is shaping the future by incooperating the latest trends in design, media and technology.
Our Vision
To fully explore what's possible tomorrow by working at the forefront of the technologically feasible to improve the interaction/communication experience between humans and technology.
Our Clients
We have the privilege that our software is used by some of the most well known universites and companies in the world. The following is just a partial list of our customers ...
Awards
We are proud to received the following awards and nominations:
IKT INNOVATIV 2013 by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology
Awards
We are proud to received the following awards and nominations:
Innovationswettbewerb by Technologiefabrik Karlsruhe
Nominations
We are proud to received the following awards and nominations:
WECONOMY 2013
INNOVATIONSPREIS-IT 2013 in category Entertainment/3D
Zettwerk has been nominated for ZIMTrainer which uses our gesture recognition engine Kinetic Space.
Contact Us
If you want to contact us for any reason, please don't hesitate to send us a message.
Chief Executive Officer:
Prof. Dr. Matthias Wölfel
German Tax Number:
DE 284 992 924
Responsible according to § 55 Abs. 2 RStV:
Prof. Dr. Matthias Wölfel
Laboratory
We investigate a broad variety of techniques, including:
+ acoustic microphone array processing
+ automatic speech recognition
+ multilingual document similarity
+ emotion detection in text
If you would like to get help or more information in one of the previous mentioned topics or if you have a technical research topic you want to be supported, don't hesitate to contact us.
Media Installations
ColorfulBit designs and develops interactive media stagings and multi-sensory environments for digital signage, exhibitions and business events.
We develop and integrate various technologies including signal processig, pattern recognition, artificial intelligence, projection mapping and augmented reality to develop an unique user experience.
On the following pages you can discover an extract of our work.
Amazonas Opera
Short reportage about the Multimedia-Oper Amazonas presented by KULTUR.21 from Deutsche Welle TV.
View of interneal components of a smart table we have developed.
Physical objects, their respective rest position and one object on the smart table surface.
We have developed the program Kinetic Space which allowes to easily integrate gesture recognition technology.
Smart Surfaces
Any kind of surface (a floor, a table or a touch device) a user can interact with digital content, is called a smart surface.
The interaction can be based on different sensor technologies including cameras or microphones.
We provide all kind of services aroud smart surfaces – building customized hardware solutions, developing software solutions or finding the proper design for your interactive multi-touch installations.
Table Prototype – Amazonas Oper
Demonstrating some of the functionalities of a self developed multi-touch table (size 2 by 1 meter).
The Kinetic Space provides a tool which allows everybody to record and automatically recognize customized gestures using depth images as provided by the Kinect sensors.
The software observes and comprehends the user interaction by processing the skeleton of the user. The unique analysis routines allow to not only detect simple gestures such as pushing, clicking, forming a circle or waving, but also to recognize more complicated gestures as, for instance, used in dance performances or sign language. In addition it provides a visual feedback how good individual body parts resemble a given gesture.
How To Video
In this video you can learn about the usage of Kinetic Space: how to recognize, train and adjust gestures.
In the Press
– Tech Crunch 2011/08/05[...] What is it good for? Well, it can read a gesture from one person and register it on another and you can train it to register tiny movements and, potentially, allow for full motion control of your PC. Minority Report it isn't, but that future is getting closer and closer.
– Pforzheimer Zeitung 2012/08/20[...] Einfache Bewegungen werden inzwischen von zahlreichen Programmen erkannt. "Kinetic Space" ermöglicht die Integration von selbstdefinierten und komplexen Bewegungsabläufen. So können etwa tänzerische Bewegungen oder die Gestik der Gebärdensprache aufgenommen, umgesetzt und zur Steuerung von anderen Anwendungen genutzt werden. Bewegungsabläufe lassen sich automatisch miteinander vergleichen, Abweichungen und Übereinstimmungen visualisieren. Die Software ermöglicht den Einsatz für genaue Analyse. [...]
– Arte con Codigo 2012/09/12[...] La librería Kinect Space, tiene un algoritmo que permite reconocer distintas posturas y movimientos previamente guardados por nosotros, y permite crear inputs cuando esa postura se repita, o una suficientemente similar. Todo ese proceso, necesita un laborioso trabajo que Kinect Space, simplifica al máximo, y reinventa la rueda por nosotros. [...] Kinect Space nos promete, que el sistema es capaz de grabar nuestros gestos de manera sencilla y reconocerlos y reconocerlo aunque lo realice una persona distinta, así como es capaz de entender los gestos independientemente de la velocidad con que se realice y la orientación de la persona respecto a la Kinect. [...]
– Hack a Day 2012/06/11For all of you that found yourselves wanting to use Kinect to control something but had no idea what to do with it, or how to get the data from it, you're in luck. Kineticspace is a tool available for Linux/mac/windows that gives you the tools necessary to set up gesture controls quickly and easily. [...]
– Kinect Hacks 2011/07/21 Map your gestures and have it ready for other people to use and make reference of. The Kinect Spaces is a gesture recognition and mapping software that gives programmers a reliable tool in creating and saving gestures via Kinect for their software use. This video by Matthias Wölfel shows us the nitty-gritty details of the program as well as how the Kinect Space can prove to be valuable to all Kinect hackers out there. [...] This is indeed a great addition in further enhancing the Kinect controls!
– Dashhacks 2011/07/23[...] Gestures can be easily trained recorded and recognized as independent meaning one person can set the recorded gestures for others to use as well speed in independent where the system is able to recognize different speeds in which the gestures are performed in comparison to the training. This is very useful when interacting with applications that relate to live performances such as Max/MSP, Pure Data, VVVV and Resolume to name a few. [...]
Kinetic Space Pro
The difference to the "non pro" version is the possibility to send customized OSC messages and customized keyboard emulations in order to control third party software and hardware.
You see a screenshot of the communication setup.
If you are interested to get more information or in purchasing a license of this product please contact us.
Client Gallery
Kinetic Space has been used by third party
developers, engineers and artists in a
broad variety of applications. Please see
example applications from our clients ...
Skeletal Reflections by Chico Macmurtrie shown at Art and Artificial Life, Espacio Fundacion Telefonica, Madrid, Spain
A media center can be controlled by particular gestures, realized by students of the Politecnico di Torino, Italy
Professor Dr. Peer Johannsen (University of Pforzheim, Germany) and his students use Kinetic Space to control a NAO-robot.
Yeti Snowball – throwing snowballs at yetis, a game for 4 vs 4 players by students of Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design.
Based on the Kinetic Space technology Zettwerk realized a training program for physical excercises with feedback.
Fireworks and solenoids are controlled by dance moves detected by Kinetic Space – realized by Paul Stoffregen, USA.
SPHEEK by students of the Dresden University of Applied Sciences, Germany is a game controlled by different gestures.
Virtual Marathon is a fitness game by Vincent Stebel, while running on a treadmill you have to get rid of ghosts by waving your arms.
Feeding Ducks by students of the Dresden University of Applied Sciences, Germany lets users interact and feed virtual ducks.
Installation at the SOON Gallery Bern, Swiss. Depending on your moves, different visuals are displayed on PixelInvaders panels.
At ColorfulBit, an award winning new media agency, we are all about creating unique and powerful user experiences, interactive environments and responsive architecture by integrating and developing emerging technology in interaction design and human-computer-interaction – a perfect place for magic to happen!
We are a young company based in Karlsruhe, Germany working with some of the most fertile and creative minds from design, media, and technology. Through a global network of partners we can offer you teaching, consulting and development in the field of signal processing, pattern recognition, artificial intelligence, machine learning, natural language processing, human-computer-interaction and interaction design.
