[HN Gopher] Show HN: Spatially aware group video calls from the ...
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Show HN: Spatially aware group video calls from the browser
Author : smoo
Score : 97 points
Date : 2020-04-11 04:28 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (party.mookerj.ee)
(TXT) w3m dump (party.mookerj.ee)
| ddevault wrote:
| Tried this out, but it picked the wrong webcam. You should
| provide an option to select the correct one.
| [deleted]
| ghostpepper wrote:
| I tried with my camera shutter closed and it didn't work at all.
| Just said "waiting to detect your face" with a smiley-face.
|
| Very creepy.
| ambicapter wrote:
| Firefox asked me for permission to use my video camera, so
| unless that didn't happen for you not sure why you would be
| surprised that its using your camera feed.
| throwaway15392 wrote:
| What's creepy? The smiley face or that it requires a face?
| requiring a face is a good call
| ghostpepper wrote:
| The fact that if I hadn't used a physical barrier then my
| face would have been immediately fed into a detection
| algorithm without any explanation or warning.
|
| I get that it's just a tech demo but a small disclaimer about
| what will be done with the data before requesting the
| permission would go a long way.
| smoo wrote:
| The facial detection all runs locally in your browser using
| tensorflow.js and it's crazy that we live in a time that's
| even possible :D
|
| But I do appreciate the feedback and will be sure to add a
| disclaimer and make it clear what's going on!
| ghostpepper wrote:
| Yeah it doesn't need to be long (short is actually better
| as more chance of people reading it through)
|
| 1. The app requests permission to view your camera
|
| 2. Your video stream is displayed and a local js script
| will run facial recognition (not against a database, just
| a binary "is this a face") and only then will it allow
| you to join the chat.
|
| 3. When you join the chat, your video and audio will be
| transmitted but will not be stored.
|
| some people likely won't even read it and just click
| anyway, but for the curious and/or paranoid it will
| definitely be reassuring.
|
| thanks for sharing your work.
| [deleted]
| smoo wrote:
| It uses your face to make the little avatar to show to people
| as you move around the map! (as well as to animate the little
| emoji that follows you around!) I honestly don't know if a
| show-your-face policy is the best to prevent people being mean
| to each other online - I'd love to hear your thoughts! You can
| read my code though, nothing gets saved anywhere and the video
| calling functionality is all peer-to-peer!
| konschubert wrote:
| i think show-your-face is a reasonable burden that will help
| improve conversation quality
| jtvjan wrote:
| If you don't want to show your face, you can use the parameters
| "--use-fake-device-for-media-stream --use-file-for-fake-video-
| capture=/path/to/y4m_or_mjpeg" on Chromium. You can get y4ms
| from xiph.org[1].
|
| [1]: https://media.xiph.org/video/derf/
| smoo wrote:
| Made this to try and simulate real world interactions - normally
| I found on large video calls, only one person gets to speak. With
| this you can dip in and out of conversations with groups of
| people just by moving your avatar towards or away from them!
|
| It also uses modern web technologies and does not even need a
| login, just show it your face and it will try and use emojis to
| tell people what you're doing even if you're not in a call with
| them
| konschubert wrote:
| I'm not affiliated with them and i realize it's different from
| what you did here. But might be interesting for you to check
| out sococo.com
| zhoujianfu wrote:
| Very nice! I had exactly this idea a couple weeks ago when on a
| 25+ person "zoom party". We needed a way to break into little
| groups. This is a cool way to do it, obviously with little
| improvements. I think requiring a face is good too! You could
| have not map in the background too, it's not really necessary,
| just the radar is fine!
| hobs wrote:
| zoom also has breakout rooms for what its worth, might be a
| paid feature, but you can specify whom and how long.
| zanderwohl wrote:
| I'm right next to people but can't see or hear them? Is there
| something else I need to do?
|
| Edit: I got it. My roommate's browser was not working for it in
| general.
| antdke wrote:
| Super fun take on spatial software with video calling. But made
| me kind of uncomfortable haha
|
| Also, I'd try to make it easy for a person to leave the chat
| room. Couldn't find an exit. Not good UX
|
| I'm sure you'll improve it along the way. Good stuff :)
| lharries wrote:
| Very cool @smoo. How did you build it? And does everyone meet in
| London or are they distributed to the centre of their nearest
| city?
| smoo wrote:
| Thanks! I've only added in a map for London at the moment but
| will be sure to add different places soon! I've actually also
| made it open source too at https://github.com/souramoo/party -
| it uses standard ecmascript and webpack for the client, nodejs
| for the backend hosted on heroku and webrtc peer-to-peer for
| video :)
| Cilvic wrote:
| That's really cool! Audio didn't work on FF mobile.
|
| We are working on something similar:
| https://www.joinvoiceplace.com
| [deleted]
| throwaway15392 wrote:
| That's so cool. You could add background chatter too if you
| haven't already, you'd just have to amplify the local
| conversation the user wants to tune into
|
| Edit: by background chatter I mean the noise from all the other
| conversations happening in the moment nearby
| brunoqc wrote:
| Didn't someone made something similar using jitsi meet?
| moron4hire wrote:
| That was me: https://meet.primrosevr.com
|
| There have been a lot of changes since I made the first post a
| week ago. Check out the github, I'm looking for contributors!
| tempestn wrote:
| Love the idea, but the other party couldn't hear me even though
| my mic was working, and the video seemed to be stacked in a
| strange way where my own camera was generally half off the
| screen. Tried both Firefox and Chrome. Would certainly love this
| or something like this for virtual social gatherings though!
| wilg wrote:
| Would be helpful to have a screenshot or something so I can see
| what's up before approving camera/mic access!
| antoncohen wrote:
| I agree. Even after approving the camera and mic, the way it
| was presented makes it seem like the camera is only going to be
| used for controlling the emoji. But that isn't the case, the
| camera video is shown to other people.
|
| I feel like there shouldn't be a #public room. It is basically
| Chatroulette.
| smoo wrote:
| Thanks for the feedback! I will update it with a screenshot
| (you can see ones I've put on my github at https://raw.github
| usercontent.com/souramoo/party/master/publ...
|
| You can turn your camera off once you're in a room too - I
| actually made this to try and host my birthday party next
| month where it would be nice to see everyone :)
| antoncohen wrote:
| I think the idea is really great for private parties. Zoom
| and similar conferencing systems don't work well because
| either everyone is the same volume and it is just loud
| noise, or it mutes everyone but the loudest person, which
| kills lively conversations.
|
| I really like the idea of being able to mingle, and "walk"
| around to chat with different groups, all at the same
| party.
| baristaGeek wrote:
| I think this has a lot of potential.
|
| Go to game rooms, and play some game online. Go to a club, and
| listen to the same Spotify track.
| tcoff91 wrote:
| Something similar to this that works better IMO is Online Town,
| which was posted yesterday on HN: https://hn.town.siempre.io/
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22818300
|
| A 3d version of this concept is well executed by Mozilla Hubs,
| but the lack of echo cancellation makes headphones a necessity
| when using Hubs which is a downside.
| fortran77 wrote:
| A lot of this can be solved with push-to-talk, like what
| Virtual Airwaves is doing. They simulate radio in that the
| closer you are to someone, the "stronger" the signal is. (Take
| a look at their patents). https://virtualairwaves.com/ or try
| it at https://cb.virtualairwaves.com/ There are usually
| conversations on Channel 1 each evening, UK timezone.
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