====== Getting Started ======

As you may know, Media-Art is not a trivial thing to contribute to. We're trying hard to make it as painless as possible for you.

TheArtCollider (TAC) is designed to not limit its users - which implies complexity - but at the same time provide for easy access to newcomers.

There is a simple interface that hides the gory details and allows for basic interaction. For advanced users there's [[inout:doc|example code and API interface documentation]] with basically no limit to your creativity.

===== Click & Go =====

The easiest way to contribute is to provide some kind of live video is using a web-browser and camera. In this case, you are providing the //interaction// instead of reacting on input from TheArtCollider.

Select one of the following options according to the material you want to provide:
<box 47% left>
<fs 18px>[[http://theartcollider.net/flex/|Live camera]]</fs> 
</box>

<box 47% right>
 <fs 18px>[[:tools:flowmixer|Existing footage and still-images]]</fs> 
</box>
===== Toolbox =====
For convenience we provide some tools to make it easy to contribute. The screen-capture utility allows to select an area on the Desktop to be sent to the collider.
The Flowmixer is a more advanced tool that provides video mixing and effects along with the possibility to read media files from hard-disk.

<box 47% left>
 <fs 18px>[[:tools:oggzcap|Screen Capture]]</fs> 
</box>
<box 47% right>
 <fs 18px>[[:tools:flowmixer|Flowmixer]]</fs> 
</box>
\\
In order to play back media from the collider, you need a video player that can receive HTTP streams. We recommend to use VLC:
<box 47% left>
 <fs 18px>[[http://theartcollider.net/software/vlc-1.0.3.dmg|Download Media Player (VLC)]]</fs> 
</box>

The //easiest// way to view online footage is to launch VLC. Select ''File'' -> ''Open Network'' from it's Menu and paste the URL of the project you want to see.
A list of projects is available from the [[http://theartcollider.net/yp/|Yellow Pages]] (see below).

<box 95% left>
 <fs 18px>[[:inout:doc|General Information on how to connect (pure-data, MaxMSP, processing...)]]</fs> 
</box>

===== Participate to TheArtCollider =====

Apart from the "Click & Go" Flash interface; you need to [[http://theartcollider.org/?do=register|join]] in order to participate in TheArtCollider or [[http://theartcollider.org/?do=openid|sign in]] with your [[http://openid.org|OpenID]] (your [[http://openid-provider.appspot.com|google]], [[http://openid.yahoo.com/|yahoo!]] or flickr account will work).

We encourage you to create a profile page about yourself and submit information about the project(s) you would like to implement:

<box 98% left>
<fs 18px>[[signup|submit information]]</fs>
</box>

===== Monitoring =====

TheArtCollider Monitoring is handy for multiple purposes: It allows to see who is online and which projects connect to each other. It also provides projects with a way to search and select sources which can be used as an input:

<box 47% left>
 <fs 18px>[[http://theartcollider.org/applet/|Monitoring of the collider]]</fs> 
</box>
<box 47% right>
 <fs 18px>[[http://theartcollider.net/yp/|List of works currently online]]</fs> 
</box>

Projects can access [[http://theartcollider.net/yp/|sources]] and receive the information in various formats (RSS-feed, M3U or XSPF playlist, XML). The same interface also allows to search and filter available streams. See [[:inout:api|API]] for documentation on the query parameters.
 
To Play a stream, simply click on the title in the feed. We recommend [[http://www.videolan.org/vlc/|VLC]] or [[http://www.mplayerhq.hu/|mplayer]].
===== Contact =====

For discussion we provide a public email-list where members of TheArtCollider community can 
discuss ideas and get technical support. Once you've signed up to receive emails, you can also post there:

<box 47% left>
<fs 18px>[[http://groups.google.com/group/theartcollider|public discussion group]]</fs>
</box>
<box 47% right>
<fs 18px>[[inout@citu.info|contact TheArtCollider organizers]]</fs>
</box>
{{tag>documentation}}