In today's project, you learn to use an important
computer science concept, conditional statements.
You used a conditional statement
to change individual pixels in a project.
Conditional statements help computer scientists
create digital effects for photographs and pictures.
The basic idea of scanning an image for pixels
that match a condition has incredible applications
in the real world.
Using this technology, computer scientists like you
program a computer to recognize something
based on its color or shape.
In this video, a computer is analyzing a video
in real time to track a person as he walks.
The image in the upper right corner
represents what the person looks like.
And the green rectangle shows
where the computer thinks the person is.
This is useful for a lot of reasons.
For example, motion capture uses the movements
of real people or animals to create
more realistic virtual worlds
in video games and movies.
Special dots attached to actors' faces and bodies
allow cameras to track their movements
and facial expressions.
This tracking data provides information
to computer scientists on how to create movies
and virtual worlds.
Other examples of tracking programs
that use conditional statements are cars
that can drive themselves
and recognize stop signs
and pedestrians and programs that aromatically
organize and tag photos.
Video chats with friends are more fun
when you can give each other silly sunglasses and hats.
These things are made possible today by computer science
and computer scientists.
Computer science is very useful in art
and the entertainment industry,
as well as in our everyday lives.
If you take a high school or college computer science class,
then you may learn about computer aided art techniques
and digital design tools.
Knowing a bit of computer science
will help you learn how these tools function
so you will know how to better use them.
Next session, you will build a stamping project
that lets you design your own buildings.
Until next time, have fun creating and coding.
