Is Physical Interface-free the Future of Art?

Will we reach a point where artists eschew physical in lieu of virtual interfaces? Do any of you visual artists out there look forward to the day that you can put down your digital pens and brushes and swipe and poke at a virtual interface to make art happen?

That’s the question in this video for the Leap, a PC motion controller which has been selling itself as the Kinect for people without an Xbox. Tech Advisor asked a pair of 3D modelers from London-based VFX studio MPC to come by and try the controller out.

While the video, in part, serves as slight shill for the hardware, it does point to a leap in the way artists will create things as technology gets more and more squeamish about physical interfaces.

The two modelers say the work they do here in the video (using Maya) is more like sculpting, and the the Leap allows them to mold and shape their creations, using gestural controls to manipulate them in 3D space.

My question is how much fine movement and detail control is lost? I know one of the big complaints early digital pens had was that the users often couldn’t gauge how much pressure they were applying given the clunky feedback from the hardware then. Now imagine trying to create fine-detail line work without the benefit of the resistance of the page or the canvass.

It’s definitely an opportunity for future motion control interface creators–perhaps using some kind of haptic interface to provide force feedback to your virtual pen? Who knows how we’ll be poking at our art in the future?