
Show HN: Spatially aware group video calls from the browser - smoo
https://party.mookerj.ee
======
smoo
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
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

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tcoff91
Something similar to this that works better IMO is Online Town, which was
posted yesterday on HN:
[https://hn.town.siempre.io/](https://hn.town.siempre.io/)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22818300](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.

~~~
gfodor
Echo cancellation works in Firefox, we are landing a fix for chrome this week.
It turned out to be quite involved to do spatialized audio and echo
cancellation:

[https://github.com/mozilla/hubs/pull/2361](https://github.com/mozilla/hubs/pull/2361)

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ghostpepper
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.

~~~
throwaway15392
What’s creepy? The smiley face or that it requires a face? requiring a face is
a good call

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ghostpepper
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
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
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.

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tempestn
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!

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throwaway15392
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

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zhoujianfu
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
zoom also has breakout rooms for what its worth, might be a paid feature, but
you can specify whom and how long.

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ddevault
Tried this out, but it picked the wrong webcam. You should provide an option
to select the correct one.

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antdke
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 :)

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shireboy
This is a really cool idea I've been thinking about as well.
Schools/churches/clubs/etc. looking for an online equivalent to informal
meeting spaces need something like this. Zoom/Hangouts/etc. break down with
lots of people. The map is creative, but another metaphor I've thought of was
just tables. Show a handful of tables in a room, maybe with avatars on them? I
also had an issue where I couldn't easily pick which camera to use.

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zanderwohl
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.

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lharries
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
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](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 :)

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polymorpher
Would be nice if we can host a meeting and pre-select the locations in the
background. I think this can be an excellent solution for virtual meetups
during the pandemic - much better than Zoom or chat rooms.

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Cilvic
That's really cool! Audio didn't work on FF mobile.

We are working on something similar:
[https://www.joinvoiceplace.com](https://www.joinvoiceplace.com)

~~~
itsalidoe
Interesting would love to talk to you guys jiwanix@gmail.com

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mattmar96
Great idea. I say that as a pat on my own back, given Ive been hacking on
basically this exact same thing for the past few days.

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baristaGeek
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.

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wilg
Would be helpful to have a screenshot or something so I can see what's up
before approving camera/mic access!

~~~
antoncohen
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
Thanks for the feedback! I will update it with a screenshot (you can see ones
I've put on my github at
[https://raw.githubusercontent.com/souramoo/party/master/publ...](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/souramoo/party/master/public/assets/landing/2020-04-11.png)

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
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.

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brunoqc
Didn't someone made something similar using jitsi meet?

~~~
moron4hire
That was me: [https://meet.primrosevr.com](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!

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o_____________o
Just a yellow box for me, not functional. Chrome Mac OS.

