Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Project 2: Distance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lWqZCGNbq0
In the initial stages of our project a lot of ideas were passed around in our group concerning how we were going to produce an installation that incorporated all of the traits we envisioned: it was agreed that we wanted a certain level of interactivity with the user, and an aesthetic dimension that would be interesting as a stand alone piece.
After a few rough drafts were considered, we came to a conclusive design that involved the viewer of our installation manipulating the rotation of several prisms as they walked through our installation space. We then began considering the tools at our disposal; simple cardboard planks would construct the prisms themselves, as many as six servos would be used to rotate each prism individually, and a webcam to track the viewer.
When construction was completed Jake began considering various strategies for writing code for the user interaction. Blob tracking with color recognition seamed to be the quickest path towards getting our installation moving. A grid was mapped and divided amongst the servos, when certain pixels detected certain degrees of our chosen color (red) it would activate the rotation of our prisms.
As Jeff mapped and wired our servos, we rigged our prisms to a hanging wooden plank. The final product alluded to some sort of monument; each pillar raised significantly above eye level created an activated negative space above ground. Lighting then became as much of an important facet as the user interaction; playing with the shadows against our white backdrop, as the user was surrounded by black curtains, produced a pleasant aesthetic. We hoped the user would feel some sense of empowerment rather than feel overwhelmed as they played with installation.
In the initial stages of our project a lot of ideas were passed around in our group concerning how we were going to produce an installation that incorporated all of the traits we envisioned: it was agreed that we wanted a certain level of interactivity with the user, and an aesthetic dimension that would be interesting as a stand alone piece.
After a few rough drafts were considered, we came to a conclusive design that involved the viewer of our installation manipulating the rotation of several prisms as they walked through our installation space. We then began considering the tools at our disposal; simple cardboard planks would construct the prisms themselves, as many as six servos would be used to rotate each prism individually, and a webcam to track the viewer.
When construction was completed Jake began considering various strategies for writing code for the user interaction. Blob tracking with color recognition seamed to be the quickest path towards getting our installation moving. A grid was mapped and divided amongst the servos, when certain pixels detected certain degrees of our chosen color (red) it would activate the rotation of our prisms.
As Jeff mapped and wired our servos, we rigged our prisms to a hanging wooden plank. The final product alluded to some sort of monument; each pillar raised significantly above eye level created an activated negative space above ground. Lighting then became as much of an important facet as the user interaction; playing with the shadows against our white backdrop, as the user was surrounded by black curtains, produced a pleasant aesthetic. We hoped the user would feel some sense of empowerment rather than feel overwhelmed as they played with installation.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Final Project Rubric
Cohesive and Developed Process - 25
Evolution of Piece over time - 15
Originally Developed Process - 35
Fully Packed and Developed Piece - 25
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Wireless Communication with Arduino
Over the weekend, I found a great video explaining how to use Xbee's with Arduino for wireless communication.
Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKVNmA8C6m8
Here is a link to the company behind the video. They sponsor hacker/creator Ben Heck and have some great tutorials: http://www.element14.com/community/groups/arduino
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Final Project Scoring
Polish, Finish, Craftsmanship 30%
Pushing beyond comfort zone 15%
Originally developed process 25%
Intensive use of engineering 30%
Pushing beyond comfort zone 15%
Originally developed process 25%
Intensive use of engineering 30%
Monday, May 2, 2011
Wednesday Demands!
Prior to our next class (5/4/11) I would like for you to do the following three things:
- Motion Capture: Decide how you want to use a motion capture file (More info about system here: Arena)
Think first about human motion, gesture, the interplay of the body and technology and output. The file format is .BVH - check out more info about the format. We will do 30-60 second captures. Start formulating movements that you want to capture. - Reading: Please finish the article that we started in class: "The Virtualization of Art Practice"
Online version: HERE
Scanned Version: HERE
We will be discussing this article at length and I will be asking everyone to participate in this conversation. Please bring some notes on the most pertinent, important and/or divisive parts of the text. - Final Project Rubric: For the final project (not the motion capture experiment, but a larger 4 week project), I want you to create your own rubric under which you will work, and by which I will evaluate you. Please choose 4 of the following 8 categories that you want to take on. Also, I want you to divvy up 100 points into those four categories (depending on what you want to emphasize).
- Polish/Finish/Craftsmanship
- Cohesive and Developed Concept
- Evolution of the Piece Over Time
- Pushing Beyond Your Comfort Zone
- Refined Coding/Programming (no glitches)
- Fully Packaged and Documented Piece (including written statement)
- Originally Developed Process
- Intensive Use of Engineering/Circuitry
So for this rubric, you will choose four of the above categories and then put a number value to each category so that they add up to 100 percent.
-John
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