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.
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