Thursday we'll be meeting in the Prototyping Technologies Laboratory (ProtoLab) at the UIC Innovation Center.
Address: 1240 W Harrison
If you GoogleMap the above address it will point you to the loading dock of SSB. The actual entrance is a little further west. Turn left after entering. Here are some images:

Project Update (dealing with GEM)

It took me a long time to figure out how to get the GEM window to fill the screen, even though Drew showed us how to do that in class. To figure this out, I had to look at some examples from both the PD website and the GEM websote. I figured out that my gemwin had a subpatch (I had copied one from an example). So I had to make sure I was sending the "dimen 900 x 1440" message to the "gemwin" object in the subpatch instead of the "pd gemwin" on the main patch. My images came out upside down. I decided to flip the photos in an image editor instead of trying to figure out how to do that in PD/GEM, even though its probably easy.

Project Update (making the button box)

I thought I had a major disaster when I looked back at my circuit. My new button only has two leads. The button we got in our kit has three. I had tested and designed my circuit and patch around for my prototype with the three lead button. Now I had to rewire my circuit, changing it from an analog circuit to a digital one. And because of that, I had to change my patch (legacy code remains in the patch).Once I got the button onto the box, it was hard to get the little screws off to attach the wires. Luckily I had a small screwdriver nearby.

Stripping the wire with fancy wire strippers. I needed to make a long cord.

Project Update (American Science and Surplus)

I went to American Science and Surplus to buy some parts. It's amazing how cheap and interesting this store is for lots of stuff. If you haven't ever been to American Science and Surplus, you deserve to treat yourself and go there no matter if you need parts or not. Project update: as you may have read before, mine is a pared down project from what I had originally proposed. Drew shared the wisdom: "there's no way you'll get that done in time" and he was right. The original project proposal included two other modes, that allowed you to look at an image bank and capture your own photos into the system (all with one button). Working instead on making the simple version rock-solid and presentable.

Update on Midterm Piece

Hi all, just wanted to share an update on my midterm piece. The design has changed a little so I wanted to share. Instead of 3 separated containers, I now have 6. I also have 4 speakers instead of 3. The Ladybugs are surviving but not enjoying the cold weather. Hoping they make it until Tuesday.

PHYSICAL INTERACTION WITH MULTIMEDIA OUTPUT

Hear are some example patches putting it all together. It's just a matter of connecting the fundamental circuits/patches to the appropriate multimedia patch.

Digital Input - circuit/patch controlling image, movie and sound.

Analog Input - circuit/patch controlling image, movie and sound.

Physical Interaction with Multimedia Input (camera and microphone tracking) to come later.

Cube

Obsession with the 'virtual world' is an ingrained characteristic of my persona. 'Virtual' here is not just the simulation of stereoscopic reality in a 2D space but the spiritual calling in my dreams. I feel that physical reality is the reduction of the metaphysical unknowns. I have sat up in the middle of the night trying to recall a vivid dream that I had just had. Visions of intergalactic adventures(even before I had seen star wars), claustrophobic spaces, transformation of the physical self have plagued my dreams ever since I was little.

In this project I explore myself in this connection between the known physical realms and the unknown realms as I view and imagine them. Capturing this transformation of a simple physical geometrical representation of my physical self in a cube into visions of my metaphysical spirit is what I plan to achieve in this project. The transformation can be experienced by interacting personally with my physical self.


In this sketch I show the technical aspects involved. The visual would be in OpenGL through PD-Gem or through Processing. Pd can play audio. The virtual + physical connection will be achieved through the arduino.

Some Images of my cube

P.S : I still have those dreams and I'm gonna have them produced some day through Joe Pankowski's Dream Reproductions. You need to check it out! Its sooooo.. cool! :)

Smile Proposal (modified)

Smile (a self-portrait of the artist), Andrew Oleksiuk, 2009 (proposed)

Smile is an interactive digital artwork that uses an arduino microcontroller, a computer running PureData software, custom hardware (the user interface), and display monitor.

The user is confronted with an image of the artist (figure 1) and a single button interface. This is referred to as the default mode.

figure 1 (default mode image)

If the user/participant pushes the button momentarily in default mode, the image changes to the smile image (figure 2).

figure 2 (smile image)

After a few seconds, the image automatically switches back to the original default mode image.

Solenoid and Motor Circuits

Here are the solenoid and motor circuits:

Use a digital out patch with the solenoid circuit. You can use either a digital out or analog out patch with the motor circuit.

3 LEDs in Series

Here's the circuit to light 3 LEDs in series I demo'd in class last week:

Use the simple-digOut.pd  or AnalogOutPWM.pd patches to control the LEDs. This image was made using a breadboard template image I created and is available from the class web page under Arduino Resources.

Campus sign made of LEDs. Each "pixel" is a triad of 3 LEDs, apparently red, green and blue.

Make your own $1 million vomit-inducing flashlight for $250

http://ladyada.net/make/bedazzler/index.html

Brittany Ransom: Midterm Proposal

Brittany Ransom

Midterm Project Proposal

A&D 406

September 23, 2009

I began seeking out insects when I was 4 years old. When it would rain I could had hardly slipped my feet into my yellow rain boots before I was outside watching earthworms being birthed from the ground, squirming their way across my blacktop driveway. My obsessions with insects came long before I understood the social separation between man and animal. To me, they were a smaller version of myself, and more importantly, they had something to say. I spent hours watching them, caring for them, and most importantly, listening to them. I knew then that I somehow wanted to become their voice.

In our present culture, the most prevalent view of insects is laced with revulsion. Most react with fear, hatred, deliberate extermination efforts, especially toward those who invade our gardens, granaries, or even worse, parasites that invade our bodies. These negative connotations of insects have existed since the birth of human existence. These feelings, however, are generally guided towards certain species. As the general populace continues to become increasingly estranged from the natural world, these feelings of abhorrence continue to intensify. Many have lost the ability to distinguish one insect from another, and, as a result, our negative emotions have become generalized. Most shriek in horror and reach for some sort of insecticide without regard to whether the creature of our disgust is beneficial, harmful, or simply indifferent to humankind. Most people certainly never stop to contemplate whether it might be beautiful in form or complex in the story of its hidden life.

There are few species whose obvious beauty has come to be appreciated, such as ladybugs. Ladybugs and butterflies have become the most socially accepted insects within our culture. Though a ladybug is a beetle, it is found less repulsive through its notable spotted shell. However, these insects evolve from an equally ‘unsightly’ stage of life. I have spent my entire life wondering what makes these insects acceptable at a certain stage in their life, and what makes others always ‘unaccepted.’

As being part of a minority, I often find myself feeling much like a ladybug, constantly trying to evolve from my unacceptable state to find the socially acceptable form that I should exist in. I feel a connection with insects, with their struggle to become one of the accepted. By exploring their social relations between each other, nature, and the human species, I am trying to discover my own evolutionary voice as well as exhibit theirs.

In this piece, I intend on harvesting ladybugs, a socially accepted insect, to move about a created space that houses a photocell that is connected to the arduino. The photocell will be the way in which the ladybugs can communicate human projections. By constantly shifting and evolving within the contained space, these insects will activate layered tracks of human voices (housed in Pure Date) explaining how they feel when confronted with insects. These socially accepted insects will ultimately project the entomological fears that most humans house deep within their neurosis. Fears that I have yet to experience and have been working my entire life to understand. This piece ultimately reflects me not only in my personal conflicts with racial group separation, but also with species separations, and my quest to make the insect voice heard.

Ladybug larvae in developmental state

Fully developed ladybug.

Overall design of piece. Bulk of wiring, computer, and arduino elements will be housed below inside of the stand/box.

Topographical view of the piece, speaker wire will be fed below along with all wiring from photocell and super bright LED.

Ladybug beetles moving across the photocell that will activate the sound of humans discussing their fears/thoughts about bugs.

Rough Schematic Overview

JD PIRTLE | MIDTERM PROPOSAL

I propose to build an interactive system consisting of:

Projector/Projection Screen

Matrix of floor tiles, each with a hidden momentary switch

(2) Powered speakers

Computer

The basic logic of the piece is that the momentary switches (which can be scaled up to 16 or down to 4) are either in an up or down state, and the amount of switches in a down state determines what video (from a possible three videos) will play. In the case of the matrix consisting of four tiles:

(1) Switch triggers video A

(2-3) Switches trigger video B

(4) Switches trigger video C

The Audio component will be mixed in the pre-processed videos.

The control system will be a computer running Pure Data/GEM. A high-level description of the Pd/GEM patch is:

Pd/GEM receives one of (3) possible outcomes

gemwin with fullscreen enabled plays appropriate video

IF an additional switch is thrown, Pd/GEM crossfades to the appropriate video based on the number of total switches

Alternate LEDs - Moses or Select

Patch based on moses object and select object:

Detailed images of your RedGreenLED:

AlternateLEDs Reverse Polarity

Here's the reverse polarity LED circuit and patch from class today.