Week 10

Now that we know what we are going to do as a project, we
have to think of the realisation part. Just using the Arduino with no additional software may be difficult. ‘Processing” has a few quite simple examples referring to sound when you download the programme.

However with its very straightforward interface we still decided to use MaxMSP.

Our light source will be different colored LED (We already tested the experiment with small ordinary LEDs). So far, we used the microphone of our computer, but that one will be exchanged to a small one.

Since the arrangement as shown in the sketch above does not really look nice, I was trying to find ways how to position things better. So, the idea of a cone like a loudspeaker came into my mind. You could hide the Arduino, all the ugly wires and the LEDs in there. Then it would not only be a light show, but a light speaker. By speaking into it, it does not raise the volume of your voice, but it creates light effects.

Week 9

In week 9 we sat down in a group to decide what exactly we could do for our final project. Since there was not a lot of time left we really had to specify our aims.

Due to the fact that most ideas we came up with seemed to be far too complicated, we decided to do a light show. Something that may look pretty and that yo would be enjoying to watch. So far we got to know a variety of sensors. Their usage was not difficult, but the resulting data could definitely used in an interesting way. Therefore, if we make the light responding to data delivered by the sensor, processed by Arduino, we could give our light show the missing twist.

Somehow we all decided to use noise sensors. They seem to be beneficial since in a dark room where the light show would be presented, there would not be any worries whether they work or not.

Groupwork - Lightshow (Representation of noise through light)

We came up with a list of the things we will probably need.

Engine
Lenses, different kind
Mirrors, projecting picture to ceiling
Prism
Electricity wires, switch
Torch
masks, lasers
kaleidoscope

In addition to that we decided who will take what position within the group.

Director: Doreen
Ergonomics: Gregory
Presentation: Doreen
Target Audience: Klavdij
Timekeeping: Doreen
User’s Role: Kavdij
Electronics: Gregory, Klavdij
Finances: Slave
Coding: Doreen, Gregory, Klavdij

The Camera-Eye

When experimenting with light and optics, there is without a doubt one thing that cannot be left out - the camera.

When visiting the Duchamp exhibition in the Tate Modern, a sketch of Francis Picabia, who was like many other artists very interested in machines at that time, attracted my attention. ‘The Camera-Eye’

In this picture you can see the refraction of light in a Perspex blog.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refraction
If we are really going to do something for the final project with light, it would surely be useful to refresh our knowledge of light behavior.

Here you can see the same phenomena. The water with a different density than air, makes the straw look as if it was broken.

‘Interactive light installation for an audience of one’

To me light and color have an amazingly strong effect. When I wake up in the morning and the sun shines, crystals hanging in my window form the most beautiful rainbows at my walls.
There are innumerable projects that make use of light. Some of them do not just create pretty pictures, but are based on deep scientific research.

‘Interactive light installation for an audience of one’
http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2005/08/-via-delicious-1.php

In 2001 the artists Bruce Gilchrist, Jo Joelson and Anthony Oliver travelled to Greenland where after 24 hour daylight summer, the onset of winter started. There the artists performed experiments associated with light and physiology.

The participant sits in a self illuminated cube where he benefits from the effects of polarised, full-spectrum light. The person sits on a translucent chair and the hands are on bronze electrodes, completing an electrical circuit. Then a reading is taken and the light generates exactly the light of the read data.

Most participant found it a very positive experience. Especially, during the dark and cold season, it ‘lights up’ people’s minds.

Wooden Mirror by Daniel Rozin (1999)

Daniel Rozin developed a wooden mirror that consists of 830 square pieces of wood, 830 servo motors, video camera, control electronic, a computer and a wood frame.
This piece intents to explore the line between the physical and the digital. There is a strong contrast created by using natural warm materials and portraying the abstract notion of digital pixels.

http://www.smoothware.com/danny/woodenmirror.html

Simon Penny - Petit Mal

Maybe because of my experience in Potsdam, I find light particularly interesting. Making light response interactively could be a good idea for the second Assignment.

http://ace.uci.edu/penny/works/petitmal.html

The artist Simon Penny is especially keen in “interaction which takes place in the space of the body, in which kinesthetic intelligences, rather than "literary-imagistic" intelligences play a major part.”

http://www.transmediale.de/page/files/download/file/petitMal.JPG

Penny’s aim with Petit Mal was the creation of an autonomous robotic artwork, which does not lack in charm. Petit Mal senses and explores the space round it, follows people and reacts to them. Due to its behavior, it appears to be intelligent. Penny seeks to explore the esthetics of machine behavior and interactive behavior within an almost everyday environment.

‘The famous Grouse Experience’

Nowadays, computer art is getting more and more complex. Installations very often take up enormous space in galleries. Especially the idea of interaction of the viewer is in demand.

An interactive show which attracted my attention is ‘The famous Grouse Experience’.
http://www.artcom.de/index.php?option=com_acprojects&page=6&id=7&Itemid=144&details=0〈=en
ART+COM and Land Design Studios created the show in order to be displayed at the Glenturret Distillery Visitors Centre.

It is an interactive environment where there is a floor and wall projection. Visitors are meant to interact with the film images projected in real time. So, jumping could break the projected ice on the floor or people can run above water.

To make it an experience that teases more than one sense, there is also an interactive sound system employed and whisky aroma lies in the air.

Week 4

While we were getting more and more used to the Arduino board, I wondered what the first steps in Digital Arts were, how it all began and the conditions the artists worked in.

On http://www.dam.org/ there is a very useful and elaborate timeline presenting individual artist as well as key events.

Ben F. Laposky was an American mathematician and artist experimenting who was one of the first computer Art innovators. He was the first creating images generated by an electronic machine (1950).

http://dam.org/laposky/index.htm
“His electronic oscilloscope imagery was produced by manipulated electronic beams displayed across the fluorescent face of an oscilloscope's cathode-ray tube and then recorded onto high-speed film. He called his oscillographic artworks 'oscillons' and 'electronic abstractions'. The mathematical curves that were created by this method were similar to the lissajous wave form.”

http://apolide.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/img16.jpg

Similarly to Laposky, the Austrian Herbert W. Franke explored electronic abstractions. His book ‘Computer Graphics - Computer Art’ was the first book published on that subject.

http://translab.burundi.sk/code/vzx/1953-5.HerbertFranke+AndreasHubner.lightforms.gif
http://www.dam.org/franke/images/IMG0066.gif
http://web1w4.nfrance.com/~wb60204/wp-content/uploads/herbertfrankeelectronicgraphics.gif

The third computer graphics pioneer I had a look at is Charles Csuri. In contrast to the other artists, he studied Computer Animation and Digital Fine Art too.

http://www.siggraph.org/artdesign/profile/csuri/artworks/analog/oilpainting.html

These paintings were made in1964. Csuri made experiments with analog computer devices based on the concept of transformation. Moreover, he was fascinated by anamorphosis. Anamorphosis is a technique used to create an image that appears distorted, but by viewed at a certain angle looks normal.


Limor Fried

I researched the engineer Limor Fried. Limor is an engineer who is interested in electronics, industrial design, machining and colour print photography, to name just a few.

Some of her project do also include the Arduino. She created, for instance, a Motor Shield.
The Arduino together with a motor shield can be used as a nice tidy platform for robotics and machatronics. This design allows the usage for many simple to medium-complexity projects.

http://www.ladyada.net/make/mshield/index.html

Week 3

This week we spoke a little bit more in depth about the coding.

Int (integer) = always whole numbers
Starting with variables
Pin mode – function needs to be set up, otherwise pin does not do anything (OUTPUT)

Structure
3 hearts:
(1) set up variables
(2) always a setup function (void)
(3) always loop function

for (int=9; i < 13; i++){
starts off with 9, adds 1 until 13)

We had the opportunity to practise with another example from the provided Arduino examples. This time we were supposed to turn on and off a LED by using a switch.

With the aid of a sketch on the given sheet we tried to create the same circuit. Unfortunately, we ignored Richard’s advice of using coloured wires according to their purpose. Red is supposed to be for the positive and green for the ground. Why is that actually? For me personally, red somehow gives the impression of being more negative. We just simply used yellow and orange wires pretending it does not make a difference. It does not really, but it just makes it harder to read the circuit.

After a few times of trying to upload the programme to the Arduino, we realised that we hadn’t specified the serial port, which makes it impossible to upload it. Once the software was uploaded, the LED still did not respond to switch. Only the little orange light on the board lighted up according to the switch. At that time we realised that the wrong colour of wire and chaotically long ones do not make it easier to find out where the mistake was. Still, we managed to check and found out that there wasn’t really a mistake. So, what was wrong? Why didn’t it work? It was the LED. The LED was plugged in the wrong way. It was just a matter of turning it the other way around to make it work. I have to confess, this little exercise made us proud and confident. Therefore, we didn’t really have the need of doing the advanced exercise with was implied two switches. The fact that we ran out of time may also have been a reason.

In the following “lecture” we looked at some coding with Josh. According to him, the problem with Arduino is that there are too many examples. On the one hand side, it makes it easy to find appropriate examples and to modify them to a form, which is usable for our own examples, but on the other hand, it restraints you when you want to code something for your own unique idea.

Week 2

In the second week, most of us had purchased an Arduino board, so we were ready to do some experiments. One of the more basic examples in Arduino’s “Sketchbook” is the “Blink” example.

The coding is quite short:

int ledPin = 13; // LED connected to digital pin 13

void setup() // run once, when the sketch starts
{
pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT); // sets the digital pin as output
}

void loop() // run over and over again
{
digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH); // sets the LED on
delay(1000); // waits for a second
digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW); // sets the LED off
delay(1000); // waits for a second
}

There are always two main parts of the programme. The first part (void setup()) states the pinModes and initialise the serial communication. The second part (void loop()) executes the programme.

It was not too difficult to do this first example and by successfully achieving it, we were more confident than before.

“Network of Scents”

I worked on a similar project called “Network of Scents”.
For this project I recorded the data (intensity and likeliness) of smell on different locations in Battersea Park. Then the data was processed and evaluated.
The programmes Fractal Domains and ContextFree were used to join all the
information collected in only one artefact. The form in which it is presented is a
fractal. A fractal is an image or pattern based on a mathematical formula. Within
this formula all data can be linked.
As a result, a connection between the graphical representation of smell and
spatial experience was achieved. The artefact represents a network of
different smells in different places.

Christian Nold – Greenwich Emotion Map

A completely different project that attracted my attention was the Greenwich Emotion Map. The map is described as an alternative map. It was created by Christian Nold and local residents between October 2005 and March 2006.

These local residents intended to re-explore the local area. Like many artists Christian Nold used sensors to record data and later represent this data in a very unique way. For measuring their level of arousal a Bio Mapping Device, invented by the artist himself, was used. This device combines two main functions. First of all, a finger cuff sensor, recording the wearer’s Galvanic Skin Response (index of emotional response) and the Global Positioning System locating the wearer.

Equipped with one of those sensors, the participant would walk wherever they wanted and would automatically produce a personal emotion map. Finally, all participants emotional responses were overlaid to create the whole Greenwich Emotion Map.

http://www.emotionmap.net/
http://emotionmap.net/GreenwichEmotionMap.pdf

Trip to Potsdam - Fachhochschule

In the end of January all students had the opportunity to take part in a trip to Germany. As part of the trip we went to see students, who are studying Interface Design at the University of applied sciences in Potsdam.

There were many interesting an inspiring examples. The topic all students had to focus with their projects was light.

http://design.fh-potsdam.de/studiengaenge/interfacedesign.html

One example was like a cylinder demonstrating the online activity of the university’s internal network. Depending on the area students were online in, the colour changed. The number of people logged in was demonstrated by the height the cylinder raised.

Another student built an installation where he had three balls. All of them were fixed on a rail system hanging on wires. When he pulled one of them on, light inside the ball slowly lighted up. All three balls had individual colours. When pulled another ball, the light in the first ball changed.

Another project was a “moving box”. Inside the paper box, there was a wireless mouse. According to the direction you moved the box, the light colour and intensity changed.

http://design.fh-potsdam.de/fachbereich/personen/portrait/wettach-prof-reto.html

The teacher we met introduced us to a few of the ongoing projects.

http://www.fritzing.org/

The project “Fritzing” is an open-source initiative. It is meant to support designers and artists helping them to transform physical prototyping to the actual product. The software, which can be compared to Processing and Arduino, allows a straightforward documentation of an Arduino-based prototype and creates a PCB (Printed Circuit Board) layout for manufacturing. It is basically an Electronic Design Automation software.

The project enables anyone to participate in discussions, so drafts can be discussed, errors can be avoided and manufacturing costs can be held as low as possible.

Te software can easily process your hardware sketch to create PCB layouts. This operation is based on a software called “EAGLE”.

http://cadsoft.de/

The need for software such as Fritzing raises with the decrease of artists, designers or researchers. They do not have to be engineers to quickly develop ideas into functional interactive prototypes. Moreover, the created prototypes are far more robust and can even be the basis of a permanent installation.


http://www.fritzing.org/media/screenshots/fritzing0005vista.png

Types of Arduino

There are a couple of different Arduinos.

Firstly, there is the Arduino Diecimila, the same Arduino I purchased.

An Arduino with Bluetooth connection is also available.

Lilypad Arduinos are available in different types. They are usually more fragile than normal Arduinos.

There are Lilypad Accelerometer, Lilypad Buzzer, Lilypad Buzzer, Lilypad Light Sensor and Lilypad Vibe Board. All Lilypad Arduinos are designed to be very thin, so they are very little noticeable. They can even be attached to clothing.

Another Arduino is the Xbee, which allows to communicate wirelessly to the main Arduino board.

Finally there is also a mini version of the Arduino board available. (Arduino Mini) It can save place with our projects.

To work and experiment with the Arduino we are going to use various utilities such as LEDs, switches, resistors, cables, a breadboard, potentiometer and different sensors.

What is Arduino?

Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform. The software as well as the hardware (CAD files) can both be downloaded for free. Since they are flexible and easy to use, many artists, designers and hobbyists benefit from Arduino. Virtually anyone can start creating interactive objects with little previous knowledge.

Additionally, being open-source means that there are many free available examples on the internet, which can make learning the software and exploring the possibilities easier.

Most commonly used is the Arduino for receiving input from a variety of sensors. With the aid of sensors, it can detect sound, distance, acceleration, light, ultrasound and touch, for example.

You could use it for controlling light, motors or other actuator. There should hardly be any limits to your creativity.

The Arduino programming language is based on Wiring and its development environment originates from Processing. Processing, just like Arduino, is also an open source software which is developed for artists and hobbyists as an alternative to proprietary software.

What makes Arduino especially suitable for creative projects, is the fact that it can work independently from a computer. After the code is successfully uploaded to the board, the Arduino can be disconnected to work on its own.

In co-operation with programmes such as Macromedia Flash, processing or MaxMSP even more complex puzzles can be solved.

http://www.arduino.cc/
http://processing.org/

Week 1

Right from the beginning it becomes obvious that electricity plays an important part throughout the module. Therefore, it would probably be advisable to repeat the basics of electronics and to ensure that all technical terms will be well understood.

Nowadays, electricity can be found in almost every part of our daily life. Living without electricity is unthinkable. Heating, lighting or powering appliances are significant areas of electricity usage. Increasingly important fields are also Communication and Information Technologies.

Electricity occurs in nature too. The most known appearance is probably lightening in thunderstorms. The lightning is actually the electrical discharge of the built up electrical charge within a cloud.

So far in our studies, most of us have probably not worked with electricity in terms of “making something move, make it blink or respond to a sensor”. Most of our activities were based on the usage of a computer, so actually building something seems quite exciting.

In our first lecture we were introduced to a tool, which is going to enable us to build something that could be artistic, functional or that simply attracts attention.

http://www.lanl.gov/news/albums/safety/Lightning.jpg

http://www.xmwallpapers.com/wallpaper/storms/lightning/images/Blue%20Lightning.jpg

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elektrizität