Archive for April, 2009
Physical Pixels
by on Apr.23, 2009, under SMEI
Concept: Making a morphing 3d screen is not a new concept and various attempts have been made by designers, architects and artists to visualize this idea in different forms. Inspired from a pin-screen, I intend to make a screen which can extrude itself from it’s flatness to create forms and shapes using robotics and electronics. These forms and shapes in essence resemble stone relief work and murals which as an exploration of surface has been used by sculptors in the past.
The vision of making a computer assisted screen which can make complex shapes and forms has for some reason not been explored to its full potential. One can imagine various uses of this technology. For example- a display system - futuristic T.V which can change forms at the same pace as the video, a wall which can change it’s form as per desire or even as an art wall where various artist could use it to create there own 3d dynamic mural, an interactive surface which could respond to movement of the people, an architectural element- where the floor can change it’s configuration and form different layouts during different time of the day.
Working: The cross section of the wooden block determines the resolution and its length the depth. A computer program let’s you control the movement of each block and governs the extent to which it will move in the 3rd dimension. Depending on the speed and size of the motor driving the wooden blocks the time required to achieve a result could vary. Depending on the intent, the screen could generate one specific result over time or continuously be in motion making patterns.
Initial working models
Circuit for stepper motor
Technical details: Prototype for Physical Pixels has 9 blocks placed in a square grid. I custom made my own linear actuator which drive the block forward and backward using a DC motor. Depending on the RPM of the motor the bolts turn at a speed moving the block from one point to the other in a specific time. In this prototype the block moves about 50mm in a quarter of a second. Higher the RPM on the motor the faster refresh rate is achieved by the screen, but if RPM is slower more precise movement of the block is achieved. This entire setup is run on one microcontroller (modern devices), 3 shift registers and 5 H-bridge chips. 9 DC motors are run on external DC power supply. Program used for this prototype was built on Arduino.
Final Exhibit
Final Prototype
Physical Pixels in action
Risk areas for Final Project
by on Apr.20, 2009, under PDAL
1) If Motion tracking and blob detection could not be achieved then in that case I will just draw the pattern on a flat screen by dividing the window size in a grid.
2) If I get blob detection to work then, how would I be able to draw patterns inside the blob.
3) The program might crash if there are multiple people in the camera view.
4) Dividing the blob in a grid and setting grammar inside it sounds like it is beyond my scope.
5) Grammar might not be able to load the images appropriately.
Task List for Final Project
by on Apr.20, 2009, under PDAL
Task 1: Camera management- Dealing with computer vision. Get blob detection to detect human bodies and use the silhouette as a boundary or bounding box to draw patterns inside it. Once it detect the blob remove the image that camera captures and only display the pattern that I want it to draw.
Priority - 2.5 | Difficulty - 1
Task 2: Make patterns and designs for generating patterns in vectors. Organize all .svg in a folder.
Priority - 1 | Difficulty - 4
Task 3: Generate patterns inside the detected blob. Draw a grid inside the blob to determine the position of a particular pattern designated through a grammar file.
Priority - 1 | Difficulty - 1
Task 4: Formulate a grammar file to decide where to draw a specific pattern and assign it’s location in a grid.
Priority - 1 | Difficulty - 2.5
Task 5: Replace grammar file with related images from the images folder
Priority - 1 | Difficulty - 2
Generative Henna Patterns
by on Apr.13, 2009, under PDAL
This piece generates henna patterns that are traditionally used in Indian ceremonies to adorn the hands and feet of women in marriages and festivals. Basically it isolates different elements, which are used in creating intricate patterns, and establishes a relationship between large and small elements (classes) and creates different patterns each time it is engaged. Its composition have many elements that are recursive and occur in different sizes, scales and orientation which are either filled or outlined. A library of these graphical images in .svg format will be made and placed in the grammar file. Each element will have its own function and will draw using those rules. There will be another rule on how these functions fit together and what is the relationship of each functions and where they occur on the body.
Blob detection through camera will allow the drawing to occur on the persons hand in front of the projector and not spill over beyond his silhouette.
Place your hand under the projection
Installation setup
Viewers interacting with work
Positive+Negative+Sarcastic
by on Apr.13, 2009, under PDAL
This applet plays with the nature of English Language. The grammar defined for this piece basically has a set of nouns and verbs that are attached with a positive expression in the first line, negative expression in the second line and attempts to be sarcastic in the third line.
