Synopsis 1: Vector Abstract landscape and weather Using the single horizontal line as wipes and other transitions, the short animation will showcase a change of perspective for what a single line can imply.
Animation style: Vector illustration primarily, combination of simple shapes and colors/gradients
Synopsis 2: A Chase Scene
While I haven’t worked out all the specifics for my second idea, but in making a version of the classic chase scene I wanted to utilize different materials throughout the animation process to imply the amount of time that has passed in the chase scene overall. Materials include pen drawings (using puppetry), vector illustration, and either laser cutter or 3d printed stop motion.
For the 4th Da Vinci Code Homework assignment, we were supposed to take a photograph of ourselves, and then by using photos of our parents and grandparents create an aged self portrait drawing.
This is the photograph with which I started.
Started from the bottom, looped around to the top, only to realize I had mis-counted the grid somewhere and made my face much to long and lopsided.
I decided it would be easiest to draw as much of the photograph as possible before attempting to age myself. I also decided it would be best to leave my beard for last. At this stage I had already embellished the shading under the eye a bit.
At this point with the beard added, I could begin adding additional shading towards the aging process.
More shading on the cheeks, under the eyes, and on the forehead. I also began pulling the hairline further up the shape of the head, and removed the tuft that normally grows out front.
This is almost the final piece, I pulled the hair back further, included increased cheek and mouth shading, and darkened the eyebrows and forehead. I will add the final drawing tomorrow when I am able to scan it.
For homework this week, we had to draw our thumb close up, a tree from the inside out, and design a performance device for Stelarc. I decided to approach creating a set-up with video goggles and articulated eyestalks where cameras are located. Ideally, the cameras are located on the end of the eyestalk and send feed directly into the video goggles, in addition to passing the video out to screens located around the performance space. To add an additional dimension to the stalks, they would also be fitted with a blinking mechanism so that periodically the camera lens would close.
I continued to wear the fitbit for a second week in a row to increase the amount of data points available (and also because it has become an easy habit).
Challenge question answers:
How large is my average stride? 2 ft. 3.9 inches (139612 steps, 111.3719 miles which is 60044.1072ft.)
How many calories per stride? 0.27049 calories (Kcal) per step (37763 calories / 139612 steps)
Graph and data shown below:
In response to “Biomechanical Energy Harvesting: Generating Electricity During Walking with Minimal User Effort,” (J. M. Donelan, Q. Li, V. Naing, J. A. Hoffer, D. J. Weber, and A. D. Kuo, Science, vol. 319, no. 5864, pp. 807 -810, Feb. 2008.)
It’s impressive and rather smart that they follow the regenerative braking example, since as shown in the charts they gain energy while assisting the deceleration required to take the next step. I would like to see the results for a second model built with the refined more-efficient gearbox they make reference to in the article. While the examples they mention of power usage in article (powering cellphones, prosthetics, and third world electrical applications), I wonder how the efficiency of the system will change when they need to add some way of utilizing and storing the power. If they plan to interface with already available devices, they will need transformers, regulators, etc which all add additional weight, however negligible it may be. Also, the inefficiency of longterm power storage is well documented, so I wonder if this device would help to trickle charge batteries or if the idea is more to continuous power distribution.
I came up with the idea for Cycle a few months before the end of the semester. Having built small scale kinetic sculptures in the past, I wanted to create something larger which would allow people to directly impact the sculpture itself. The idea of using a bicycle seemed like both an easy way to bring motion to the sculpture, as well as to draw people into the project.
I originally conceived the content to be of a decaying city, one which the user would experience over the course of its time. Due to time constraints, the project ended up more as an exploration for immersion within a model space. As the user peddles the bicycle, the mechanical system directly spins the gigantic foam wheel decorated with a variety of model railroad trees and landscape pieces covered with acrylic paint and flocking powders. The PS3 eye webcam is placed at the bottom of the sculpture, capturing the image from the spinning wheel upside down. This image is then run into the computer which sends it back out to the monitor mounted on the wall. With the installation for the winter show, I placed a sheet which separated the model world from the bicycle in order to create the moment of surprise upon realizing that the two experiences were linked. On the second day, I added a flap so that the bicycle rider could experience both sensations from the comfort of the bike seat.
The participant experiences the model world from a first person perspective which is enhanced through the user being directly responsible for the speed that the worlds passes by. I hope in future iterations of the project to build additional modeled worlds onto alternate discs, which would allow for a movie-like selection process.
The piece was well received at the ITP 2011 Winter Show, creating many a giddy smile with the realization of how the project functioned. It was also featured on DSN Radio.
For the second Biomechanics assignment, I had to pick a joint in the human body and map one plane of motion towards both limits of rotation. I decided early on to go with the flexion / extension of the wrist since it allows for such a wide range and because with computers nowadays it seems there are a lot of wrist injuries (or at least people wearing wrist braces on the floor at ITP). I was able to find this post within the osteoarthritis section of About.com. According to that site, the wrist has 90 degrees of extension and 70 degrees of flexion. I then dutifully moved my wrist to confirm the accuracy of these numbers with myself. With this information, I set out to design a two gear system that would show both directions of the wrist simply by turning one gear.
I attached the first gear to the wrist, and pulled two of the teeth out of place to act as stoppers, preventing further motion. The other gear is used to simulate the motion of the wrist, and the two rectangles function as a frame to hold both gears in place.
Upon finishing my design, the laser cutter on the floor at ITP ceased to function which left me with a decision on whether or not to continue my project. Since I had already spent the time designing the system, I decided it would be best to print out the pieces on paper and use them as a guide and cut everything out of wood.
I had not used the scroll saw much, but it did a fairly good job at cutting out the different teeth sections, enough to allow the gears to mess somewhat successful.
Start Position:
Flexion position:
Extension position: There are also marks on the side of the outer gear in order to indicate when it has reached each point (although it doesn’t spin past this point, I thought it a good idea to label them as well). Next step would be to add another set of gears in a perpendicular plane and allow the wrist to both adduct and abduct.
Erin Hanlon and Cynthia Bir published their research on validating the HITS (head impact telemetry system) in collecting data for soccer playing. The HITS system is normally associated with sports like Football and Boxing since both already have a helmet for which to design a sensor system. Soccer poses additional challenges since the head is also a vital part of the sport itself. The two authors of the paper set out to test collision types including the ball hitting the head and multiple head collisons, all from various angles.
The two authors were able to justify statistically that the headband / HITS system was able to accurately collect head acceleration readings during the course of play. This particular study interested me because I had not heard about HITS. While growing up I had played a fair amount of soccer and I remember the warnings against heading the ball and the damage that such an action could cause. It seems empowering and helpful that the effects of the acceleration on the head can be measured for soccer to determine whether these warning are justified and therefore to improve the safety of the sport, or to put the rumor to rest.
Michael Rosen, Rhodes Edewor-Thorley and myself worked together to create an intervening art installation project on top of the Highline Park. we first started by spending a great deal of time selecting our location. My previous experience of the Highline had been almost exclusively included traveling through the space of the park, so almost immediately we knew as a group that we wanted to use a less transient place than just the walkway. With this in mind we decided almost immediately to use the 10th avenue theater located on the Highline Park at the intersection of 10th avenue and 17th st.
With our observations of this space, we realized that it was one of very few places on the Highline where one can get away from the busy flow, and suspend time in a way. The theater creates a continuous show from the events that transpire along 10th avenue, and by separating the viewer from these events (placing them above the street, removed by glass and tone) it creates an audience separated from NYC. The focal point exists outside of the seating area, and we decided we wanted to bring it back into the space.
Another thing we found as a group was that despite the hustle and bustle going on around the theater, time almost seemed to be absent within. During the course of the discussion, my group completely lost track of time and sat for well over half an hour. Also in reference to Vito Acconci, we had a desire to see time reemerge as a public construct, even if it would inevitably be supported by the technological privatization of such.
These two concepts of focal point and time met head on with our idea to place a clock onto the actual structure of the steel support beams.
We recognized the ultimate importance of the design of the clock. Since we were interested in matching the space and encouraging a more subtle disruption, we brainstormed on the most effective design for matching the space. In the end we decided on a black clock with a white face and arabic numerals. We both ordered a clock off of Amazon and purchased one from Ikea, choosing in the long run to go with this Ikea clock.
The first attempt at installation failed because there was not a smooth way to place the hook on the wall and hang the clock with the way that the angles matched up. The audience in the Highline seemed amused by the performance, but in order to get an accurate reaction we left the space for some time to start with a fresh audience.
Returning about half an hour later, the installation problem was rectified by placing the hook inside of the clock beforehand and using wall sticky tac to adhere to the steel structure. With a simple hard push, the clock stuck to the wall and stayed there.
One other subtle change we employed was to set the clock 10 minutes fast. We figured a clock on time would be effective for altering the space, but that we could also cause a small amount of anxiety by forcing people to momentarily believe that they were late (or that the time was later than it was in generally).
We then sat for the next half an hour observing. At first the occupants of the theater had seen the installation and were more focused on the performative aspect, looking around for where I went following the installation. As we sat there longer however, people had not seen the installation and therefore the clock created an impression of belonging there. We caught quite a few people glancing at watches and phones in momentary panic, before being reassured of the actual time.
About half an hour into our experiment, Highline Officials noticed the clock and began to subtly panic, including making a number of radio or walkie-talkie calls.
In the end we were able to explain our position and recover our clock.
I think overall we were rather successful with the project. We achieved our aims of disrupting the space and altering an individual’s behavior all with minimal intrusiveness. On thinking for the next iteration, I would like to play around with the design of the clock more, as well as continuing to think about the placement of the clock.
Overall the project was super informative in approaching the thought process behind the make up of a space. In conjunction with the readings, this project illuminated several concepts from thinking about the composition of the audience, the flow of a space, as well as how to approach installation and observing the finished piece. The in-class critique was great at reinforcing that we had succeeded in presenting our message, but I also took away the idea that there is further room to explore the same concepts we set down initially, and alternative ways to approach these same topics in the future.
References:
Vito Acconci, Public Space in a Private Time (1990)
William Whyte, The Design of Spaces, City: Rediscovering the Center (1988)
Erving Goffman, (Relations in Public) Microstudies of Public Order (1980)
Using the single horizontal line as wipes and other transitions, the short animation will showcase a change of perspective for what a single line can imply.
