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Delta is ready to go! I managed to do a work around for the small issue of the menu bar showing up on the projection screen. I flipped the video 180 degrees and also flipped the monitor feed 180 degrees.

I’ve adapted it for the space I am in. The LEDs only flash in two states, either slow or fast.Having intermediate rates of flashing are not possible with the crowd that is expected. The lights would just be all over the place.

My answer to the question, “What is this?”:
“This is a sculpture that uses two small cameras to project your image on this projections screen.”

And if they want more..

“I wanted to create something that physically allows people to view themselves from two perspectives. ”

I’ll be taking some photos of the show tomorrow during our scheduled documentation time.

One thing I’ve realized is that I need a web site and business cards.

I made great progress this weekend on Delta. Currently, it is all working.

I ran into MANY obstacles while putting it all together. I forgot to put electrical tape around some soldering I did and realized shorts were happening after I had shoved all the wires inside and connected everything. The projection screen is a little too far towards the back so I had to squeeze the projector back a smudge using a small bit of plexi as a brace. Worst of all… I had to burn through the plexi on the two sides because in my original design I had assumed it would be easy to slide the case on and off. In reality this is a lengthy process so I needed one hole to turn on the projector… and another hole to access the projector’s power connection, which keeps coming loose. To cover these holes I will be using some of the discarded plexi from when it was laser cut. I also made the secondary structure that houses a web-cam out of this discarded material.

I had a moment last night where I absolutely hated the way it looks. I think it looks like a giant modern art interpretation of a blender. I can work with that though since it is blending two perspectives together. Subconscious coming out in my design?

I also am having the realization that this IS an Intro level class and I have never worked with any of these materials before. It may not be as clean as I had hoped for but I think my expectations might have been a bit too high.

Still to do/things I want to experiment with:
-finding a cool color tint and opacity level for the two web-cams
-getting the web-cams to project when a certain range of values is serial printed to the computer from an IR sensor
-looking into a different code to light the LEDs that is quicker in it response to the values coming from the IR sensors/Serially Printing IR values quicker
-finding a box and packing materials to safely transport to school

Well I have all my pieces of plexi cut thanks to the Advanced Media Studio at NYU.

I realized however I forgot one critical hole in the top of the base so I now need to purchase a drill bit and somehow cut out a hole. Luckily this part will not be visible.

Additionally, my shopping list includes silicon, sandpaper, some nuts, bolts, screws. Trip to the hardware store is in order.

I have changed my design a little bit from the original in that I will only be using two web cameras instead of three. One will be on top of the sculpture and the other will be placed on the side of the room. I was able to get the overlay to happen in processing with two, but not three cameras. This mistake, or challenge, actually has worked out in my favor because I much prefer the overlay of two angles from two cameras.

Nest steps: bold = most time consuming
-Go to hardware store
-Finalize Arduino Code by building the circuit and testing out the code I have already written.
-Construct the sculpture
-Install electronic components into sculpture
-Knock on wood

My sculpture for phys comp now has a name: Delta .

More to come on the intent, imagery, symbolism, etc of the project but for now an update on the process.

I just finished the sketches tonight. I have all my dimensions in place and am ready to go to Canal Plastics to have the pieces cut. I had to take a crash course in geometry since I ended up having to determine dimensions of triangles, cubes, tetrahedrons, columns. I loved every minute.

Here are the finalized sketches. Below those are 4 images that are part of my scratch, math, working pages.

Below you will find links to a slide show developing this project as well as a video.

We made each borough a homemade digital button that loads an image in processing.The images explain how each borough got its name.
The map can be programed to display any image making the possibilities endless!.

See partners blogs:

Slide show

I started designing my pcomp final project over the past few days. I’ve found myself completely consumed by it. Even having visions while I sleep. I am still figuring out how to construct it both physically and electronically but this is where I am at.

The basic concept is that there will be 6 super bright green LEDs that blink on and off depending on readings from proximity detectors. If you have ever seen a warp engine in star trek, that is how I want the lights to behave. The light looks like it is moving up the column.

There are three infrared proximity detectors on each side of the column. As someone walks closer to the device, the light begins to travel up the column quicker. If two prox sensors pick up something close, the light moves even faster. And if all three detect something close the light will be moving super quickly.

Additionally, there are three USB cameras on each side of the column. When the prox sensor detects someone close, their image will be projected onto a piece of transparent plexiglas that is raised above the column. If two prox sensors detect something up close than both cameras will display their images on the plexi and the two images will be overlayed on top of each other. And if all three prox sensors detect something up close than all 3 USB cameras will display an image on the plexi.

Below are some beginning sketches. I’ve designed four main structures. The inner stand, the outer casing, the base, and the projection screen. The inner stand will be made out of completely clear plexi and will hold 6 green LEDs at different levels. On top of the inner stand there will be a micro projector. This inside stand gets screwed down to the base. All wires also get fed down into the base.

The base is where the Arduino and breadboard will live. I have yet to design its details.

The outer casing is what will mostly be visible. It will use plywood as foundation. Three sides will have 5 long groves cut into them. On the back of each side, green translucent plexi will be attached to cover the slits. This is where the light from the LEDs will shine through. On the front of each side, black opaque plexi will be attached to give the entire sculpture some luster. At each vertical joint of the sides, green plexi will be used.

The projection screen will be raised off the top of the outer casing using three black plexi tubes. And on top of the tubes a transparent piece of plexi will be secured which will act as the screen.

I have A LOT of designing to do still and am trying to figure out how to overlay camera images in processing. I am fairly comfortable figuring out the LED sequences and using the IR proximity. sensors.

The below image with color is a previous design. I have decided to make each vertical joint of the outer casing flat which can be seen in the second sketch.

I attended the Pcomp help session Monday afternoon over my lunch break and found it to be extremely helpful. I”m going to go to these sessions from now on. I was struggling with the most recent labs but now am up to speed.

Speaking of speed, in this lab I can control a DC motor’s direction and speed by reversing the ground/power and changing the voltage, respectively. The h bridge allows the Arduino micro- controller to turn on and off a device that uses more power than the Arduino can supply. I have notions of using a ton of these to make a moving sculpture.

We were having an issue with our Processing and Arduino code. Thanks to Rory for pointing out that Arduino was sending information to Processing every 10miliseconds. This was causing major lag time in changing the image when a button was pressed. We put in new Arduino code that tells it to only send information when a new button is pressed. This resulted in the images immediately changing.

Unfortunately, our buttons did not work. We had to completely tear off the foil and foam and come up with a new construction method. This was to place the power and ground wire in a sandwich of aluminum foil instead of just under one layer. This drastically increases the amount of conductive material the wire is touching and therefore makes the buttons more sesitive. We also decided on the content which will be information about how each borough got its name. All that is left is to finalize the button, deal with wire management in the device, and update the images with the content.