Sensor-Based Electronic Art: Carly Soucy

Showing posts with label Carly Soucy. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Documentation and Process - Project 2

This project honestly came together in a blur -- one of the tightest deadlines I've ever had to deal with, but I think I made an interesting and worthwhile iteration to my previous project. Due to the small amount of working time, though, there wasn't much process or conceptualizing that happened with this one, so I apologize.

I got the idea of having many crystals thanks to classmates at the last critique, but in my conception, they would be created to express different representations of energy, and different ways of interacting to infuse human energy into the object. For this project, I decided to use a light sensor and make a theremin-like crystal that would emit spacy sounds when a person covered parts of the crystal by hovering their hands over it or actively touching. The light sensor actually threw people for a loop, as they couldn't figure out how the crystal was made into a sensor, which made me happy. I was also able to get rid of the cords, which made the crystal more of a standalone, mystically-charged, object, in my opinion. I was happy people got to touch the crystal without gloves, whose surface I worked on forever, since it really does have an alluring satiny texture to it.

The electronics part was very simple, having just a photoresistor, and piezo. The code was a bit harder to figure out, but with some help from other arduino projects trying to emulate a theremin online, I was able to figure it out. The crystal and base were the same as from my last project due to time constraints.

Here is a photo of it in action during critique :)

And here is a video, where you can hear some of the sound, it got pretty loud:

The tones were low, continuous, and calming when touching the crystal all over, and high pitched and more sporadic, like the crystal was sending out a radar signal, if hands were just hovering nearby.

Some ideas brought up in critique were:

- Feels oddly relaxing and therapeutic to play with

- A cave or room full of crystals that interact with you, make it overwhelming

- Feels like a kit that people could assemble and have their own pet crystal -- I took this to mean that it feels like a domestic object that could bring people some happiness, which is the goal, and makes me feel good :)

- The case needs to be more sturdily constructed if inviting people to touch it, would hate for it to break -- that's not relaxing. Wood was not a problem for people aesthetically though.

Documentation and Process - Project 1

At the beginning of this project, I only knew that I wanted to work with pressure sensing and LEDs. I was initially seduced by the cabinet space on the 3rd floor of FAC where all of the A+T people would sit around, as it seemed like a surreal idea -- we napped and ate in a display case, without consideration for what it is actually built for, as art is rarely displayed there. Thankfully, Caitlyn and Shanna managed to pull off a sensors project in there :) But I was destined for a different direction this semester...

After the first Skycraft trip, and a subsequent visit (which was really awesome), I ended up with some large, rough acrylic chunks that reminded me of crystals. Going off of my work with digital crystals in Jack's 3d modeling class, some of the concepts I developed there being:

- Crystals as products of growth over time, light, and energy

- Geometric and sharp-edged forms, created by nature in the case of real crystals, but more easily made and common to the aesthetic of man-made objects, or mathematical/digital models

- Subversion or re-framing of the idea of crystals as a healing object - can they have a different kind of healing energy or even induce a placebo healing by relation when shown brightening up an inhospitable, man-made "cave" (dusty basement with graffiti), or in the case of this course -- made into soothing interactive installations.

I also remained interested in the interaction possible with FSRs, they were very fun to squeeze and see what kind of value range i could get out of them (pretty large!):

This is the first build of my project, simplified to one pressure sensor and LED. As you can see i was super hyped to get it working! :)

After talking with Katerie at Artbash, and doing a little brainstorming, I decided to have two gloves, allowing people to connect with one another by hi-fiving, holding hands, or making fists, or slapping each other -- really any kind of human interaction would activate the crystal's energy, suggesting the flow of energy from person to crystal and crystal to person that is purported by crystal healing enthusiasts.

Here's the initial sketch I came up with.

I spent a long time polishing the crystal with sandpaper, as the surface was gashed and uneven from whatever cutting process it went through before it ended up at Skycraft. I wanted to emphasize the artificiality and abstract it a little, so I wasn't trying to emulate something nature has already perfected, haha.

I doubled the electronics and code, and added plenty of LEDs, red being controlled by one glove, and blue being controlled by the other, so the crystal would indicate who was putting off a stronger energy:

And then I laser cut a base for the crystal, so the electronics could be out of sight a little, at least:

And here's the finished effect, I need to borrow a nice camera to take some really cool documentation of this, but at least you can see the general effect of the lights within the crystal:

Some ideas people brought up during critique are:

- Differentiating the gloves, two gloves the same color suggests it's for one person to interact with. But the intimate table and two chairs was good for suggesting interaction and to sit down and spend time with the crystal for two people.

- More gloves, so many people could interact at the same time (I love this idea)

- Many more crystals

- Reminiscent of Ouija board, feels ceremonial

Manga Guide to Electricity Questions 156-195

1. Semiconductor devices are things that use silicon most often, like processors, RAM, transistors, LEDs, etc. Basically, most of the electronics we use have semiconductors in them.

2. Silicon is prized for its ability to partially conduct, the small electron holes in it allow more electricity to pass through as it is heated. Often, silicon is doped with other metals in small percentages that allow very precise control of how much conductivity the silicon hybrid has.

3. N-Type Semiconductors have more electrons, and less holes, with an overall negative charge. They are charge carriers. P-Type Semiconductors have more holes, and less electrons, with an overall positive charge. They are charge acceptors.

4. Diodes are the joining of an N and P semiconductor into one unit. It has a positive and negative side, this way. It is used for converting alternating current to direct current, as one important application.

5. Rectification is the ability of a diode to only let electricity flow one way. It's like a selectively-permeable membrane in chemistry, where in this case electrons are only allowed through if they are flowing in the right direction with enough "pressure" i.e. the concentration of electrons on one side is so great that they force through the small holes.

6. Different semiconductor materials produce different wavelengths when energized, thus different colors of light in an LED. Gallium Nitride, for example, produces blue light.

7. When the base current is flowing, the collector current also flows, allowing an amplified signal that wouldn't be possible with just the collector's power alone.

8. The transistor is a good alternative to a switch since it can be electronically vs mechanically controlled, allowing precision. Also, there is less physical wear and tear on the transistor vs. a physical switch.

Sites of Interest and Artists of Interest

Don't know why I didn't have this posted before :/ So here are some cool artists and sites.

1. http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?board=19.0

This is arduino's official board for interactive art! Like any forum online about art, there is a lot of crap, but I have come across helpful and innovative ideas on here throughout the semester.

2. http://www.creativeapplications.net/tag/arduino/

Inspiring blogs about creative applications for the arduino. Lots of nice projects that stay on the more conceptual side.

3. http://vimeo.com/groups/arduinoart

Vimeo Group for arduino artists, a nice variety of projects on here.

Artists of interest:

1. http://cargocollective.com/lesiatrubat/E-TRACES-memories-of-dance by Lesia Trubat

Wow! This is an amazing project that uses pointé ballet shoes on a dancer and lilypad arduino and sensors on the bottom of the shoe to interface with a phone and create a representation of the dancer's moves. It makes you think about the various movements that happen in analog space and how they could be captured with innovative sensors. I think Jay would be interested in this project actually.

2. http://instagram.com/dimzayan/?utm_source=partner&utm_medium=embed&utm_campaign=video Gregory Mirzayantz Instagram

He posts a lot of interesting LED arduino projects that remind me of the lamp crystals I have created this semester. He actually has a "polygon light" that is pyramidal but not as good finish quality as mine :P It makes me want to make a crystal that has an accelerometer sensor in it, though.

3. http://driftinginlight.tumblr.com Drifting in Light by Zyia Z

Interactive aquarium-like abstracted installation art. Arduino is used to control the movement of CNC Milled acrylic in crazy colors and psychedelic lighting as viewers move through the full room installation.

DigiKey LED Specs

1. Flashing Red LED: Lumex Opto/Components Inc. | 3V | 20mA | 100 ohm Resistor

2. 3MM Blue LED: Visual Commumications Company - VCC | 3.5V | 20mA | 82 Ohm Resistor

3. Cyan 5x5MM Cube LED : SunLED | 3.3V | 20mA | 100 Ohm Resistor

4. Pink 5MM Clear LED: Lumex Opto/Components Inc. | 3.2V | 20 mA | 100 Ohm Resistor

5. Green 2x2.5MM Clear Z-Bend SMD LED: Lumex Opto/Components Inc. | 2.1V | 20mA | 150 Ohm Resistor

Transistor Documentary Response

Managed to find this on my Hard Drive thankfully!

What technology was used prior to transistors to amplify a signal? How did it change the history of communications in the US? What was the metaphor that the video used to describe how this technology worked?

Prior to transistors, the technology bit used to amplify signal was the vacuum tube. These tubes were large and very warm when in operation. They necessitated the construction of large electronics that were finicky and needed repair often, however, vacuum tubes were so large that it was easy for the average handy person to do the repairs if they were technically inclined at all.

After the transistor, communication products could be small enough to be in every home, and complex enough to create new methods of personal communication. They could also be cheap enough to be more widespread, as transistors were not as delicate as vacuum tubes.

Describe the break through in the 1947 that made the transistor a reality?

The point-contact transistor was discovered and patented in this year by the team at Bell Labs. When two electrically transmitting gold contact points are connected to a crystal of Germanium, the crystal amplifies the signal, and the resultant power output is greater than the input. This is a different method than was ever patented before (field effect transistors), thus, the mega conglomorate of Bell Labs was able to create a widespread transistor technology thanks to the new discovery and their existing distribution power.

What do we learn from watching this video about group and team dynamics that we can apply to our own situation? What was successful about this team? What was its downfall?

The team was comprised of bright individuals from different disciplines that were able to collaborate and innovate because of their different perspectives. However, the team was very bogged down by bravado and inflated egos, causing arguments and making the team dynamic hostile.

What medic and social changes occurred as a result of the transistor?

All electronics were able to be smaller, cheaper, and more accessible, such as the portable radio invented by Sony, to the laptops and phones of today that include tiny built in transistors on their circuit boards. Medicine has become increasingly more digitized with x-rays showing up on computers, CT scans, etc. which would be impossible without the humble transistor.