Darwin the Slug

So I made a little critter I call Darwin the Slug. Here he is in his naked glory.

He was a bit jumpy in class, but hopefully with the programming I'm adding and the potentiometer to control his energy he'll be a bit more interesting. My goal is to be able to control his "mood" from being extremely slow and apathetic to happy to scared and frenetic. Of course, I'm adding some skin to Darwin, so he looks more like a slug and the stuffing will weigh him down a bit... I hope it doesn't cause any extra problems.

Thesis dreams

No joke, I literally had a dream about what I want to do for my thesis. Several ideas have been floating around my noggin, but there wasn't one that I really was interested in. I was in the middle of reading a book called "The Phantom Tollbooth". It's a wonderful children's novel about a boy who is bored and finds a portal to another world... I highly recommend to anyone who likes getting their imagination on! A friend randomly loaned it to me... at any rate, I fell asleep while reading this book and I had a dream where the book left off... it had a character named Chroma conducting this 1,000 piece orchestra in order to create a sunrise. I can't really describe the dream except that it was incredibly beautiful, the music and the visuals of seeing these many players creating this moment in time. The closest thing I could describe it as being similar to is the Northern Lights.

So for the physical computing component, I am interested in making some conducting gloves. I did a bit of research on this topic, and many people have done variations on the idea of gesture recognition and conducting music, visuals, virtual orchestras, etc. However, I believe my direction is unique in that I want to combine video tracking with sensors to accentuate the movements and clearly capture every little movement. I'm not speaking broad gestures... I myself have tried conducting and played the alto saxophone in concert band so I know that its not just about keeping time and looking dramatic on a stage. Every conductor has a distinct style and I thought it would be interesting to visually see the difference in their style not reacting to the sonic information, but the actual movements of a practiced conductor.

Therefore, someone who for example does not have experience in conducting would not be able to use my device... which is OK by me because I much rather prefer to see professionals performing live art for me. I feel that my role as an artist is to interpret the score visually, and allow variation upon how the conductor interprets the score musically, thus perform the visual score I create to go with the musical one. I have some experience designing and running lights for theater, so I understand how live performance is enhanced and fluid with some visual flow of light and in this case video projection.

At any rate, it goes nicely along with my first project using gloves and I think if I do this I'll probably make the gloves from scratch... did I mention I've tried my hand at designing and constructing costumes? I hope to combine my device with Max/MSP/Jitter and design a rough prototype of hand gestures controlling a multisource video feed.

Oh, and I'm sooo stoked that NIME will be hosted in New York this year in June... what luck! :)

Shopping for not shoes can be fun

So this past weekend I spent a good deal of time shopping around Manhattan for goodies for my electronics projects. I fortunately was able to find the mysterious electronics store on Canal Street, a good Radio Shack and several fabric stores selling fabric with metal threads. It's a funny thing to ask them "do you carry conductive fabrics?" then rephrasing with "do you have fabric with REAL metal threads in them?" as there are many kinds of metallic fabrics with little to no metal in them. I should have brought my multimeter with me, but I forgot. Oh well... the best samples appear to be from Mood, made famous by Project Runway. I also found some interesting wire-mesh like material from NY Elegant Fabrics, which specializes in theatrical fabrics. And I was able to source some lame (from fencing gear) through the dept chair Peter Patchen, who happens to be an avid fencer.

Anyway, my original idea for my project was supposed to be a slug with legs, kind of tadpolish in form. However, this is quite difficult to achieve especially in a week and with limited familiarity with creation of such a creature. I found a gear set and am using a smaller motor, so I have moving limbs that don't really propel the creature anywhere. I wanted it to have a single eye (as the on-off switch), but I'm having trouble with the construction. And the electronics part is random at best... I don't know always why certain things work, it becomes a matter of trial and error. Very frustrating!

two brilliant ideas

I reread my post about fencing and I decided to Google some fencing sites... I think I may be able to salvage old lames (fencing gear) to use for my glove project!! Apparently at some point the wire matrix doesn't work and they can't fix it no more so they have to throw it away! I guess I am excited because I am really much into the idea of not buying parts and recycling and reusing. What can I say, I am a green girl... i hate to throw things away. I have a whole new appreciation for junk! And I am trying out this thing where I don't spend spend spend. Although I will admit to lusting after the iPhone. Neat.

The other idea I had is that if I were a kid using this, there is an unfair advantage to people with bigger hands. Wouldn't it be cool and funny if the thumbs were extended? Like Uma's mutant extended thumb in Even Cowgirl's Get the Blues. Sorry I couldn't find a photo of it. Then it would be completely fair for those of us with short thumbs.

Right Hand Left Foot

So I went out shopping for some conductive thread, which someone in class suggested that I use. Unfortunately, all the resources I could find required me to order them online which I would not get in time for the next class. So, I called up my friend who has worked in theatre making costumes to see if she might be able to direct me to a store that might have some. I heard that Mood had some according to one website, but she said they carry mostly fabric and not notions. She referred me to a place that specializes in metallic fibers and threads. I was able to procure some sample threads to test, but I don't think they are conductive enough... I may just have to buy the stuff at Lame Saver. Hmmm. I also shopped at a few jewerly-making supply shops since they have wires and threads... a bit pricey though.

First Hand always the Right Hand

Our assignment was to create a game. I was inspired to do something like fencing seeing that they use electricity to determine who wins. If you aren't familiar with fencing, the entire hit area on their armor is metal, and the rapier is wired to the buzzer machine, and there is actually some guy winding up the wire as the go down this runway which is grounded. So I tried to think of a similar game but on a smaller level... and I recalled a childhood game a frequently lost due to my small hands (and short thumbs)... thumb war!

So my first project game a electronic thumb war game (some call it thumb wrestling)... you know, "1,2,3,4 I declare a thumb war!" I bought a pair of men's gardening gloves with grips and added on my own custom built sensors. It was challenging to create a sensor that works really well. I ended up wrapping foil around some sliced up erasers. I think if I made a real prototype, I would probably use fabric that conducts electricity, but i'll worry about that later.

Intrestingly enough, there exists a TV show on Nick on thumb wars.