Objects and Arrays

After going over the week’s tutorials, I felt confused. I understood the fundamentals but couldn’t think of a project to do. I re-watched the tutorials and searched the web for some inspiration but was blocked. Finally, I just started sketching in my notebook, reminding myself to think of a simple program that I could test things out. It’s not the most exciting script, but I came up with a thatch type grid with ever repeating colorful ellipses.

Here is my primary sketch. 

notebook sketch of a p5js file

After a great deal of trial and error, I was able to hobble my way to a completed sketch based on my drawing with a few modifications. 

  • I wanted half of the ellipses to go up and a half to go down.
  • I wanted the lines to turn around once they’ve reached the opposite side. 

Because I tried so many different approaches and saved them separately, my final code became really confusing, with oddly named variables and useless code. 

screen shot of p5 sketch

It was important for me to work on this alone to figure out what I really need to work on. This proved to a very frustrating challenge. 

Below are the sketches I saved throughout this process.

Warning, they are full of errors.

screen shot of p5 sketch
screen shot of p5 sketch

screen shot of p5 sketch

screen shot of p5 sketch

Serial Communications

This was a tough week of labs, but I can see serial communication’s huge potential once I iron things out. 

Everything worked well in the Intro to Asynchronous Serial Communications lab. I connected the circuit, map out my readings, and test ways to send data in different formats. After doing some extra readings, the code started to make more sense as did the Terminal App interaction. 


Screen shot of serial monitor

Terminal app repeating serial output. 


Screen shot of serial monitor

Mapping the output to a single byte.

Screen shot of serial monitor

Testing Serial.write

Screen shot of serial monitor

Sending values in different formats. 

My problems started when I integrated P5 into my workflow. I was able to download the serial control software and the libraries needed to complete the lab fine. However, when I started to code in P5 I kept receiving error messages including “undefined is not a constructor (evaluating ‘new p5.SerialPort()’) (sketch: line 5).” 

I plan on discussing the errors in class so that I can re-run these labs. 

Screen shot of P5 serial control

Video and Sound Final

For our final Video and Sound project, Stuti, Sara, and I teamed up to create an interactive Alice in Wonderland themed experience in Unity. The project’s goal was to create a surreal representation of moving to NYC for the first time. The main character is a mouse that falls into a magical tunnel. At the end of the tunnel, the mouse starts its journey by navigating four subway cars. The first being a cramped apartment – next to a social/going out car – third a car where the mouse needs to navigate the crowded and confusing Manhattan streets- finally making its way to a cramped and crowded car that closely resembles real life. In the end, the mouse walks out of the final car, dropping back into reality. 

Unity screenshot

Individually each one of us contributed a car, mine being a color-blocked cramped apartment. Upon entering, the character is met with a mirror where they can check themselves out and see that they are a mouse. As they progress, everyday furniture is all over the place. A stove is upside down; food is floating, a fish tank is tipped over. In the subway windows, videos of NYC are playing on the loop. When the character walks by the tv, an invisible trigger turns it on, playing a short video of pigeons in Washington Square Park. Finally, the faint sounds of neighbors can be heard through the walls.

Unity screenshot

Unity screenshot

The team collectively worked on troubleshooting our individual cars, compiling the entire project, creating the entry and exit points, and the final car.  All three also agreed to meet up after class to further polish and expand the piece. 

Unity screenshot

Unity screenshot

Unity screenshot

Unity screenshot

Unity screenshot

Unity screenshot

Some ideas for future expansion include:

  • Having the mouse turn back into a human in the final car. 
  • Introducing scanned objects and people. 
  • Adding more cars. 
  • Making a more seamless experience. 
  • Adding more objects that we create. 

Screen shot of three people working in unity

I couldn’t ask for a better team. We spent hours on zoom collaborating, brainstorming, and laughing at all the errors we needed to fix.