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Project: 🌤️ or 🌧️

Driven by two actuators, this assignment shows two different kinds of weather: sunny and rainy. When the sun comes out and shines above the cloud, it is a sunny day; when the rain drops down as the white light drops on the white paper, the sun fades and hides inside the cloud, and it becomes a rainy day. 

In this assignment, we chose an LED strip as the main light source, integrating a bottom half plastic bottle, and a “sun”: two round semi-transparent acrylic boards with the upper part of the LED strip attached in the middle layer. The upper part of the LED strip provides yellow light for the “sun” and the last 4 LEDs at the bottom of the strip are the white light source for the “rain”. The white light ejects through the transparent bottle and forms a flower shape on a piece of white paper. As for the cloud, we laser cut a semi-transparent acrylic board as a cloud shape and used hot glue to attach the cotton to that board. 

Following the presentation, we received feedback that one actuator might be enough instead of two to achieve this effect. To optimize the utilization of both actuators, it will be better for us to consider incorporating either cloudiness or precipitation into the weather representation for future enhancements. 

Presentation Video:

Link for the code

Project Description

My project is a small sculpture: a black half-bottom face attached by a semi-transparent acrylic board around and covered by a piece of transparent acrylic board on the top. On the center of the transparent acrylic board, there is a CRGB LED light controlled by Arduino; a Neon LED Matrix is on the back of the project. The upper half of the sculpture represents the human mind. Visitors can “read” the mind through the semi-transparent acrylic board.

I intend to show the origin of the universe as humans believe it through this sculpture, the Big Bang Theory: the universe began as just a single point, then expanded and stretched to grow as large as it is right now. The top small LED stands for “a single point”. It starts from dark, then becomes brighter and brighter, and finally, “explodes” and “grows”. After that, the LED shuts off and the Neon LED Matrix lights up, changing color with time, which represents the changing of the colorful universe as present. 

I was inspired by the HD Wall Paper attached below:

Perspective and Context

My project fits into the context of art and perception. According to Graig Adcock’s book “James Turrell: The Art of Light and Space”, art is “a matter of attitude, a ‘frame of mind’”. “Mind and the Universe” shows human’s belief of the origin of the universe in a simple way: it grows from a small dark dot to a brighter and bigger ball, and finally explodes into an infinite universe.

This art shows people’s attitude to the origin of the universe: from dark to bright, from single to infinity. According to Jack Burnham’s reading, we have read titled “Light as Sculpture Medium ”, rendered light into art, “must first be transmitted and transformed through materials” (Burnham 292). The process of exploding to the current universe in my project is shown on semitransparent acrylic rather than plain Neon LED Matrix. It consists of the definition of art mentioned by Burnham. 

 

Development & Technical Implementation

My original thought of the project was different than “Mind and The Universe”: I wanted to build a project that shows the growing process of an eggplant by using  Neon LED Matrix, semitransparent acrylic board, and two stepper motors. 

This idea is too concrete to have space for visitors to imagine and create. Therefore, I reimagined my idea for this project. By searching Google, I saw an interesting wallpaper: the infinite universe is emitted from a lower half face to the top. I found it really interesting so I decided to build my project based on this picture.

Fuctions of my project: a 3D-printed lower half face model is on the bottom. CRGB LED represents a small dark dot, it grows brighter and bigger, and then it explodes, forming different kinds of matters and gradually turning to the present universe we observe today, which is shown on the upper half of semitransparent acrylic board with Neon LED Matrix light ejecting on the back of the sculpture. Different subsidence in the universe is “created” from iridescent cellophane inside the surrounding semitransparent acrylic board. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EMMvNaVAmHeXgqNOGtc0I4vM58DpZAow/view?usp=drive_link

Presentation

My project worked well during the presentation. But at first, it was presented in the classroom without light. The CRGB LED went well, people can see it clearly from dark to bright, but the “universe effect” reflected through iridescent cellophane to the semitransparent acrylic board was not obvious. When the room light was on, people could see a clear universe from the semitransparent acrylic board, and I think the audience understood my project, they reacted as I expected. 

One classmate who was in charge of making comments on my project said that she liked the design and the combination of light and space in my project, and appreciated the mechanism. There was one thing that could be improved: the Neon LED Matrix should be covered by a piece of paper rather than being exposed. By doing so, when the light in the room is off, people can see the universe more clearly. 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ZXwEtbVtqLBnZSEnt96QX-EH1utN1YyB

 

Conclusion

This project, being abstract rather than too concrete is what I learned. At the very beginning, my idea for the project was too concrete to leave space for the audience to imagine. Therefore, I changed my idea and built the “Mind and the Universe” project finally. The abstract allows viewers to interpret the piece in their unique way, fostering individual creativity and imagination. Without strict rules or predetermined meanings, people can maximize their exploration and enjoy seeing the project. 

 

As for what I succeeded and failed, I made good use of light and space. The transaction from “exploding” CRGB LED to Neon LED Matrix is smooth, and the sculpture looks good. However, I failed to show the changing of the universe obviously through the variation of the Neon LED Matrix because of the high brightness. I’d better cover the Neon LED Matrix with a piece of semitransparent paper so that the effect of the universe will be better shown. 

 

In this assignment, we built a project by using two Neon LED Tubes, one is blue, and the other is green. The two tubes are curved as a snail shape and pasted on both sides of a semitransparent acrylic board. Plastic leaves are covered on the acrylic board sticked by two tubes. When we run the code, the two tubes will light on and fade separately. It represent two different moods: green is energetic and powerful, blue is melancholy and upset.

 

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Welcome to Web Publishing @ NYU. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start creating your site!

Online help is available via the Web Publishing Knowledge Site (wp.nyu.edu/knowledge) and the ServiceLink knowledge base (www.nyu.edu/servicelink). Through ServiceLink, you can find step-by-step instructions, as well as tutorials.

Digital Accessibility

As content creators who create and publish text, images, video, and audio, you must adhere to the NYU Website Accessibility Policy (https://www.nyu.edu/digitalaccessibility/policy) when creating and publishing digital content.

Web Publishing-specific Digital Accessibility Best Practices and examples of how to ensure your content are compliant are available at https://wp.nyu.edu/digitalaccessibility

If you have additional questions, contact the IT Service Desk for assistance. Support is available 24/7/365. For more details, visit www.nyu.edu/it/servicedesk.