Author: Megan See

1. PROJECT #1: CAN YOU BEAT THE SYSTEM?

This idea stemmed from my interest in the criminal justice system. Many criminals are not what you would expect and the negative stereotypes around incarcerated peoples have a huge impact on their lives. Our project would be informative and interactive by encouraging the user to play games and participate in polls that feed them back information. For example, there would be questions on the screen asking what that specific user thought the answer to a question, perhaps a statistic. The user will choose or write something and the project will determine if they are right or wrong and provide them with the right answer. We hope to target communities that don’t always deal with a lot of criminals but have the potential to influence the incarcerated and wrongfully accused lives. 

 

2. PROJECT #2: WHICH IS WHICH?

this project would be a teaching game for children. Using Proccessing, several shapes and colors will be displayed on the screen. The child will have several games they can play, including to drag an item to the correct label or name and they will build up points. Every game could be a different level. One could be like the bouncy ball going around the screen and the child would have to count how many of the balls were a certain color to get the point. The arduino will have controllers that can move objects on the screen as well as could light up and make sounds to show what level the child is on and react whenever the child gets something wrong or right. This will be a more interactive and encouraging way to get children to learn.

3. PROJECT #3: MUSIC HISTORY TEACHER

It’s time for everyone to learn ABOUT music. This interactive device will allow people to discover the unknown. You never know what you don’t know! The user will be able to click on a type of genre from processing and have it play from the arduino. There will be a variety of artists of both genders for each genre in order for the user to truly grasp it.  They user will be able o choose what artist and song from each genre they can play. This product is meant for people who are looking to expand their interests and aren’t satisfied with the music they have to listen to right now. This product is a way for people to find more of what they like too.

Step 1:

It took me a little while just to make sure they weren’t overlapping but I tried not to spend too much time on it so that I would have time to do the other steps. 

Step 2:

A little overwhelming I know! The loop ran super fast and once I got the colors to start working it became more noticeable. At first it was hard to tell because my colors were all on the grey scale so you couldn’t really see the change. 

Step 3: (and code for step 4 but it has everything I needed before)

int[] x = new int[100];
int[] y = new int[100];
color [] c = new color[100];
int[] xSpeed = new int [100];
int[] ySpeed = new int [100];

void setup() {
  size(800, 600);
  rectMode(CENTER);
  for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
    x[i] = int(random(width));
  }
  for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
    y[i] = int(random(height));
  }
  for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
    c[i] = color(random(255), random(255), random(255));
  }
  for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
    xSpeed[i] = int(random(-15, 15));
  }
  for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
    ySpeed[i] = int(random(-15, 15));
  }
}




void shapes(float x, float y, color c) {
  //Use these parameters to create your graphics


  fill(c);
  rect(x+70, y+70, 200, 100);
  //noStroke();  
  ellipse(x+25, y+25, 50, 50);
  rect(x/2, y/2, 100, 100);
}
void draw() {
  background(255);
  for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
    shapes( x[i], y[i], c[i]);

    x[i] = x[i] + xSpeed[i];
    y[i] = y[i] + ySpeed[i];

    if (x[i]>800) {
      xSpeed[i] = 0;
    }
    if (y[i]>600) {
      ySpeed[i] = 0;
    }
    if (x[i]<0) {
      xSpeed[i] = 0;
    }
    if (y[i]<0) {
      ySpeed[i] = 0;
    }
  }
}

Step 4:

At first I could only get the shapes to go right and down until I realized I could use negative numbers, then they finally went in random orders. At first I thought I was doing something wrong because some of the shapes weren’t moving but then I realized that some of them got randomly assigned a speed of 0. None of the shapes can fully leave the screen but part of the shape does go off the page because when I wrote the code I made it so that they can’t leave the width and height of the page but If they couldn’t leave at all I would have had to make adjustments based on the dimensions of all of my different shapes, and then some of them wouldn’t even reach the end of the screen.

Question 1:

When the loop from step 2 is in setup, the loop plays once, but when the for loop is in draw it keeps playing over and over. For setup, it plays the loop until it reaches 100 times because that’s what it was set to. In draw it still plays 100 times, but it plays in sets of 100 over and over again.

Question 2:

The benefit of using arrays is that you can hold more data and access it through an index number. Each can be accessed randomly as well and stored in the same place as the same type under the same name. 

Chronus Exhibition

When we visited the Chronus Exhibition we saw several technology-based artworks. One of the projects used several arduinos as well as other things we used from our arduino kits. I was next to several of the fellows talking about it and learned from that too. Some of the conversations were about how it was not using a loop but somehow every part was working independently so they output would be different every time. There were so many different parts that all came together and the thought that had to go into it seems unthinkable. It was also very cool to see everything that we have been working on in class in a real museum. I think that because of this I had a better understanding of it than I would have without having learned it in class. I also appreciated it more than if I were at a regular art museum. This exhibit had so many different things so look at and kept the viewer curious as to how it functioned, even the fellows and professors.

This project I was a bit confused about. I think because of my previous visits to art museums I was looking for something different. I was trying to find a meaning out of it, but when I read the plaque it wasn’t what I was expecting. Not going to lie I thought it was a bridge at first, but because it was based around technology I understand why it was made to represent something different. It wasn’t very interactive with the user but when I did read about it I realized it was meant to represent a constant journey to perfection with each piece working individually to find it’s ideal hight.

Research

When doing my research, I found one a project called “Guitar Pedals,” that uses steps to make the sounds a guitar would but gives users who haven’t even learned how to play the ability to make 96 different sounds that would be incredibly hard to do otherwise. I think that this project did a very good job of being interactive. It makes every person’s experience with it different by giving them the ability to make something nobody else has before. It gives them the freedom to be creative. The user presses one of the pedals and the project takes in that data and plays the corresponding sound. The sounds can play together which makes it unique because I remember coming across that when doing the midterm project. I had several different songs, but they were already set melodies and could not interrupt each other. 

Guitar Pedals, An Interactive Art Installation of 96 Guitar Effects Pedals by David Byrne

The next project I researched was part of “The Happy Show” at MOCA. The project has several tubes with marbles and has a question at the bottom that reads “how happy are you?” Each visitor is prompted to take one of the marbles from the tube that most represents how they feel. I think that there are up and downsides to this project. On the one hand, it attracts and allows users to interact with the project while collecting data which is very smart. The users can see the data unfold as the day goes on. On the other hand, there isn’t that much that goes into it. There isn’t an instant gratification the user gets from the project. It takes time and cannot be fully experienced while they are there in front of it. It isn’t portable so it makes it hard for them to really see how they’ve affected it.

After doing research, I think that one thing I learned that adds to my definition of interaction is that, yes, there is an input and output that depend on each other, but the experience of the user is also important. It goes back to the question we asked at the beginning of the semester, “is opening a refrigerator and light turning on considered interactive?” I still believe that there are different levels of interactivity, but to be successful you need to be engaging and provide some sort of incentivizing factor. In Bret Victor’s article, A Brief Rant on the Future of Interactive Design, he says that “if a tool isn’t designed to be used by a person, it can’t be a very good tool, right?” He brings up a valid question that is why would we interact with something that is not necessary to us in the first place? Successful interactivity should be engaging and productive at the same time.

http://worrydream.com/ABriefRantOnTheFutureOfInteractionDesign/

minimallyminimal.com/blog/the-happy-show-at-moca

My Animation and Code:

float d = 50;
float c = 1.5;
int r = 255;
int g = 255;
int b = 255;

float yPos = 0.0;

void setup() {
size(300, 300);
frameRate(30);

}

int value = 0;

void draw() {

background(r, g, b);
if (d > 150 || d < 30) {
c = c * -1;
}

d = d + c;
fill(value);
ellipse( 150, 150, d, d);

println(d);
}
void mousePressed() {
if (value == 0) {
value = 255;
} else {
value = 0;
}
}
void keyPressed() {
println(key);
if (key == ‘r’ || key == ‘R’) {

r = 255;
g = 0;
b = 0;

} else if (key == ‘g’ || key == ‘G’) {
r = 0; g = 255; b = 0;

} else if (key == ‘b’ || key == ‘B’) {
r = 0; g = 0; b = 255;
}
else if (key == ‘p’ || key == ‘P’) {
r = 252; g = 148; b = 255;
}
else if (key == ‘t’ || key == ‘T’) {
r = 148; g = 255; b = 234;
}
}

I liked using the mousePressed() function and the keyPressed() function because it definitely made it more interactive and I had more control. One of the fellows helped me with adding and subtracting from the d and c values in the right way for the expandoing which I was struggling with before. It wound up being very helpful and I was able to learn from that and do soemthign similar in my homework exercises. 

Homework:

Step 1:

float d = 150;
float c = 4;
int r = 255;
int g = 255;
int b = 255;

void setup() {
size(600, 600);
frameRate(30);

}

void draw() {

background(r, g, b);

fill(255);
ellipse( 300, 300, d, d);
strokeWeight(15);
println(d);
}

Step 2:

IMG_1488

float d = 50;
float c = 4;
int r = 255;
int g = 255;
int b = 255;

void setup() {
size(600, 600);
frameRate(30);

}

void draw() {

background(r, g, b);
if (d > 200 || d < 50) {
c = c * -1;
}

d = d + c;
fill(255);
ellipse( 300, 300, d, d);
strokeWeight(15);
println(d);
}

Step 3:

IMG_1545

float d = 50;
float c = 4;
float a = 0;

void setup() {
size(600, 600);
frameRate(30);
colorMode(HSB);
}

void draw() {

background(255);
noFill();

ellipse( 300, 300, d, d);
strokeWeight(15);
stroke(a, 255,255);
if (d > 200 || d < 50) {
c = c * -1;
}
if (a<255){
a++;
}
else if (a>255){
a–;
}
d = d + c;

println(d);
}

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE

In my last group project, the hardest part was trying to find an idea to work with and eventually turn into our final project. So this time, my partner Ashley and I just started talking in hopes that we could find something we had in common. We realized that we both had bad homesickness around the holidays, and especially the time leading up to Christmas. So we created “The Magical Treet of Christmas” to bring some of the Christmas spirits to NYU Shanghai for people missing the same things. We thought that Christmas and holiday music would be the perfect way to do so, and we hadn’t seen anything like it before other than on actual Christmas trees that many people don’t have here. Our project is a 3D printed Christmas Tree with a different song that plays depending on which button, or present, that the user presses. Each song also makes the tree’s lights light up in a different pattern, including from top to bottom or coordinated with the pitch of the notes in each song. I researched several interactive projects including an interactive map that showed the user a specific outcome after they selected a certain place. Allowing the user to choose what song plays and have a different experience with each one is similar to this. 

   

• CONCEPTION AND DESIGN:

We were targeting mostly people our own age, and more specifically people who are abroad and aren’t able to participate in many of the activities that take place in their home during the holiday season, causing them to have bad homesickness.  Well to start, we knew that just having a music box would not be enough to catch the user’s attention, so we turned it into a beautifully decorated Christmas tree. We used a 3D printer to make the Christmas tree as well as the star on top. We wanted the user to be able to use multiple senses, so we included the lights and decoration for sight, the buttons as touch, and the music to hear. We were originally going to use a bigger variety of LED lights, but we soon realized that the green and yellow lights were far too dim, so we stuck with blue and red. We used a nicer cardboard box underneath the tree in order to hide the wires and the arduino, as well as to hold up the Christmas tree. We spray painted the box gold and added red and ribbons to look like a gift that you would receive on Christmas. We put a lot of time into the appearance of our design in order to make it more attractive to users. 

 

• FABRICATION AND PRODUCTION:

First, we 3D printed the Christmas tree but had to do it in two parts since it was too big to be printed at one time, which actually wound up being incredibly useful in the future by giving us easy access to checking our wire connections. At first, we had the buttons posed as ornaments on the tree, but after user testing, we heard many people say that it would be more convenient and self-explanatory to have them on the actual box. We didn’t want them to just be poking out, so we turned them into presents that the user could “open” and make it a more satisfying experience for them. When adding the present boxes to use for the buttons, we tried to make them with cardboard. It was hard to make them look aesthetically pleasing, but at that point, it was too late to use the laser-cutter to make new ones, so we spray painted those as well and added more decorations like ribbon. During user testing we had one light on each level of the tree, but after we added several more to each so it looked fuller. We had the music when we went into user testing, but we noticed that many people could barely hear it, if even, and people often had to lean down to hear it, but then missed the light patterns we set up. After seeing that, we decided to ditch the buzzer from our arduino kit and swap it with a real speaker that we rented. We placed it within the tree instead of way down at the bottom of the box connected to the arduino making it too far away to hear.

     

CONCLUSIONS:

Ashley and I wanted to bring Christmas to the students of NYU Shanghai. I feel like we did a pretty good job overall. We got even better feedback than we anticipated and it definitely seemed like people really enjoyed interacting with our product. The users could put a piece of input in, our project processed that and gave the user output. The outputs included sounds (music and different tones), sight (the decoration, neatness, and lights), and touch (buttons and presents) with a variety of choices and outcomes. I expected people to want more than just the buttons to trigger the music and light patterns. I think that their action caused enough of a response though that they still enjoyed it. If we did have more time we would have had different things trigger it like motion sensors or knobs to adjust the volume. Although we did get lots of good feedback, we did have to change several things, including the speaker for the music which was too quiet, more lights to make the tree seem fuller and more inviting, and adding a few crucial decorations like the star which many people mentioned. We wanted the star to spin but ran into issues when the motor that turned it wouldn’t fit through the 3D printed top of the tree. It was also the last night to work on the project when we tried to add it, so we were unable to print another tree. Overall I think that we effectively demonstrated interactivity.

IMG_1216

^video of part of our final product

Ferreira, Becky. “Here’s an Interactive Map That Shows How Climate Change Will Affect Your Town in 60 Years.” Vice, 12 Feb. 2019, https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/zma389/heres-an-interactive-map-that-shows-how-climate-change-will-affect-your-town-in-60-years.

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/ToneMelody?from=Tutorial.Tone

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1155057

https://circuitdigest.com/microcontroller-projects/playing-melodies-on-piezo-buzzer-using-arduino-tone-function