Recitation 5: Processing Basics

Voeroech I, 1986

The image is created by Victor Vasarely. I choose this picture because it has a beauty of simplicity and there’s a clear logic in the variation of shapes. In the programming part, I mainly use the function “rotate( )” to accomplish the goal. The code is as follows:

size(800,800);
rectMode(CENTER);

noStroke();
translate(400,400);
background(141,67,64);

fill(90,60,60);
rotate(-PI/40);
rect(0,0,800*0.91,800*0.91);

fill(55,50,52);
rotate(-PI/40*1.2);
rect(0,0,800*0.81,800*0.81);

fill(90,60,60);
rotate(-PI/40*1.4);
rect(0,0,800*0.72,800*0.72);

fill(147,70,60);
rotate(-PI/40*1.42);
rect(0,0,800*0.61,800*0.61);

fill(205,56,63);
rotate(-PI/40*1.5);
rect(0,0,800*0.50,800*0.50);

fill(215,43,69);
rotate(-PI/40);
rect(0,0,800*0.39,800*0.39);

fill(220,103,120);
rotate(-PI/42);
rect(0,0,800*0.28,800*0.28);

fill(233,131,142);
rotate(-PI/40);
rect(0,0,800*0.18,800*0.18);

fill(250,162,158);
rotate(-PI/40*1.5);
rect(0,0,800*0.09,800*0.09);

the result

I think that every painting is created with a impetus and thus have a inner logic inside. The process of programming is an act of immitating that logic with the tool of computer program. In that way, i think drawing in processing is a perfect way to understand the artwork and the thoughts of the author. But imitation is imitation, both the understanding and the artwork itself cannot completely be the same, and that’s the aesthetics of art.

Motors：the Stepper

Today we come to know the use of a new motor which is called the “stepper”. As its name, it moves at an accuracy of step, and due to that charateristic, it is widely used in many aspects of our daily life.

In this recitation we will use the stepper to build a drawing machine.

Step 1: Build the circuit

 

(the circuit)

The circuit wasn’t hard to build and when the stepper rotated i found that unlike a DC mortor, the stepper can reverse its direction by itself without changing the outer current.

Step 2: Control rotation with a potentiometer

The stepper shaked and stopped shaking when potentiometer was at some certain points. I first guessed that it was because that the input was not a integer so the stepper might have some problem reading it. However, i’m told that it was functioning properly and the shaking is quite normal.

Step 3: Build a Drawing Machine!

The pen was actually not long enough, so we think a lot to compensate that deficiency, including using something beneath to make the paper higher and loosening the nails to lower the position of pen. Finally, after many failures, we succeeded in producing a painting with our drawing machine.

Q&A Part

Queation 1:

I’d like to create a machine which can walk itself by the force of nature. I’m inspired by the “Strandbeast” created by Theo Jansen which facinates me a lot. The actuators are the core of machine and almost every movement is powered or controlled by them, but the strandbeasts’ actuators are just some PVC pipes, which is the most unique part of it and reminds us of how complicated things some small mindless things can do by working together. In its design, i think if we use the digital manipulation tools, things will get much easier as we can stimulate the movement and structure on computers first. And, finally, yes. The process requires a lot of creativity and if possible should better be done with a group of people brainstorming together about its moving structure, walking components, path finding components and its power source. There are also many problems that designers may face, like weight, physical endurance, ability to handle emergencies (like encountering an obstacle) and these can only be solved with wit and innovation.

Queation 2:

The Mechanical Mirrors: Wooden Mirror impressed me a lot. Some wooden pixie painted with differnt shades can make a complete picture, but it’s still the faithful reflection of the reality world and our work, though simple, is a kind of creation, reflection of humans’ uncertain inner part. That’s the greatest difference. And considering that it may require percise rotation at the accuracy of angle, i think that the creator may have chosen to use the servo motors as actuators for his project

The word “interactive” is hard to define because everyone may have their own understanding about it, thus making it a quite subjective concept. But I agree with Crawford’s idea that there’s and should be some common knowledge to establish mutual cognition and he define “interactive” as “a cyclic process with two actors alternatively listen, think and speak.”(5), in other words, “input, process and output”(5).

During my study, I focused in two cases: the SIRI (Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface) and the Installation Art. Starting from the latter one, the Installation Art is an example of the misunderstanding on what is not interactive. I used to believe that there exist some kind of interaction between the audience and the artists, and the Installation Art is one of the most tricky ones among the genres of art as it is very similar to being “interactive”. Indeed, compared with other traditional forms of arts, the Installation Arts is more open to the audience and allows more participation. However, despite that people may claim that they establish some connection with the author during their appreciation of arts, the connection is neither cyclic nor mutual, thus can not be called as “interactive”. People do understand it step by step, making their recognition alike a conversation, but no mentioning that the steps are actually one process still, the process is irreversible and non-repeatable. Besides, there’s no certain logical relationship between the audience’s input and the artwork’s output, as their participation may only affect their angle of view, and therefore omitting the intermediate phase “process”. The case helps me clarify the concept.

Rachel Whiteread,Embankment at Tate Modern, London

Next is the SIRI. The case helps me further my opinion that the process doesn’t need to be intentional. Making a doll as an example, you can manipulate its limbs, and so it will move, responding to your action. You can get exactly what you has expected to get, for SIRI it is the translation and for a doll it is the movement. But in a wider definition, that is also interactive, as long as there is a logic between the input and the output which can then be called as the phase “process”. The program doesn’t think, but it can also be interactive as the three phases of interactive is included in the calculation. It, which is an exact example of “interactive”, take the voice command as input, transform it into digital signal, then translate it into digital command and produce output accordingly.

So we imagine what if there’s a tool that can translate our thoughts in an non-verbal way, and meanwhile being interactive, so it comes to our project “SMART Floor”. Our project, the “SMART Floor”, is designed to read signals from multiple body sensors (mass, thermo, humidity, movement, hormone, etc.) and also from facial recognition , in which the floor pile can produce different reactions (output) according to different occasions (input) after being processed in the microchip (process) implanted in it, like entertaining a naughty baby/pets, stopping a theft or preventing a fire. The innovation is the mode of the dual-capability of it that the floor itself can be both a sensor and a screen, so the floor it self but not a whole system is interactive.

Work Cited:

Crawford. “What Exactly Is Interactivity.” The Art of Interactivity, pp. 1–6.

Sensors

To a computer system, sensors are its eyes and ears, the only method that it may detect the signal and thus manage to react to that. Yet concerning the various types of sensors, we may start from the begining to know the name and use of each.

Moisture Sensor:The Moisture Sensor can be used as if you were doing simple analog read. Connect the sensors’ power and ground pins to the Arduino’s power and ground, respectively. 

(IMAGE UPLOAD ERROR)

Infrared Distance Sensor:  Similar to the Moisture Sensor, the Infrared Distance Sensor can by used by implementing the connections and code from a simple analog read sketch. In the case of Infrared Distance Sensors, using the “map()” function can be helpful.  This function maps the analog readings from the sensor to the distance between the sensor and the object.

(IMAGE UPLOAD ERROR)

Vibration Sensor: The Vibration Sensor can be used like a simple Analog input. 

Ultrasonic Ranger:  The Ultrasonic Ranger (AKA Ultrasonic Sensor OR  HC-SR04) can be used to detect distance. 

(IMAGE UPLOAD ERROR)

Joystick Module:  The Joystick module comprised of two potentiometers which gauge motion along the x and y axis, and a pushbutton for the z axis. Because of this composition, it can be interfaced with Arduino just as if it were two potentiometers.  

Variable resistors(LDR):A Photoresistor, Light Dependent Resistor (LDR), or “light sensor”,  is a type of variable resistor that has a resistive value which changes based on the amount of light shone onto it. 

Q&A Part

Queation 1:

We were intended to build a circuit which can sense the change of its surroundings and transfer its reaction into digital signal. For example, to use the LDR, we can put it into a light-sensitive streetlight so it can save the electricity in the day time and light up automatically at night, benefiting the passing-bys in terms of lighting the road in the dark.

Queation 2:

Most code is written in programming language, which need to be translated into the machine language to function in a computer. If coding is compared to following a recipe, then the recipe is the programming language which is designed to be more readable with certain grammar and to include some complex process.

Queation 3:

It is a perfect tool for learning human behavior in collecting and saving data digitally, immitating brain movement and finding patterns, and it is creating new activities, thus creating new human behaviors. Computers shows its supremacy in calculating,  processing and analysising mass data, and also due to its character of connection and interaction, it has the ability to act as a perfect media to test new concept and share new thoughts.

First of all,#We get our Arduino Kit!

We’ve learned how to build the circuit on a breadboard, and this class we do it with our own arduino kits. It’s a little bit sad to mess up the brand-new kit, but we are happy to be given a chance to do something on our own.

Circuit 1: Fade

Circuit 2: toneMelody

Circuit 3: Speed Game

The video is missing because it’s too big

Q&A Part

Queation 1:

It’s the digital era. We use technology products every day and now we even have wearable products which can be carried everywhere with us, like smart necklace, smart watch and AR glasses.Among these products, they all read my personal information like rate of heart beat, body temperature, blood pressure and so on.The circuit does it in the same thought. It reads my signals and translate them into digital imput, and then have the output after calculation in the processor, according to its program.I think that’s the way how electronic products see, hear, understand us and provide feedbacks, that is, interaction.

Queation 2:

We were asked to use the 10kΩ resistor to protect the components from being damaged by the excessive current.For one thing, we need resistors to avoid short circuit.For another, it need to be 10kΩ to limit the current and ensure that it is constrained to an acceptable range.

Queation 3:

I will install it on the exterior wall of NYUSH, making it a huge  LED screen.Thus we can post any pattern or image on it, and perhaps we may not need to borrow the Oriental Pearl TV Tower and make it purple as we can do it on ourselves.