Projection Surface

After working with several tests connecting the foam board pieces together directly with hot glue, I realized that the projection surface would need to be more flexible. The best solution seemed to be to attach the foam board to a spandex surface, pulled tight over the projection surface for flexibility and to take care of the issue of the “joints” expanding as the surface is pushed/pulled.

first-spandex

I briefly considered using the spandex surface on it’s own as the projection surface, but it’s very transparent I was unable to capture the faceted look that I desired, everything looked like ghost hands in a horror movie. The surface needed to be rigid and geometric (but flowing) not smooth, so the next step was to attach foam board to the surface.

first-triangles

Using the triangles I was able to measure how far the surface would need to be “pushed” to make a dramatic effect as it moves.

first-triangle-push

 

 

 

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Prototyping Begins

Before creating a frame for the installation piece, I needed to figure how to physically move the projection surface. After much trial and error (and a long tangent researching and testing “linear actuators” which was expensive and not successful), I decided that an inexpensive servo attached to an arm with a joint would be the best solution. Servos spin, and you can control the angle of rotation, so I simulated a servo in the early prototype stage with a spool of thread:

thread-prototype

 

With this setup I was able to calculate different angles and length of “arms” to get the necessary “push.”  The balsa arms are attached with fishing line so they are flexible, and the plan was to attach the far end to the projection surface.

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Interaction Storyboard

Below are an overview of different potential interaction states for my piece:

storyboard1
storyboard2
storyboard3

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Kinect user tracking

Some early user tracking (and user counting, which will be important in the piece) progress using Processing 2.0, a kinect, and the simple-openni library. Users are tracked and counted, but there are certainly bugs to be fixed.

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Installation Wireframe

An overview of the physical interaction space for the Listen With Your Eyes piece:

installation-wireframeMore details are available in the Wireframe PDF.

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