Though it was disappointing to me that my project could not come fully together before the 31st, I know that it almost did. There is definitely a satisfaction to having learned and accomplished so much in developing it.
The program I wrote for Processing to control the light is by far the most lengthy program I have ever written. It is not eloquent and there are some inherent limitations to its variability, including the speed of the light and the base size of the pulses/steps. In retrospect, to rewrite it from scratch, I would use a much more object oriented approach. Other things about the program which I am very happy with include the aesthetic behavior and the scalability to different room sizes. A major limitation to the entire projector set up, which I was aware of (stated in my post Timeline Reassessment on April 16th) was the inevitability of the participants shadow sometimes being an obstruction. I have already begun to think of alternatives to using a projector (not necessarily a set up with two servomechanism mounted spotlights either) for a future implementation of the project. Not using fixed projection of a graphic would make my program very different, possibly not using Processing.
With these projector limitations in mind, I was very happy with how my projection in room 109 turned out. The precarious mount I rigged on top of the light panel worked great. So did the wide-angle lens assembly I strapped in front of the projector lens. Plus I now have a lot more experience with lenses (something I actually remained reasonably ignorant of in film school).
I had never soldered anything before, nor read any circuit diagrams, but now I feel a lot more confident in both of these areas. It is still inexplicable why the HRM clicks audibly. I may dissect one over the summer to find out.
One major sinkhole of time on this project had been diagnosing the signal, rediagnosing the signal, building circuits, and rebuilding circuits. If the HRM sounds clear coming over audio, it might not be clear just as a voltage, so in retrospect, I should have hooked up my BT chip and experimented with that much sooner.
The amount of assistance I needed on this project in the electronics/hardware department was much more than I thought I would need, particularly because at the outset I did not think I would need build any circuits at all. I did a lot of hands on learning in this area, but not being capable of doing it independently was frustrating and a drag on the project. A side effect has been my newfound interest in taking the mechatronics series and learning more about interactive electronics for installation pieces (that B term summer class taught by Max and Allison sounds great).
The experience of having dedicated so much of my time and energy to a single project parallels my work on film projects last year. This project organization experience helped me a lot, though I had never had to wrangle so many different aspects of a single project together.
It is nice to be able to step away from my project and to again consider it as a whole rather than as many parts. Because I could not have anyone participate with it as was intended, it can be a little hard to judge whether it would have achieved the effect I was hoping for, but regardless, I found myself considering creative alterations of it. Keeping the project concept pure and minimal, and letting the inevitable biofeedback loop (given a correct pulse step distance) give structure and direction to the experience was important to me all along. I will definitely try to make variations on the fundamental project similarly free from semantic clutter.
Monday, June 4, 2007
Monday, May 28, 2007
Not Likely
I don't think everything will come together for presenting tomorrow at 4:30. I've incorporated serial port data related code (for the HRM to control the light) into the program, but I haven't been able to test the code at all because Processing is not reading data from Arduino yet.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Test Projection
Tonight in Rm. 109 I am testing the ramshackle projector mount and lens assembly unit I made . It covers the floor, with a tolerable level of image distortion around the top. I am going to try and balance it out a little without increasing the payload. As I pour my time in Fremont into getting the circuit to work, this other aspect of my project is almost ready.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Production Phase 2
From the start of my work on Follow Your Heart!, I’ve been fortunate to have a clear idea of how I want the final system to work and the dedication to expend a lot of energy on trying to implement my vision within my time and budget limitations. Every step I take in the development of this project requires me to do research and learn new things, often from disparate fields. When one doesn’t know the terrain in between, charting a course from point A to point B is just a series of best guesses.
As such, the timeline put forth in my concept architecture is an ambitious and under-informed reflection of what I knew about my project on April 17th. I was certainly aware of this at the time of writing, but there was no way around it: I knew there were some things I had to learn before I could know what had to be done and how long it would take. Nonetheless, inaccuracies forgiven, the timeline was useful in keeping me from getting too consumed by work in any one facet of my project to the detriment of the whole.
The biggest difference between the current state of my project and my earlier expectations is also, at this point, my biggest anxiety about the project’s timely completion. I thought getting the heart signal to my program would be easier.
No.
Why is this, the core of the project— the translation of the participant’s heartbeat to the movement of the projected light—not done yet? The device that receives the analog input from the piezo microphone and transmits data wirelessly to the computer (the Arduino BT) needs to receive a clean signal. The Arduino is not an advanced enough piece of technology that it can transmit the full audio from the mic to a computer (It’s cost had me assuming otherwise). Therefore, rather than the audio being filtered in real time by the computer (in software), it must be filtered between the piezo and the Arduino (in hardware, i.e. by a circuit).
One month, 9 trips to Radioshack and many more days in Fremont later, I am still struggling to make an adequate signal emerge from the circuit and I am still determined to get it working before this coming Monday. I sincerely hope my perseverance and patience in this matter will outweigh my frustration and inexperience.
My program that will be projected, a novel written in the language Processing, is now as far as it will go without being modified to accept heartbeat data. The dimensions of the room are adjustable, as is the speed of the light’s movement, and there is new aesthetic behavior to make the light easier to track at a high pulse rate. As I noted in my post on April 16th, the participant’s body will inevitably obstruct the path of the light from the projector to the ground at some times in the experience. Time allowing, I may try and impose a few more movement rules in my program to minimize these occurrences. Realistically, writing and debugging the Arduino code, modifying my Processing program to respond to the Arduino’s feed, and writing a suitable ending for once the participant stops following the light are going to take up all the time left for coding.
Today I have a shipment scheduled that includes a first-surface mirror and another lens (a 90mm negative meniscus to be exact). I have tested a wide-angle camera lens from CARTAH in combination with a big plano-concave lens from Surplus Shed and this has widened my projection to 18ft. width at a throw distance of 9 ft., with a tolerable amount of pincushion distortion. I do not yet know exactly how I will mount the projector, DIY lens adaptor assembly, and mirror. I have thought about it a lot, but I need to test the meniscus and get into Rm. 109 to try different things out, before I know for sure. I might bring in a ladder.
Two important timeline events I have not yet accomplished, but will be forced to relocate respectively as goals for Sunday and Monday due to the time crunch:
1. Build a housing for the Arduino and it’s circuit paraphernalia.
2. Experiment with myself as the participant of a working version and use my experience to adjust the distance of each step accordingly.
This possibly being my penultimate post on Project of 202, I would like to mention that although I can appreciate the development process and will surely use the knowledge I’ve gained (and the equipment) in my future endeavors, I have especially desired to see Follow Your Heart! complete, with everyone enjoying it and hopefully arriving euphoric and exhausted at a place where they may know themselves a little differently. Having believed in it and worked on it as though to do so was an opportunity I might not have again, I’d be very disappointed if I can’t get it together in time.
Good luck to everyone in the week ahead!
As such, the timeline put forth in my concept architecture is an ambitious and under-informed reflection of what I knew about my project on April 17th. I was certainly aware of this at the time of writing, but there was no way around it: I knew there were some things I had to learn before I could know what had to be done and how long it would take. Nonetheless, inaccuracies forgiven, the timeline was useful in keeping me from getting too consumed by work in any one facet of my project to the detriment of the whole.
The biggest difference between the current state of my project and my earlier expectations is also, at this point, my biggest anxiety about the project’s timely completion. I thought getting the heart signal to my program would be easier.
No.
Why is this, the core of the project— the translation of the participant’s heartbeat to the movement of the projected light—not done yet? The device that receives the analog input from the piezo microphone and transmits data wirelessly to the computer (the Arduino BT) needs to receive a clean signal. The Arduino is not an advanced enough piece of technology that it can transmit the full audio from the mic to a computer (It’s cost had me assuming otherwise). Therefore, rather than the audio being filtered in real time by the computer (in software), it must be filtered between the piezo and the Arduino (in hardware, i.e. by a circuit).
One month, 9 trips to Radioshack and many more days in Fremont later, I am still struggling to make an adequate signal emerge from the circuit and I am still determined to get it working before this coming Monday. I sincerely hope my perseverance and patience in this matter will outweigh my frustration and inexperience.
My program that will be projected, a novel written in the language Processing, is now as far as it will go without being modified to accept heartbeat data. The dimensions of the room are adjustable, as is the speed of the light’s movement, and there is new aesthetic behavior to make the light easier to track at a high pulse rate. As I noted in my post on April 16th, the participant’s body will inevitably obstruct the path of the light from the projector to the ground at some times in the experience. Time allowing, I may try and impose a few more movement rules in my program to minimize these occurrences. Realistically, writing and debugging the Arduino code, modifying my Processing program to respond to the Arduino’s feed, and writing a suitable ending for once the participant stops following the light are going to take up all the time left for coding.
Today I have a shipment scheduled that includes a first-surface mirror and another lens (a 90mm negative meniscus to be exact). I have tested a wide-angle camera lens from CARTAH in combination with a big plano-concave lens from Surplus Shed and this has widened my projection to 18ft. width at a throw distance of 9 ft., with a tolerable amount of pincushion distortion. I do not yet know exactly how I will mount the projector, DIY lens adaptor assembly, and mirror. I have thought about it a lot, but I need to test the meniscus and get into Rm. 109 to try different things out, before I know for sure. I might bring in a ladder.
Two important timeline events I have not yet accomplished, but will be forced to relocate respectively as goals for Sunday and Monday due to the time crunch:
1. Build a housing for the Arduino and it’s circuit paraphernalia.
2. Experiment with myself as the participant of a working version and use my experience to adjust the distance of each step accordingly.
This possibly being my penultimate post on Project of 202, I would like to mention that although I can appreciate the development process and will surely use the knowledge I’ve gained (and the equipment) in my future endeavors, I have especially desired to see Follow Your Heart! complete, with everyone enjoying it and hopefully arriving euphoric and exhausted at a place where they may know themselves a little differently. Having believed in it and worked on it as though to do so was an opportunity I might not have again, I’d be very disappointed if I can’t get it together in time.
Good luck to everyone in the week ahead!
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Questionnaire
Though essential technical implementations that the audience is unlikely to have a directly awareness of will consume the bulk of the remaining development time for Follow Your Heart!, some feedback would be appreciated here so that I will be able to judiciously tailor some interface aspects in the coming week:
1. Private or public? Should the participant’s space be closed to the gaze and judgment of spectators while interacting with Follow Your Heart!? I believe limiting the space of experience just to the single participant and their light/heart-avatar will lessen the participant’s inhibitions, increase their willingness to relate to their biofeedback as though it were a separate entity, and make the dark room into an introverted psychological space conducive to self-reflection. If I exhibited outdoors at night, this privacy would not be possible. To maintain a position within the social chasm that separates DDR from labyrinth meditation, would this be okay for my project?
2. Unpredictable or premeditated? Thus far, I have designed my light movement grid for quasi-random isometric motion: each pulse-step either in-line with or 60 degrees to the left or right of the previous step, with equally distributed weighting (1 in 3 chance). There is special behavior around the perimeter to confine the movement area. It has been my hope in working with this design in the limited space available to me, I can maximize the illusion of a space without boundaries (thereby minimizing the participant’s consciousness of anything but the light and it’s movement), and keep the participant on their toes, while not disorienting them. But what about setting an obviously predetermined path? What might be the benefits to using some sort of labyrinthine coil or phases of motion behavior (e.g. zig zags followed by figure eights followed by a cardioid track…)? Consider discrete motion as well: what if the light played keep-away, pulsing in one spot at a room corner, then jumping directly to another corner once the participant nears it?
3. Motivation. To make the participant follow the light, I just plan to provide explicit and simple direction via the project title and possibly a large sign exterior to the room that pictorially equates a heart shape to a circle of light. While I don’t see any fault with delivering unambiguous instruction in three words— “follow the light”— I’m also aware that doing so frames Follow Your Heart! as a kinetic game (also, being outfitted with the polar chest strap before entering a dark room is reminiscent of, say, laser tag). Any thoughts or suggestions about whether providing instructions would detract artistically from my project?
4. Initiation and Termination. How should I start the participant's following the light without it being too abrupt? I feel like I should somehow “introduce” the light to the participant before I have them follow it, but how? The end will be triggered when the participant’s heart rate plateaus/decreases (and possibly this in combination with a near-zero accelerometer reading): I would like the light to return to the participant and orbit them while they catch their breath and reflect, then it could guide them back to the exit. Are there any suggestions for an alternate ending? Would something else be more effective?
Thanks for taking the time to read though these! I look forward to your responses.
1. Private or public? Should the participant’s space be closed to the gaze and judgment of spectators while interacting with Follow Your Heart!? I believe limiting the space of experience just to the single participant and their light/heart-avatar will lessen the participant’s inhibitions, increase their willingness to relate to their biofeedback as though it were a separate entity, and make the dark room into an introverted psychological space conducive to self-reflection. If I exhibited outdoors at night, this privacy would not be possible. To maintain a position within the social chasm that separates DDR from labyrinth meditation, would this be okay for my project?
2. Unpredictable or premeditated? Thus far, I have designed my light movement grid for quasi-random isometric motion: each pulse-step either in-line with or 60 degrees to the left or right of the previous step, with equally distributed weighting (1 in 3 chance). There is special behavior around the perimeter to confine the movement area. It has been my hope in working with this design in the limited space available to me, I can maximize the illusion of a space without boundaries (thereby minimizing the participant’s consciousness of anything but the light and it’s movement), and keep the participant on their toes, while not disorienting them. But what about setting an obviously predetermined path? What might be the benefits to using some sort of labyrinthine coil or phases of motion behavior (e.g. zig zags followed by figure eights followed by a cardioid track…)? Consider discrete motion as well: what if the light played keep-away, pulsing in one spot at a room corner, then jumping directly to another corner once the participant nears it?
3. Motivation. To make the participant follow the light, I just plan to provide explicit and simple direction via the project title and possibly a large sign exterior to the room that pictorially equates a heart shape to a circle of light. While I don’t see any fault with delivering unambiguous instruction in three words— “follow the light”— I’m also aware that doing so frames Follow Your Heart! as a kinetic game (also, being outfitted with the polar chest strap before entering a dark room is reminiscent of, say, laser tag). Any thoughts or suggestions about whether providing instructions would detract artistically from my project?
4. Initiation and Termination. How should I start the participant's following the light without it being too abrupt? I feel like I should somehow “introduce” the light to the participant before I have them follow it, but how? The end will be triggered when the participant’s heart rate plateaus/decreases (and possibly this in combination with a near-zero accelerometer reading): I would like the light to return to the participant and orbit them while they catch their breath and reflect, then it could guide them back to the exit. Are there any suggestions for an alternate ending? Would something else be more effective?
Thanks for taking the time to read though these! I look forward to your responses.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Two Weeks Left
Location:
I've got the OK from CSS to use Rm. 109 or 116 for Follow Your Heart! during 202's normal meeting time on the 29th. However, I can't confirm my use of either room yet, because I still need to run through an adequate test projection.
Short throw projection:
I am now grappling with the difficulty of getting my projection to cover the floor of a room with a relatively low ceiling. I found a not-yet-series of articles on the topic at http://digitalperformance.org/?p=133, which I wish were complete. I have marginalized, though not eliminated the possibility of tiling multiple projectors, instead feeling that constructing a DIY reflective mylar mirror or an assembly of pcv and dcv lenses will be the route I go. Neilsen Enterprises in Kent will be my source if I make a mirror.
Having checked out projectors over the weekend and experimented with putting available lenses in front of the non-removable projector lens (these being a magnifying glass and a educational children's playtoy consisting of a double-concave lens mounted in a big wooden handle), I went ahead and ordered several lenses from a optical supply company. I am sure that even with high quality lenses, there will be lot of image blurring, not to mention dimming. This is not so bad. Actually, it might even enhance the aesthetic of my program. Will it get the image to the correct throw ratio though? We'll see once the lenses come.
If the lense assembly does not work, I will have to do some speedy scouting of outdoor locations on campus to project at night. This would entail mounting the projector on the side of a building and using some corrective slant anamorphosis, either simply by keystoning, or by rewriting the program to to conform to a distorted cartesian grid, and finding a place with few walkway lamps.
The News From Fremont:
The circuit I am building to get the ticking of the polar HRM to the Arduino is running into diagnostic problems. This circuit consists of two stages, both of which are still on the breadboard: the preamp, to get the voltage to adequately use the range over 0-5V and the frequency filter, to let the Arduino just listen to the frequency band close to 5.1 KHz (the frequency the HRM clicks at). Right now, when I send voltage out to an audio cable, it seems to respond fine, but when I read the signal with a multimeter, the behavior doesn't seem at all reliable. This is frustrating. I am really hoping that I can get the HRM talking to the Arduino soon so that I can move on to more coding of my program.
I've got the OK from CSS to use Rm. 109 or 116 for Follow Your Heart! during 202's normal meeting time on the 29th. However, I can't confirm my use of either room yet, because I still need to run through an adequate test projection.
Short throw projection:
I am now grappling with the difficulty of getting my projection to cover the floor of a room with a relatively low ceiling. I found a not-yet-series of articles on the topic at http://digitalperformance.org/?p=133, which I wish were complete. I have marginalized, though not eliminated the possibility of tiling multiple projectors, instead feeling that constructing a DIY reflective mylar mirror or an assembly of pcv and dcv lenses will be the route I go. Neilsen Enterprises
Having checked out projectors over the weekend and experimented with putting available lenses in front of the non-removable projector lens (these being a magnifying glass and a educational children's playtoy consisting of a double-concave lens mounted in a big wooden handle), I went ahead and ordered several lenses from a optical supply company. I am sure that even with high quality lenses, there will be lot of image blurring, not to mention dimming. This is not so bad. Actually, it might even enhance the aesthetic of my program. Will it get the image to the correct throw ratio though? We'll see once the lenses come.
If the lense assembly does not work, I will have to do some speedy scouting of outdoor locations on campus to project at night. This would entail mounting the projector on the side of a building and using some corrective slant anamorphosis, either simply by keystoning, or by rewriting the program to to conform to a distorted cartesian grid, and finding a place with few walkway lamps.
The News From Fremont:
The circuit I am building to get the ticking of the polar HRM to the Arduino is running into diagnostic problems. This circuit consists of two stages, both of which are still on the breadboard: the preamp, to get the voltage to adequately use the range over 0-5V and the frequency filter, to let the Arduino just listen to the frequency band close to 5.1 KHz (the frequency the HRM clicks at). Right now, when I send voltage out to an audio cable, it seems to respond fine, but when I read the signal with a multimeter, the behavior doesn't seem at all reliable. This is frustrating. I am really hoping that I can get the HRM talking to the Arduino soon so that I can move on to more coding of my program.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Full Virus Scan
Since Saturday night my body temperature has been over 100 and I've had headaches, chills, coughing, etc. This has inhibited me from readying my prototype. I would like to be writing more of my program and finding out what specific capacitors and inductors I need to make my resonant bandpass filter. Hopefully I'll make it to class tommorrow.
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