Dear viewer,
It's been a while since the last update, and a lot has happened since then, so here it goes:
Programming and Technical work
After a couple of weeks of working on the program in AS3, with some help from one of the teachers, we worked it out and got the program working. The first part we had to take care of was how flash would recognise the distances given by the sensors, each having their own id so they could be worked with individually in flash. By sending out a string with a numerical value attached, combined with an easily recognisable starting- and ending-point of a value (set to '$' and '#') and parsing it through various steps in flash, we got the individual Number-variables we needed.
By using if-statements in AS3, connecting them to distances in between certain values and then creating a function in them which would color the certain box and express a certain sound, we got the project working on screen. We also made sure that the color and sound weren't randomly chosen anymore, but were in an array so we can give more control to the user.
Material-wise
After a long time of awaiting the delivery of the cube, we, in consultation with Peter and Paul, decided that we should cancel the order and get the cube at a different store in Eindhoven itself. The cube was delivered early last week, and we could finally start testing on a bigger scale. The beamers were taken care of, having made arrangements for those. The base which the cube would be put on top of had been finished, so we set up the first few parts in the lecture hall, where it was planned to be presented the week after.
Presenting the cube
Early friday-morning, we got the group together and finished up on some of the paperwork. We also tested the project one more time on the screen, seeing as the lecture hall wouldn't be available until that afternoon. This, however, was still using just the hardware we had used the weeks before.
As soon as it was available, we went to the lecture hall and prepared the installation for the presentation that day. After setting everything up and booting the program, we noticed that only part of the setup was still working. We spend the time that was left on trying to solve this issue, but unfortunately it wouldn't work out in total. What we did notice was that the beams really had a better effect being presented in a bigger cube of water.
Fortunately, the cube didn't break down entirely, and we were still able to show a part of it's eventual final form. First explaining our thoughts behind the cube, and why we wanted to express those thoughts using this method, we then showed Peter, Angela and her companion how the cube worked.
Rating the cube
After seeing the project (or at least part of it) in action, Peter was very pleased with the result so far. He liked how we stayed true to our idea the majority of the time, and how we tackled certain issues that came along the way. He also thought of it as an aesthetic project, being really cool to see even without the thoughts behind it.
Angela really liked the thoughts behind the project, and how we put "De stijl" in this modern point of view. She also liked the usage of water to show more of the light itself through the cube. Finally, she could see how in combination with the right environment to expose it in, putting the cube in a dark room using filled with fog, it could really be a very emersive experience.
However, while they could think of how it would look like fully functional, they would actually like to see it working completely at the exhibition next week.
Upcoming week
In the upcoming week, we will fix the for now unknown issues with the cube. We expect it to be a hardware issue, and will test the different parts seperately to determine the point of failure. We will then set up the cube in the lecture hall again, and expose it to Angela, our teachers and the other project groups working for Baltan, as well as for other companies.
Yours sincerely,
Fontys Baltan Group 3 2011
zondag 19 juni 2011
vrijdag 20 mei 2011
Progressing in Flash + materials
Dear viewer,
A quick update on our further progression through our Baltan-project.
Programming and Technical work
We went through different options of programming in AS3, and think we've figured out how we will be able to make it work.
Having figured out the set-up for the ping-meters, we now have to start programming the actual working heart 'within' the cube. Our idea is to work in different lines of squares, 3 on each side, which will be controlled by individual ping-meters.
Measuring the distance between the sensor and the hand of the user, it will determinate which square should be enlightened with one of the random colors. Using arrays, random-functions and booleans, we can gain full control using Flash. Using a part of a former project from one of the groupmembers, we already made a step using the ping-meter.
Material-wise
We made arrangements with Lennart considering the usage of 6 ping-meters. We are also awaiting the delivery of the actual cube, fully made out of glass. One thing we still have to take care of is the beamers needed for projecting the actual beams. We will speak to Peter about this issue, but we think it shouldn't be a problem to have them available.
Upcoming week
During the weekend we will work on the actionscript-code, and we will try to arrange a workspace to build and test our set-up. We arranged a backup room to start testing, but the sooner the better.
Yours Sincerely,
Fontys Baltan Group 3 2011
A quick update on our further progression through our Baltan-project.
Programming and Technical work
We went through different options of programming in AS3, and think we've figured out how we will be able to make it work.
Having figured out the set-up for the ping-meters, we now have to start programming the actual working heart 'within' the cube. Our idea is to work in different lines of squares, 3 on each side, which will be controlled by individual ping-meters.
Measuring the distance between the sensor and the hand of the user, it will determinate which square should be enlightened with one of the random colors. Using arrays, random-functions and booleans, we can gain full control using Flash. Using a part of a former project from one of the groupmembers, we already made a step using the ping-meter.
Material-wise
We made arrangements with Lennart considering the usage of 6 ping-meters. We are also awaiting the delivery of the actual cube, fully made out of glass. One thing we still have to take care of is the beamers needed for projecting the actual beams. We will speak to Peter about this issue, but we think it shouldn't be a problem to have them available.
Upcoming week
During the weekend we will work on the actionscript-code, and we will try to arrange a workspace to build and test our set-up. We arranged a backup room to start testing, but the sooner the better.
Yours Sincerely,
Fontys Baltan Group 3 2011
vrijdag 29 april 2011
Week 5-6-7-8: Along with the ideas
Hello dear viewer,
During the past weeks we've tried to think of something concrete for our project. Using the principles of "De Stijl" and especially the aspects of the painting by Piet Mondriaan, we wanted to create an emersive and interactive experience.
After a presentation at the "Van Abbe Museum" we had a lot of positive feedback about the way we were heading with the project. One of the key point was that we had to think of the "Why?" behind the project alot. A big part of this side, for us, was the principles of the painting itself. Angela wanted us to add our own twist to the concept.
The Cube
After a lot of brainstorming and figuring out how we could give a better and maybe easier realisable twist to our project, we came up with the cube. We went a bit more into the further details and prepared the concept to show it to our teachers. They were both really enthousiastic about is, which ofcourse pleased us.
The cube would be a cube made of glass or another material to that extent and filled with smoke/water/another substance. By using beamers from different sides we could project beams through the cube, creating a 3d mondriaan idea.
We made a presentation for this concept, and Angela agreed with it, still emphasising that the story behind our project should be solid and believable.
Here is a link to the presentation
When we discussed the project with teachers at Fontys, they though the project wouldn't work out, visually as well as economically. After testing a small and early version of the project however, we found out that with a bit of tweaking and using cheap methods like ping-meters with arduino's, the project should be manageable.
We met with Angela and she was very enthousiastic about what she had seen so far. There are still a lot of possibilities to further improve the experience of visitors, like using smoke in the room around the cube to make the beams go through the entire room. This would emphasise the infinity of the beams, which is also present in the painting by Piet Mondriaan. Angela will try to arrange a separate room for us to work on our project, where we could test the changes we would make right away.
The time has come to start building on our physical artwork. We will start with a list of required materials to start building the cube and install the beamers in the right position. Using AS 3.0, we should be able to read the signals of arduino ping-meters, and therefore make the artwork interactive.
We will keep you up-to-date with further progress as we move on. We got a holiday-week coming up now, so we will start the construction and programming progress in 2 weeks.
Yours sincerely,
Fontys Baltan Group 3 2011
During the past weeks we've tried to think of something concrete for our project. Using the principles of "De Stijl" and especially the aspects of the painting by Piet Mondriaan, we wanted to create an emersive and interactive experience.
After a presentation at the "Van Abbe Museum" we had a lot of positive feedback about the way we were heading with the project. One of the key point was that we had to think of the "Why?" behind the project alot. A big part of this side, for us, was the principles of the painting itself. Angela wanted us to add our own twist to the concept.
The Cube
After a lot of brainstorming and figuring out how we could give a better and maybe easier realisable twist to our project, we came up with the cube. We went a bit more into the further details and prepared the concept to show it to our teachers. They were both really enthousiastic about is, which ofcourse pleased us.
The cube would be a cube made of glass or another material to that extent and filled with smoke/water/another substance. By using beamers from different sides we could project beams through the cube, creating a 3d mondriaan idea.
We made a presentation for this concept, and Angela agreed with it, still emphasising that the story behind our project should be solid and believable.
Here is a link to the presentation
When we discussed the project with teachers at Fontys, they though the project wouldn't work out, visually as well as economically. After testing a small and early version of the project however, we found out that with a bit of tweaking and using cheap methods like ping-meters with arduino's, the project should be manageable.
We met with Angela and she was very enthousiastic about what she had seen so far. There are still a lot of possibilities to further improve the experience of visitors, like using smoke in the room around the cube to make the beams go through the entire room. This would emphasise the infinity of the beams, which is also present in the painting by Piet Mondriaan. Angela will try to arrange a separate room for us to work on our project, where we could test the changes we would make right away.
The time has come to start building on our physical artwork. We will start with a list of required materials to start building the cube and install the beamers in the right position. Using AS 3.0, we should be able to read the signals of arduino ping-meters, and therefore make the artwork interactive.
We will keep you up-to-date with further progress as we move on. We got a holiday-week coming up now, so we will start the construction and programming progress in 2 weeks.
Yours sincerely,
Fontys Baltan Group 3 2011
Week 3-4: Brainstorms
Hello dear viewer,
Week 3
During this week we brainstormed for several options to create something for the second assignment: "The Antisublime".
We went to a smaller room in our school-building and made use of the whiteboard over there.
Here is a picture of the whiteboard with brainstorm.
One of our ideas was to make use of a water-tank to display the invisible weight of people passing by. We noticed that we were thinking about possible techniques for realisation way too early, as we were told not to think about that aspect just yet.
Eventually we thought of creating a sort of sine in the watertank, displaying the sound people would make in front of the tank. This would be an interactive piece of work.
Below is a video of a simple animation which we made to explain the concept a bit further to our teachers.
The water bubbles would be created by compressing air into the tank in a time and place specific patern.
Right before the conversation with our teachers, another concept came to mind. The idea was to make sound from a certain direction and someone's presence visible through different pieces of "blankets" being formed into a cube within a room.
On the back of these pieces several beamers would project light, whom's colour and intensity would depend on the volume and tone of sound. The lights would move alongside the person within the room, creating a spectacular patern on the sides.
Unfortunately, we do not have any visual appearance of this concept.
Week 4
During this week we became more and more interested in the first assignment, considering "De Stijl". We wanted to create a new, more advanced way of looking at a painting by the artist Piet Mondriaan.
Focussing on the painting, which was made of only 90 degrees corners and the basic colors white, blue, red and yellow, we started coming up with ideas.
Our first plan was to show the painting on a wall, being 3d, so that the person could emerge into the painting.
Our second idea had our preference though. We would create a floor which would light up in colors and patterns of the mondriaan painting, projecting the colors onto the floors and adding different kinds of effect to it.
You can view the document here
Yours Sincerely,
Fontys Baltan Group 3 2011
Week 3
During this week we brainstormed for several options to create something for the second assignment: "The Antisublime".
We went to a smaller room in our school-building and made use of the whiteboard over there.
Here is a picture of the whiteboard with brainstorm.
One of our ideas was to make use of a water-tank to display the invisible weight of people passing by. We noticed that we were thinking about possible techniques for realisation way too early, as we were told not to think about that aspect just yet.
Eventually we thought of creating a sort of sine in the watertank, displaying the sound people would make in front of the tank. This would be an interactive piece of work.
Below is a video of a simple animation which we made to explain the concept a bit further to our teachers.
The water bubbles would be created by compressing air into the tank in a time and place specific patern.
Right before the conversation with our teachers, another concept came to mind. The idea was to make sound from a certain direction and someone's presence visible through different pieces of "blankets" being formed into a cube within a room.
On the back of these pieces several beamers would project light, whom's colour and intensity would depend on the volume and tone of sound. The lights would move alongside the person within the room, creating a spectacular patern on the sides.
Unfortunately, we do not have any visual appearance of this concept.
Week 4
During this week we became more and more interested in the first assignment, considering "De Stijl". We wanted to create a new, more advanced way of looking at a painting by the artist Piet Mondriaan.
Focussing on the painting, which was made of only 90 degrees corners and the basic colors white, blue, red and yellow, we started coming up with ideas.
Our first plan was to show the painting on a wall, being 3d, so that the person could emerge into the painting.
Our second idea had our preference though. We would create a floor which would light up in colors and patterns of the mondriaan painting, projecting the colors onto the floors and adding different kinds of effect to it.
You can view the document here
Yours Sincerely,
Fontys Baltan Group 3 2011
Week 1-2: The assignments
Hello dear viewer,
In this blogpost we describe our first 2 weeks in the project
Week 1
During our first week of the project we met with our colleague-students of the group.
At first, we made a list of rules considering the basic ways of behaviour during the project. With a yellow and red card system we will maintain the right attitude from everyone within the project.
We found out that we were all students following the course "ICT & Media Design", meaning that we should all watch out for overextended use of complicated techniques.
However, we were all willing to learn on this aspect of the minor "Lifestyle".
We also Received a document containing the mail-correspondence between Peter Verbeek, our assisting teacher from Fontys, and Angela Plohman, Director of Baltan Laboratories.
Here you can find the document
Week 2
Following up, during the second week, we got the descriptions for 2 assignments from which we could choose.
The first assignment was one describing an idea around "De Stijl".
Here you can find a picture of the document.
The second assigment was about "The Antisublime" by Lev Manovich.
Here you can find a picture of the document.
Our first preference lay with the second assignment, making the invisible visible
in a stylish way. We will keep you posted with any further progress.
Yours sincerely,
Fontys Baltan Group 3 2011
In this blogpost we describe our first 2 weeks in the project
Week 1
During our first week of the project we met with our colleague-students of the group.
At first, we made a list of rules considering the basic ways of behaviour during the project. With a yellow and red card system we will maintain the right attitude from everyone within the project.
We found out that we were all students following the course "ICT & Media Design", meaning that we should all watch out for overextended use of complicated techniques.
However, we were all willing to learn on this aspect of the minor "Lifestyle".
We also Received a document containing the mail-correspondence between Peter Verbeek, our assisting teacher from Fontys, and Angela Plohman, Director of Baltan Laboratories.
Here you can find the document
Week 2
Following up, during the second week, we got the descriptions for 2 assignments from which we could choose.
The first assignment was one describing an idea around "De Stijl".
Here you can find a picture of the document.
The second assigment was about "The Antisublime" by Lev Manovich.
Here you can find a picture of the document.
Our first preference lay with the second assignment, making the invisible visible
in a stylish way. We will keep you posted with any further progress.
Yours sincerely,
Fontys Baltan Group 3 2011
Welcome to our Baltan Project
Hello dear viewer,
As a group of students studying at Fontys Hogescholen ICT in Eindhoven, we will keep you up to date with our latest progress using this blog. Over here you can find reports about brainstorms, meetings and technical + visual progress of the project.
We will also post reports about presentations and the feedback related to these presentations.
Yours sincerely,
Fontys Baltan Group 3 2011
As a group of students studying at Fontys Hogescholen ICT in Eindhoven, we will keep you up to date with our latest progress using this blog. Over here you can find reports about brainstorms, meetings and technical + visual progress of the project.
We will also post reports about presentations and the feedback related to these presentations.
Yours sincerely,
Fontys Baltan Group 3 2011
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