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
