concept
My concept for this final project is to create a trance like digital sculpture that reflects upon escapism and the journey of leaving the real world to find oneself. Following my project description, “no // name is a transcendental look into the possibilities of perception that escape our daily cognizance. It simulates the presence of the elements in our daily livers to uncover what lies beyond our everyday patterns of thinking. These elements are not of physical nature, but rather the flow of experience and impermeable temper of time. Feel free to experience the immersive sound, sculpture, and light exhibition as an escape from your daily routine. Behold from it the meanings in which you desire and trespass on your unconscious self.”
coding
My project used a combination of both Max / MSP and Arduino. The values of detecting a hand within the portal were measured in the Arduino using the NewPing library in conjunction with the ultrasonic ranger. Due to the instability of the ultrasonic ranger, I had to setup a function that took the average of every set number of readings. This made sure that the motor wouldn’t randomly stop if the ultrasonic ranger decided to randomly spit out a 0 value. Once I had a stable number of values coming from the sensor I then established an if, else function that would Serial Print the values of 1 or 0 based on whether of nor the ultrasonic ranger detected values inside the desired range.
The serial printing of the values of 1 and 0 will turn the motor on and off based on the hand being inside or out of the ultrasonic ranger’s desired range. I was then able to, inside of Max / MSP connect it to the serial monitor in order to grab these values.
Whether or not the value was 1 or 0 was able to control the lightness value of a husalir module, which would turn up the lightness to 100% when the ultrasonic ranger sent out the 1 value, and would turn down the lightness to 0% when the value was 0. This way, I was able to make my Max animation appear and disappear with the movement of one’s hand.
physical components
My project contained quite a few physical components. I had a flat circular laser cut base for the ultrasonic ranger “portal”. Then for the circular portal where I wanted people to place their hands inside of, I modeled a 3d portal in Rhino and printed that using the Ultimaker Cura. Because my model was actually bigger than the dimensions of the machine, I ended up having to split the model in half and print it into two parts, and then super glue it together after. This actually turned out to be a positive challenge because I had the opportunity to test out the size of the holes for the ultrasonic sensor before waiting for the entire model to be printed out.
For my sculptural portion of the project, I used the same DC motor, motor mount, and motor collar as my midterm project as they had worked perfectly for me from before. I did have to change out the screw in my motor collar as it had worn out from the previous use. I was able to glue the motor mount to the pedestal as I didn’t want to ruin the minimalistic aesthetic by drilling it into a wooden plank. I then screwed the motor collar into a plastic disc which I then was able to superglue my sculpture into.
My sculpture consisted of 3 plexiglass pyramids that I bought off of Taobao. Two smaller ones that were placed on either side of the large middle one, which was connected to the DC Motor. The two smaller ones are reflecting on my take on the repetition aspect of the final, while the middle one is doing all the magic.
execution
My execution for the IMA show went fairly smooth. I had to tape all of the boards and wires down in order to prevent any tripping hazards. I also decided to use the reflective materials from my previous project as a drape to cover up wires and increase the aesthetic value of the project. My friend Bobby had created a very experimental music piece which I was able to play over the speakers to add to the atmosphere.
I also used a fog machine which I bought off of Taobao. I had originally planned to have it connected to the ultrasonic rangers, however due to the constraints of public safety, I realized if I had it turn on every time someone placed their hand inside the portal, the smoke might become too thick. Therefore, I relied on the remote control that came with the machine in order to keep the fog at a good level for my project, and to also not disturb the other projects.
One final last minute I changed was stuffing some of my previous reflective material into the middle period. By doing this, I was able to cover up some glue residue to increase the aesthetic while also creating an interesting shadow effect in combination with the animations projected on the screen.
feedback
I always love taking part into the IMA Show. There was one big roadblock that presented itself at the start of the show which was that the lights were to be kept on in the room. This felt pretty disheartening as my piece was made for a dark room and also a bit unfair as if there is a piece that needs light and one that needs dark, leaving the lights on seems fairly like picking a side. I pushed these thoughts away and presented my project as normal, and I believe it still had much of the similar affect on my audience.
A couple of things I noticed. I’m not sure if the music wasn’t loud enough or if it needed to be connected to the project more, however most people didn’t connect it as to part of the project. I feel that I could have connected the audio to the animations a bit better in order for the audience to mentally connect the two elements together.
Also, I want to make it a bit more obvious that the portal should be interacted with. I thought it wasn’t totally obvious but still something people would experiment with but apparently my audience isn’t as intuitive as I had expected. I will think of ways to improve this in the next version of this project.
Some of my biggest feedback was regarding the portal and it felt that most people wanted to interact with it a bit more. They not only wanted to have their hand detected, but also wanted to move their hand up and down to change something within the animations. Due to the instability of the ultrasonic ranger, I had not gotten to accomplishing this level of coding, however I definitely think it is possible with more time to find a stable way to measure the hand and position with an effect on the visuals.
Mentioned by Inmi is something that I also want to improve on the next version of this project, that is to have a greater variation in the animations. I totally wish I had spent more time on the animations because they are a big portion of the visual experience. When spending time on Arduino, Max, animations, modeling, 3d printing, sound, motors, etc. it gets hard to give a super big focus when the project has many pieces working together, however I definitely want to improve the projections for the future.
reflection
Overall, the IMA show was a very refreshing experience and the feedback and praise I received was heartwarming. Having people come back multiple times to bring their friends to see my project made it really cool to see how my project affected some of my classmates. I hope that I can continue this trend and make more projects that bring people happiness and excitement.
At the end of the show I was able to get some really nice documentation pics and photos and I believe this project is a great milestone in the combination of all of my talents learned in IMA so far.
I am already inspired for my next project. I have some interesting ideas of taking many of portals and putting them in a circle that I am standing in the middle of. Each portal will be attached to a different projector and I can play the music / projectors by using this large instrument made of ultrasonic sensors. This will upgrade the exhibition into a live performance, which is my calling.
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