This machine would work in that it holds a brush. When a note is played say on a midi keyboard, this information is translated in terms of time and frequency of the note, as well as its duration, onto a big sheet of paper set on the floor. The machine looks at these factors and translates them onto the paper in whichever assigned color the frequencies corresponds to. A few pots of paint will lay next to the machine that it can reach, as well as one filled with water so the brush can get semi cleaned when switching colors. It would have the capability to move x,y,z. This would enable it to move to the pots of paint and dip the brush in and out of the paint. The x,y and z coordinates would exsist on the brush holder as well as the bit moving the brush and the holder itself. In a sense, it would sort of function as an extreme version of a polargraph. All in all this would be an interactive installation.
The idea for an interactive installation stems from two things.
- One being that I am on a Digital Music and Sound Arts course, and I think art can sometimes be quite boring unless one can interact with it, especially if that interaction is translated live.
- It was inspired by a module on my course: Sound Art - where some of the students on my course had the opposite concept going. You could paint onto a paper and the painting would be translated into music live.
Secondly...
This would be a controller that would ideally be used for games but could be programmed for other functions/have some flexibility. The purpose of this controller would be to link in with my university final project which is a game. The reason for having it as a simple controller is because I do not need too many functions for my game. In the game, players will be able to see little to nothing on the screen. They will need to be able to move around (so they need a joy stick), and a button so they can navigate things like the menu section, but also to interact with things in the environment such as switching on and off a radio, or to "enter" things or "select" them.
I have been looking into some inspirations for remotes style wise and came up with the wii nunchuck and the remote control pictured below. It made me think that having a single hand hheld controller that could be used by both left and right-handed people would be great because it would be universal, but I also wanted the remote to feel confortable in the hand, so making it purely out of wood would not be an option. So I would need to look into what sort of material I wanted to use and where.
I also would ideally like the controller to be unversial in what it could be used with. So not just looking into being able to use the controller for other things than gaming, but that it can be used with any console at all; Xbox, Playstation, Wii etc.
Thirdly...
This is something I've always wanted to have but haven't found a place I trust enough to purcahse from. I feel that by making one myself, I could custumize it as I see fit and well it would be made by me so I would feel very proud and there is always a sense of pride and ownership that comes stronger when it is something self built. See/click on image below to see other inspirations for this idea I had.
This lamp would then come with a few functions:
- Have two capacitive touch senses incorporated
- Turning the lamp on and off - I felt this was nicer than having a button because, well, in my opinion buttons can be lame looking and this way it could be more incorporated into the lamp and look more slick
- Alter the color pattern "packs" displayed which could include yellow, white and then another than displays multiple colors like in the image above.
- Changing colors displayed
This was my favourite idea, but after talking to my instructor he advised that I find something else to do because it was "too simple" to function as a fab academy final project.
And lastly...
The aim here would be to take LEDs and sew them onto a long sleeve shirt. Then using two gyroscopes, my arm movements would control the colors outputted by the data collected by the gyroscopes. This would inturn make dancing a bit more engaging to watch.
The LEDs would be sewn on the inside of the shirt, meaning to do this I would have to have the shirt inside out with the LEDs pressed against the sleeves. This would be the best way because then it will literally be a wearable LED shirt, and it will not or should not restrict movement and the LEDs will be incorporated into the shirt. This means that my movevments should be restricted by the shirt not the LEDs. Having them pressed against the shirt means that you won't see the LEDs so it will look MUCH cleaner, but having a light shirt means that the colors will still be able to shine through.
Below is a shirt I made using the Autodesk Sketchbook app. I made it by getting a shirt picture online, and then drawing colors. As you can see, the left and right arm differ in color. This is because of the two gyroscopes reading different values from both arms to exemplify that each arms movements will produce something different.
Here are some things I found that were inspirational and also gave me some ideas:
LED clothing may be the next big fashion statement
Motion Activated LED Shirt Made with Flora #WearableWednesday
Whilst these are cool and live, the shirt I aim to create will be live and reactive to my movements. Like this guy here!