· Lecture 16: Implications & Applications

Lecture 16: May 8, 2013

Assignment:
Plan and document a final project that integrates the range of units covered:
what will it do?
who's done what beforehand?
what materials and components will be required?
where will they come from?
how much will it cost?
what parts and systems will be made?
what processes will be used?
what tasks need to be completed?
what questions need to be answered?
what is the schedule?
how will it be evaluated?

In addition the following constraints were given on class-mail from Anna Kaziunas (Global Dean and director of AS220.org):

Lecture Notes:

What I will do:

I will make an analog interface to control the color of DMX controlled lighting fixtures

The purpose is to let people who are more artistically inclined, easily control programmable RGB color LED Lights. These lights, used in both concert and theatrical settings, are normally controlled by programming a DMX controller which has a number of buttons and sliders to control the color and intensity of the lights. The DMX protocol (actually DMX512)- which stands for "Digital MultipleX, is a subset of the EIA-485 protocol (that protocol describes the electrical signals). Each light is set to a specific adress and all lights are daisychained from the controller which sends control sequences down the line.

The protocol is described in short here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMX512, and in great! detail here: http://www.dmx512-online.com/

My controller - rather than using programming - will use live analog or prerecorded input in the form of paint or painted areas, which will be read by a color sensor, interpreted by a microcontroller, conditioned in software to conform with the RGB signals of the DMX lights and finally sent over DMX512 protocol to be output by the LED lights connected to it. So painting or "grabbing" an already painted color - will be reproduced by its chromacity/color and brightness by the connected lights.

I haven't been able to find a single example of this done already - which is a bit odd. But then - this conclusion is based solely on negative evidence.

For the project, I'll need to come up with an enclosure with a means of attaching a color sensor as well as hold the electronics. The electronics will have to be able to take the output of the chosen color sensor and condition it to a DMX512 compatible signal which can be send to connected LED lights.

I will need to cut a chassis in perspex/acrylic on the laser cutter. Probably using tabs and a few t-slots for holding things together in a live/scene environment. I will need to design a holder for the sensor. I also need to design a circuit to grab the sensor data and program it to condition the values before sending out the result as a DMX512 compatible signal to the RGB LED lights connected to the device.

So the processes I will use incorporates 2D and 3D design, electronic design and circuit layout, milling PCBs, stuffing them as well as testing. I will use computer controlled machining (laser cutting) to realise the chassis and 3D printing for the necessary fittings. So basically touching most of the Fablab processes we have learned at Fab Academy.

The materials I will use are mostly from the fab inventory - the acrylic and most of the electronic components. The only departure from this is the color sensor itself - since I need a precise way of grabbing the colors of the "light designer". Small fixtures will be printed in PLA. For prototyping I will use an Arduino which I already own - as well as an Arduino DMX shield. These items will save time during development eventhough they are not part of the final equipment. Besides these I will need a single DMX controlled light for testing.

Costs of the project will be around 60 dollars in total including costs of the electronics components from the inventory - a rough estimate at this time.

The success criteria for the project has to be a working version 1.0 - which can grap prepainted colors and send them to a DMX fixture. Besides this - I hope for the device to be rather selfexplanatory in use by chosing easily recognizable design metaphors.

I will make plans freely available for the "finished" version as well as for the "Post Fab Academy Version" I intend to make after completion. So no business plan will be developed. I am happier without any money any way.