Final project - Camila's Site Welcome

꩜꩜꩜ Ideas Ideas Ideas Ideas Ideas ꩜꩜꩜

Idea 2: Hologram Cube

I've been thinking about making a hologram with a photographic plate. A photographic plate is a flat medium capable of recording light interference patterns, enabling the creation of stunning, three-dimensional visuals.

I was thinking about making four sculptures of the same model of a castle and capturing them on four hologram plates. This way, there would be a cube of holographic visuals that can be viewed from all four sides, showcasing variations of the castle as you pass through each hologram plate.

Reference: Watch on YouTube

Sketch

Final Project Render

Idea 2: Blender Addon for 3D Scanning and Castle Modeling

I thought about developing an addon for Blender that will take 3D scans of objects and convert them into hard modeling objects. The goal is to automatically transform scanned data into castle-like structures, which can then be exported as STL files for 3D printing.

Idea 3: Portable Drawing Pad

For this idea, I envision creating a portable drawing pad with a stylus, similar to a Nintendo DS. The device would allow users to draw, color, and save their creations on the go, much like a modern-day Tamagotchi but with the option to create artwork instead of caring for a virtual pet. The idea is to provide an interactive and creative outlet, especially for people who enjoy sketching but need something compact and portable.

To build this, I would 3D print the case for the device, use a tactile screen for drawing, a E-Ink screen as a display, and incorporate electronics to enable the stylus functionality and saving mechanism. To navigate through the saved artwork, the device would feature buttons, allowing users to easily browse through their collection of sketches and doodles.

Some references!

This could become a perfect personal art device for quick sketches, doodles, or even creating full designs while on the move.

I don't want to mess up my timing so I am aiming for this: Spiral

Type of Display

I really enjoy the feel of paper-----> I want to resemble that appearence-----> I'll go with an E-ink Display. ✓

I began researching and gathering information about these types of displays, which I had never worked with before. I noticed that tactile E-ink displays were not widely available, but I knew they existed from my experience with devices like the Kindle and the ReMarkable, which support drawing and sketching.

I came upon this discussion on Reddit where someone pointed out the idea of a two-part E-Ink display. What this means is that while I may not find E-ink displays that are touchscreens themselves, I can use a transparent glass screen overlay and make it communicate with the display.

🏁 So let's head over and reaserch some touchscreens!

I learned that there are two types of technologies for screens that function differently.

Capacitive screens detect touch through changes in the electric field, allowing for multi-touch and offering better durability and clarity. They require conductive input (like fingers) and are common in modern smartphones.

Resistive screens work by pressure; two layers of conductive material make contact when pressed, registering touch. They're cheaper and work with any object, including a stylus, but have lower clarity and are less responsive than capacitive screens.

I find the stylus to be a very important part of this project since it contributes to the enjoyment and general feel of drawing. Which is why I went for the resistive screen.

I chose this one from DigiKey, the TS-TFT3.5Z Touch Screen Overlay with a 4-Wire interface, as you can see in its not so detailed datasheet.

Then I went through this documentation that helped me understand how it actually worked.

This left me with a lot of questions, like; how did I not get the same readings on the X axis if I drew an horizontal line?

Turns out, when measuring X, the exact Y position doesn’t matter—as long as the Y-layer is providing some voltage. The key idea is:

The Y-layer is just acting as a voltage source (creating a gradient from 5V at the top to 0V at the bottom).

The X-layer "picks up" the voltage at the touch point, no matter the height (Y-value).

The Arduino reads this voltage and maps it to an X position.

So, even though you might think, "Wait, isn’t the Y-voltage constant across an X-line?" what actually matters is that the X-layer is using that Y-voltage to figure out where the touch is horizontally.

I went ahead and soldered the connections to wire it up with my Barduino. Then I tried the following Code to get some readings:

void setup() {
    Serial.begin(9600);  // Open serial communication
}

void loop() {
    // Read Y coordinate
    pinMode(A0, INPUT);
    pinMode(A1, INPUT);
    digitalWrite(A0, LOW);
    pinMode(A3, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(A3, HIGH);
    pinMode(A2, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(A2, LOW);
    int y = analogRead(A1);

    // Read X coordinate
    pinMode(A2, INPUT);
    pinMode(A3, INPUT);
    digitalWrite(A2, LOW);
    pinMode(A1, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(A1, HIGH);
    pinMode(A0, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(A0, LOW);
    int x = analogRead(A3);

    // Send the coordinates over Serial
    Serial.print(x);
    Serial.print(",");
    Serial.println(y);

    delay(700); // Smooth drawing
}