Just before I left for vacation I got this ADJD-S371 color light sensor form SparkFun. Im back now, my essay has been written, and friends are out of town. What else could I do, I had to work on it again. Well now I have made a little progress. It does something, and here are two videos to prove it.
(added a third that shows it working a little better)
This project should be really beautiful when it is finished.
While you may have thought I died of the flu and was never going coming back… You where wrong. Actually I have been quite well for a few weeks, I just didnt know what to write about. But I have been working on some stuff.
Sonar Sensors are great. In theory that is. In the past they have been way too jumpy for my liking, and for anything I wanted to do. But I had a concept for my internship I wanted to test out, so I needed to clean it up. I created an array (think of it as a box), and every new reading from the sensor I I put in the box. When the box had x amount of readings in it, I would remove the oldest one, and place the newest one. Then I ran a loop that would average (WHY is there no average array function) the array, and used that for the reading. The result was silky smooth. I even managed to surprise my boss with how well it worked. So I created some games based on the idea. Sadly, I cant go into any more detail than that.
Well sadly, it didnt work as well for this jittery accelerometer(they all are) im using. For this You need to use something called a Kalman Filter. This filter is a normalizer for real world electronic noise. I found an example of someone doing exactly what I needed, but written in arduino code, where mine is in actionScprit. I think this is actually a really poor language to try to make one in, but im giving it a shot. The problem right now, is that I am using an analog sensor, and the example was for a digital one. So I need to figure out what range he was converting it to, and adjust mine to be the same. Ill let you know and post it when and if I find it.
RIP RISDpedia, long live Bildr (builder). Im killing off RISDpedia, and starting over with Bildr. I started RISDpedia 2 years ago, and actually learned everything I know about web tech/ programming because of it. So all the concepts are from when I was learning. I figure Im at least 10 times better with interactive code now than I was when I started it. So starting over, I wont have to fix things, just re do them (usually takes less time in my mind). Bildr wont have any information about fine art materials, but instead will be focusing on Design Materials, Design Electronics, and Design Code. So that’s that. Expect to see Bildr in the next few months.
Speaking of interactive code. I just finished the flickr/photo site for my brother. Really nice stuff. I wish I could show it to you, but it is password protected. Ill have to make a copy for you all to see.
This is a 6 channel touch sensor that I soldered a week ago. I was missing a part to see if it worked, but I just got it in. I hooked it up and it works perfectly. I has quite happy. This was the one I soldered that went so well. After hooking it up I took a pic and it just came out so nicely, so I decided it needed a larger pic.
This weekend I have been doing a bit of programming for my Multi-touch table. I gave a presentation on it on tuesday, and I guess people where much more interested in the questions I posed about it than they were with the table. I guess that is a really go thing, because they are the questions Im trying to figure out by making/ using one.
I have been documenting how to make simple multi-touch apps in ActionScript hoping that others will see they can do it too. My dream is that people are able to make much better applications than are already out there. Im really tired of everything just moving around a bunch.
In class I am finishing up an RFID project. I dont think it is the best idea, which is really sad because the infamous Bill Buxton will be there to critique. Sad when a personal hero is there to see not your best work. But I got the short end of the stick in a way.
My RFID project is just a simple box that looks like a stereo. While hosting a party, everyone that comes in would be given a token. They then place the token in this stereo like device and it would add to the music. One may be guitar, another drums, and even some synth or horns could be on that chip. If you dont like how it makes it sound, you just take it out, and that instrument stops playing.
The hard part was finding a way that the songs made would not be repetitive and make it so when you add an instrument it always matches the beat/tempo and plays along with the song, and not against it.
Wish me luck!