LAME

Element

acromosh — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 00:12:58 +0000

I have just returned from Taipei where I created this interactive projection performance work. I used a camera with IR pass filter as vision input and then applied a few different techniques to create these visuals in real-time.

Hardware used
Laptop
Intel core2duo 2.6 ghz
4gig RAM
Nvidia GeForce 8600M GS 512MB
Input – Kworld DVD Maker 2.0 USB
Camera – CCTV cam with IR pass filter.

Enjoy!

http://vimeo.com/16788071

http://vimeo.com/16788160

PCB Etching – First Attempt

acromosh — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 11:13:21 +0000

This is my first ever attempt at etching a pcb. My project is to connect a sparkfun adxl322 +/-2g accelerometer to the Analog inputs on an Xbee pro unit. The circuit is quite simple with a switch, a 3v watch battery, xbee unit and the adxl322.

Although the PCB in the pictures is pretty lame I hope to refine the process to produce better results in the coming days.

I bought a pcb etching kit from Jaycar electronics which seems to me to be pretty decent value.

First of all I designed my circuit with a free(ish) and very easy to use program called Pad2Pad which although is free to download, they do expect that you order your boards from them (very expensive). Their program is good so I wont complain.

Next…

I went down to my local printing place and got my design printed on a sheet of overhead projector transparency. Although it’s a black image apparently you can get darker toner coverage if you get a colour print rather than a straight up black and white print.

And then…

Clean your blank boards. Make sure you wash and dry all boards then scrub the copper with iron wool and then clean them again.

and then…

I used an iron on the “wool” setting to transfer the toner onto the blank board. Place the transparency (toner down) onto your black board then place a piece of baking paper on top. Iron the baking paper to transfer the toner. Experiement with times and heat settings to get a good transfer.

then..

Mix the etchant. I used the prescribed etchant to water ratio printed on the sachet but it took ages. You may want to make a little stronger.

Once the extra copper is completely gone from the board carefully take it out of the etching bath with your tweesers and proceed to wash your board. You can safely scrub all the toner from your design.

Again from Jaycar I bought a rotary toolkit and appropriate drill bits (0.8mm and 1.omm) to drill the holes.

Future..

I’m planning tomorrow to iron on multiple toner transparancies to get better toner coverage.

FTIR – multi-touch

acromosh — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 06:37:23 +0000

Here’s video of the FTIR screen that i made a few months back. It’s surprised me as to how easy it was to build and get working. The hard bit (and it is complicated) is to interpret the blobs on screen and make them do something interesting [i'm yet to achieve this ] Currently i’m using a mixture of reactivision / Max/msp / Touch designer FTE to interpret and manipulate the data. I’ll upload code and patches in the coming weeks.

Enjoy!!==

Subject to change

acromosh — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:52:33 +0000

“Most companies would call themselves innovative and would claim they’re delivering an above-average service to their customers. Yet, their customers opinions might differ. If you drill a company on their innovation practices, they would probably mention two approaches they employ: 1. Their research department meets with target groups, compiles presentations for the upper management, which then occasionally hands those reports over to the development department. 2. Their research or marketing department comes up with competitive matrix of the products available from competition. In a meeting then, executives see that their product is missing a feature, and hence the development department is assigned the task of adding ‘an Internet-enabled installer’ to the product, since everybody else offers them, thereby creating market expectations.” subject to change by - Peter Merholz, Todd Wilkens, Brandon Schauer, David Verba

you suck until further notice

acromosh — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 19:30:30 +0000

Yo. here in London checking out southbank and the tate modern found a space invader piece right next to a cctv cam on the soutwark brdge. It made me think of you suck until further notice. check it.

You Suck Until Further Notice

It’s gonna take a long time before we even acknowledge your existence, even longer before we can bear to look at that foul scribble you call your name. To speed the process of acceptance, you can A) Choose a clever name that defies the norm of simple-minded slang. An example of a good name is “ARGUE” (RIP). It looks good when written, sounds cool when spoken, and conveys a combattive attitude. On the other hand, “ENEMA” (actual name) looks, sounds, and conveys a shitty attitude. BE CHOOSY. B ) Use paint, gain a thorough knowledge of supplies, remember that permission walls, stickers, and dust tags are small parts of a balanced diet, be bold, learn a style of writing for every occassion,and write your name bigger every time you go out.

Jealousy is a diesease for the weak.

Your heart is your greatest possession, dont let it get taken from you.

Dont write on houses of worship, people’s houses in general, other writer’s names, and tombstones. Writing on memorial walls and cars is beef beyond belief. Furthermore, involving civilians in your beef is grounds for dismissal. These are are the five fingers of your right hand. Get to know them well. Give soul claps, firm handshakes, and throw smooth bolo punches.

Although being a toy seems undesirable, you should enjoy it while you can. At this stage you can bite all you want with no remorse. All your elders will say is, ” Awww isn’t that cute, kootchie kootchie koo.” So steal that dope connection, rob that color scheme. and loot whole letterforms. Dont worry about giving any credit, we’ll pat ourselves on the back and brag how we’re influencing the next generation. However, style isnt a crutch or a schtick. It is understanding why that connection you bit flows, or why that color scheme bumps. Style is the process to an appealing end. Once you got it down to a science, you can reinvent letterforms to suit yourself. This creative growth will amaze the old and young alike. Pretty soon somebody will steal your secret sauce and the cycle will be renewed. If this happens to you, don’t bitch about not getting your due. Graffiti is the language of the ignored. If your style is stolen, someone heard you speaking. You got what you wanted from the beginning, some attention, you big baby.

It must be noted that the vandal squad loves graffiti. Their job requires them to fiend for graff as much as you do. When you wreck enough walls, they’ll want to meet you. Just like the ball huggers outside the graff shop, they’ll recite every spot you hit, with the difference being you’ll also hear the Miranda Warning. To postpone this, go solo as much as possible. Dont write with anyone that wont fight for you. Don’t be paranoid, but be careful. If you avoid writing on pristine properties, you’ll stay in misdemeanor territory, and you wont divert the cops’ attention from pastry and caffiene consumption (consult local laws to be sure). Remember, if they didn’t see you do it, it’s almost impossible for them to win a conviction without your own damming testimony. Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! Giving a cop info on another writer will doom you to a life of ridicule, from cops and kids alike, with no parole.

There’s nothing wrong with knowing your the shit as long as you are. But once you reach that conclusion, your one foot over the edge of falling off. Watch your step fathead, there’s no shortage of people chanting, “JUMP JUMP JUMP!” There are plenty of writers that have been painting well for the better part of 20 years, and your posing and fronting looks retarded next to them. Get back to work, you “never was” slouch. In conclusion, graffiti is free, impresses the girls, is heroic in our couch potato culture, will provide you with a million stories to tell at parties, and a sure cure for the inner-city blues. If it’s not fun, you’re doing it wrong or have been doing it too long. So get going, fame awaits the fly among you.

by Mark surface

Xbee modules between Max/MSP patches

acromosh — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 09:34:02 +0000

It’s been quite a few months since I first ordered my xbee modules and today I finally had a little time to plug them in and do some testing. To my surprise it was a fairly simple task to get them to send and receive messages between two notebooks using maxstream’s X-CTU program. X-CTU is a tool made for programming and updating xbee modules it also comes with a terminal which comes in handy at times. Getting the xbee’s talking in Max/MSP seemed to be a sinch as well. You simply need to set up a serial send and receive patch and there you have it, small and fast wireless solutions. Here’s a short video of what I did today and you can download the max patches that I used for this demo. I can’t really see a practical purpose in using xbee modules in this way but it seemed to me to be a good starting point to get my xbee projects started.

Check out the video

download demo patches
send patch receive patch

My aim for the future is to create a wearable system for choreography using these small xbee modules. Rob Faludi has an Xbee direct blog entry that I hope to get going in the next few weeks.

http://del.icio.us/

acromosh — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:55:18 +0000

del.icio.us is a site that you can store all of your bookmarks in. It comes with a firefox extension to make it pretty easy. When you format your hard drive you don’t loose your bookmarks!! my page

555 TIMER MADNESS – my new breadboard.

acromosh — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:41:54 +0000

the other day i bought a breadboard with the aim of doing some serious learning about electronics. After a few failed attempts tonight i managed to complete a working 555 timer circuit that switches between 2 different coloured LED’s. I knows it’s a fairly minor feet but it’s a fairly exciting start none the less. The circuit involves a capacitor that is alternately charged and discharged to control the 555IC between +9v and -9v on the rail. YAY… in other exciting news I made (on my new breadboard of course) an accurate to +-100mv a 5vDC voltage regulator circuit which involves capacitors, transistors and lots of other fun stuff. Here’s the photo’s of my breadboard exploits.

Electro Graf

acromosh — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 04:42:22 +0000

On tuesday i started to make an electro-graf peice. Although James had already said that electro graf was probably not worth it, i decided to go ahead. So I bought a circuit writer pen from jaycar and started writing. It worked pretty well until i realised that the strips didn’t really take that much current. So I had made each letter a different circuit and voila!!! IAD electro graf.

GRL workshop

acromosh — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:36:14 +0000

This week I’ve been involved in a workshop with the guys from graffiti research lab evan and james. It’s been pretty cool so far, we’ve videos on graf writing, made throwies and are in the process of constructing a laser tag 3 wheel bike/broadcasting station.

They have a film out that recently screened at sundance. they have released the DVD ISO torrent on the net which you download here.

Some other links we’ve been shown.
instructables
lessemf
Q-branch instructables user