Here’s a simple example for connecting a PhidgetInterfaceKit 8/8/8 to a computer, using Processing.
You will need to download the phidget21.jar package from the phidgets website, find it in the ‘Programming’ section in the java examples section. Once downloaded, just use Sketch>Add File… to add the file to your sketch. Connect via USB and you’re ready to go. I’ve labelled variables based on the sensors I was using, feel free to reassign and use as you will;… Read more
I’m currently preparing for a short piece of processing tutoring in the Bachelor of Architecture course, commencing tomorrow. The course is a 1st year construction subject, in which the year group is designing modular structures from found objects (read; whatever they can find in large amounts at Reverse Garbage), with a 12-15 unsuspecting students are going to be shown the slippery slope that is processing, all in the aim of augmenting small construction projects with responsive elements.I’ve used the standard phidget servo motors with max/msp before, but I’ve decided to switch focus to processing so such solutions will no longer suffice. There are some benefits to not using max/msp in the university context;
To this end I’ve enjoyed the processing learning curve, there’s been more than enough learning resources available online and in book form, so I’m definitely pushing for its’ inclusion in the syllabus in the arch. faculty. Anthony Burke has been teaching processing in the master of architecture course this semester (with assistance from the computation whiz-kid Ben Coorey), so along with the arduino hardware the transition from proprietary to open-source projects is well under way in the DAB.So to proceed with the real agenda of this post, I was searching for simple code to interface with the PhidgetServo motor output units we’ve been using, this time working in processing. I couldn’t find any decent examples online so had to cobble together one myself.Read on for more;… Read more
Linked below are some early results from a new series of sketches I’ve been working on using Processing. These sketches continue in a long line of projects I’ve completed recently using simple camera tracking algorithms to infer interesting patterns of movement in urban spaces.The first example is a calibrated blob tracking experiment, using the excellent and very well documented OpenCV library for processing. A few simple modifications to the setup parameters allow for a very customisable tool, able to withstand many of the constraints live webcam installs can throw up. I’ve tested this in a number of places (my bedroom wall, lit by a single lamp tends to be the best contrast) and will have more to say on the nature of live webcam video in the future.
OpenCV blob tracking – calibrated from Jason McDermott on Vimeo.
The second example is a first attempt at combining the live blob tracking with the wonderfully funky and playful MSA Fluid library also for processing. This lib is geared towards touch screen interfaces and screen based mouse interactivity – but I immediately thought it would be the perfect partner for my webcam based projects (or even accelerometer/phidget/slider/midi sensor data). It wasn’t very difficult to swap out the mousex/pmousex variables for centroid x/y data, so the first test has been deemed a success. I showed this yesterday to Frank/Ale/Amy/george/anyone who would stop for more than 2 minutes in the interactivation studio and it was a big hit 
OpenCV + MSA Fluid (Processing) from Jason McDermott on Vimeo.
The third example is significant for a couple of reasons – it is another combination this time using recorded video of an actual installation space (filtration fields / DAB courtyard) thus requiring another version of the calibration – but also my first experiments in putting together an arrayed interface between the blobs and the fluid.To explain further; Firstly it’s easy to switch out the mouse for ‘something else’ and inferring movement velocity for a single object/blob is simple. Secondly I wasn’t so sure about the way to apply this singular blob mousex/pmousex-esque technique to many objects at once. Thirdly I wasn’t sure if it would all explode in one big fluorescent, particle mess!
OpenCV + MSA Fluid (processing) test 3 from Jason McDermott on Vimeo.
[Update]< <note, v3 will be embedded when vimeo uploads my video. since when does a new video have to wait in a queue for 30 minutes??>>In the end I’d say it’s mission accomplished, certainly with calibration tweaks to occur before I’m happy to unleash this on an unsuspecting public. I’d be interested to see how this could influence peoples’ behaviour in the space – whether or not we would see people dancing/swimming/painting the space of the courtyard. I’m curious also to see how this kind of new interaction with the space of the DAB could filter into a new perception of the building as not merely a space to move through but one which is open to new forms of physical conversation.
In addition to my involvement with the janus project for the Smart Light Sydney Festival, Joanne Jakovich and I were invited to collaborate with the NSW Department of Planning in an ambitious short term project during the festival. The Department of Planning, along with Metropolis and D-City had the initiative to setup a small amount of resources for live event data tracking to be visualised for the duration of the festival. Our first taste of this was in an email inviting us to join, with a specific aim towards generating realtime visual information using passive bluetooth tracking technology.I’d worked before with bluetooth tracking (in the 2008 UTS MDA masterclass Street as Platform), and I’d recently mastered the small monster of embedded MySQL insert queries so it felt quite appropriate to combine these two techniques in producing the visualisation. In essence, the project asked for the following;
The project had been allocated resources for sensor nodes, internet connections, software programming and some kind of visual output – in this case a projector. Joanne managed to secure space in Customs House for the project to live, we arranged for the hardware and software combination to be installed and we were off the ground. Ben Coorey (who had been a stellar student in the streetasplatform masterclass) came onboard to help us produce the visualisation in what ended up being a solid fortnight of work. We went from concept through design and installation in just over two and a half weeks – not an insignificant feat!This project marked a first in many regards – it was the first time I’d worked in this capacity as an artist/designer with an external client, providing data surveillance and visualisation with aesthetics and information. It was the first time I’d been given access to such a large data set, with potentially hundreds of thousands of visitors making their way to the SLSF precinct during the three weeks of festival activity.It happened to produce the first meaningful coalescence of a body of researchers Joanne and I had been working to pull together for the last 6 months – into the newly founded and launched anarchi.org. We were now an organisation, able to pull in assistants and coders, all within the framework of a budgeted project, able to provide payment for their time. This mightn’t seem like much of an achievement, but having worked with friends and colleagues for some time now (relying on generosity and willingness to help), it gave me a huge sense of pride in being able to offer a small sum of money to repay the hours of work put in.See Also;anarchi.orghttp://www.designbuildblog.com/2009/06/16/smart-light-fields/http://www.australiandesign.org.au/
Sorry, that should have read; wireless data which does or doesn’t want to behave predicably.Any comments/suggestions are welcome!
The Street as platform – a street rendered in data.
November has been a busy month! Along with Anthony Burke, Dan Hill and Mitchell Whitelaw, I’ve been running an intensive masterclass studio in the Master of Digital Architecture program at UTS. The masterclass is based on one of Dan’s earlier posts called The Street as Platform, in which the notion of the static street in contemporary urban planning and architecture is discussed as an anachronistic idea and one in dire need of reform. The street as platform talks about the dynamically linked nature of the modern street, where mobile communication, ubiquitous computing and traditional number crunching merge as a new kind of informational street ecology that exists just outside of our normal consciousness.As students and teachers of architecture, it could well be said that the dynamism of the street in it’s inhabitation and occupation is implicitly known and explored, but never clearly articulated as a driver – in it’s own right – of architectural decision making regarding form/content.
With this in mind, we set out to investigate the lived inhabitation of the street in an attempt to visualise and understand the hidden seams of activity, an attempt to make the invisible visible.Along with Dan, Anthony and Mitchell, we had a selection of super keen students and a handful of sensor equipment with we set about taming the data beast of Harris St. Our aim was to produce some meaningful information, based on corellated data sets gleaned and generated from our surrounds. The students searched for data on Harris st from a number of sources relative to Harris St (google, flickr, youtube, newsrolls, blogs) and then used processing to scrape, munge and visualise the data. Also included into the mix were a number of sensors we wired up to collect site specific data such as light/temperature/humidity/rainfall levels over the last week, Bluetooth devices in the vicinity, webcam images from the street as well as audio readings and a magnetic sensor.
All up the live data feeds were a bit of a mixed bag with plenty of teething problems, but over the next fortnight these issues will look to be sorted.The students presented their work on Friday to an invited panel including marcus trimble, andrew vande moere and kirsty beilharz, one of our new professors in Design at UTS. The presentations went very well, showcasing some very good work and sparking much discussion amongst the invited guests.The students have diligently been updating a blog with images of the process workand sketch ideas throughout the last two weeks, which can be found at http://streetasplatform.wordpress.com. The studio will be exhibiting some of the work at the upcoming UTS Architecture exhbition on the 4th December, so come see some of the live feeds being visualised on the night.
See also; http://offshorestudio.net/ http://cityofsound.com/ http://theteemingvoid.com/
