Prototypes: Set up #1 - Sound Test

The Art of Ping Pong Prototype #1 from Jono Sandilands on Vimeo.
Just now I am working how best to do this project, and had this idea to use sound to react to the sound the ball makes when it hits the table.

Shown in the video is a normal computer screen covered by a piece of perspex, using the internal microphone on the MacBook running Modul8 to change and show a random colour every time the microphone picks up a sound. Obviously this will happen with every sound but it could be possible to set up a microphone to pick up sound in only a specific place or frequency.

This is a very simple set up, and I would like to start developing this and also looking into slightly more dynamic set ups using sensors. Long way to go yet, but keep track of my progress on the blog. Thanks for looking!

Research: UVA Speed of Light

Previously blogged (here) United Visual Artists installation at the Oxo Tower Wharf, South Bank, London, in April this year. http://www.uva.co.uk/

"Speed of Light celebrates the tenth anniversary of broadband in the UK. Stripped back to its essentials, optical fibre is a thin strand of glass, with nothing more than a flickering beam of light traveling along it. United Visual Artists have used this beam as the starting point for the work."

More info:
Speed of Light

Prototypes: The Art

Thought I would post one of the example pieces I did last year of what a final Art of Ping Pong piece could look like. During a game of ping pong on a specially built table, sensors embedded in the table record where the ball makes contact with the table during a game. Not only does this allow player interactivity on the animated surface but, after game play an original piece of artwork is automatically printed and hung as a piece of art during further gameplay at an event.

More examples coming soon. Thanks for following!

Research: Distance Lab

"Distance Lab is a creative research organisation bringing together digital media technology, design and the arts to redefine and overcome the disadvantages of distance in learning, health care, relationships, culture and other domains.

In addition to conducting academic research, the Lab works with briefs from industry and governmental partners, providing advice, generating ideas and building prototypes that inspire and can lead to new innovative products and services."

www.distancelab.org

Funding!

Great news! The Art of Ping Pong has received a Shetland Arts Visual Artist Award, this will go towards bringing the project forward and develop my technical skills with the aim of having a finished, or well developed prototype by next year! Big thanks to Shetland Arts!

Over the coming summer months, I plan to be cooked up inside working on test pieces, I am still very interested in collaboration and advice/ideas anyone may have so please get in touch with me: hello@jonosandilands.com

Research: Jenny Holzer

Exhibition @ BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art

Jenny Holzer Projections

Book list: Interactivity & Design

As a reference, can't see me getting my head around all these books... times like this when you miss the uni library...

Processing A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists by John Maeda

Processing: Creative Coding & Computational Art: Creative Coding and Computational Art (Foundation) by Ira Greenberg

Making Things Talk: Practical Methods for Connecting Physical Objects by Tom Igoe

Creative Code: Aesthetics and Computation by John Maeda

Physical Computing: Sensing and Controlling the Physical World with Computers by Tom Igoe

Physical Computing: Sensing and Controlling the Physical World with Computers by Tom Igoe

This next one looks like a good place to start.



Programming Interactivity: Unlock the Power of Arduino, Processing, and OpenFrameworks by Joshua Noble

Im sure this list will grow...

And here it grows:(6/5/2010)


Learning Processing: A beginners guide to programming Images, Animation and interaction by Daniel Shiffman


Note: Look into Arduino
Book:

Getting Started with Arduino by Massimo Banzi