wearable mobile interface – first conceptual sketches
February 11th, 2009 admin
here are the first few sketches illustrating the wearable component of my thesis project. the light blue band in the sketches represent the internal magnetic lock that will allow the device to hold itself on the inside edge of a long sleeve.
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passive control surface
February 5th, 2009 admin
Challenged to produce a ’spatial media’ design concept for the living room, I undertook the challenge of extended the limitations of passive control surfaces. Specifically I am referring to the static nature of most projectable surfaces. Although flat surfaces such as floors, table tops, and walls allow for the creation of compelling reactive interfaces, they are generally static. It is difficult to shift the location of a projected table top interface once it has been positioned and calibrated in respect to the projector.
The design I am proposing allows for the intended projection surface to move in three dimensions within the defined projection volume. The projection surface itself will be marked with an asymmetrical pattern of directional reflective markers that will respond to the infra red light emit form the multi-camera tracking system. The location and orientation of the projection surface is then understood by the projection system which automatically selects a subset of the projection array and modifies the output from each projector to account for the orientation of the surface. The end result is a surface that can be projected upon regardless of its orientation or location within a defined volume.
The image set below demonstrates how this system could be used to create a form of universal remote control for a digital system within the house. As the surface could be any flat and rigid surface, there are no limitations in regards to what could serve as the projection surface. Furthermore, there is no limit to the density of information one could have projected onto the surface. In the example images, one could imagine a music lover enjoying the benefit of a detailed spectral analysis of the music they are listening to.
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visual inventory for the spontaneous chef
January 29th, 2009 admin
The process of preparing food extends beyond the physical space of the kitchen and reaches into the various markets and retail outlets where ingredients and supplies are purchased. The ingredients themselves dictate the scope of the final preparation. This conceptual design is based upon the needs of a chef that enjoys a spontaneous process in regards to the preparation of food. This design will also cater to those interested in monitoring their dietary habits.
Please note, this interface assumes that a grocery inventory system is in place. As a user returns to their residence with the purchased groceries, the items would be either scanned by a bar-code reader or manually entered into a inventory database.
Any large flat surface (vertical or horizontal) can be used to host the primary interface of this design. As the user enters the kitchen, they simply have to press the button labeled ‘begin’ to reveal a categorical view of the available ingredients within the kitchen. The touch interface allows the user to expand and ‘drill down’ into the various categories allowing for an initial high level perspective of all the ingredients available and their respective quantities. When satisfied with the available ingredients, the user simply has to click on a given item (one click will select one unit, multiple clicks will select multiple units) and the interface will automatically shift the ingredient into the ’selected ingredients’ field while simultaneously deducting the ingredient from the household inventory. When the user has finished planning the meal, they select ‘complete’ which calculates the overall calories of the selected ingredients as well as the overall cost for that given meal. The set of ingredients is then associated with a unique ID allowing for a form of meal tracking, or simply the formation of spontaneous recipes to be archived for future convenience. The visual queue presented by the list of selected items ensures that no ingredients are over-looked by the spontaneous cook.
The associated image set illustrates the process of planning an evening meal.
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touch
December 18th, 2008 admin
Result of a quick exercise where we were challenged to create a visual representation of ‘touch’ [time restricted in-class project (25 minutes) ].
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sound [space] sound – visualization / control application
December 17th, 2008 admin
This java application was developed to enhance the acoustic research myself and my collaborator Alberto Tafoya have been pursuing this semester. In short, we are trying to understand and control acoustic interference patterns.
This post will focus on the current state of the research application that was developed in Java and SuperCollider (real time audio synthesis environment).
The majority of our research has been conducted in less then ideal acoustic conditions, in spaces lacking symmetry among countless other contributors of error (windows, unstable temperature, reflective walls). These conditions make the task of accurately predicting the locations of acoustic phase cancellation significantly difficult. To account for these sources of error, the decision was made to programatically map the formation of the interference patterns through use of an 8 channel microphone array. This would allow us to modify the phase of each output channel and monitor the changing interference pattern through the amplitude values recorded by our microphone array. This form of feedback system allows us to work with the inherent imperfections that are present within our working medium.
The application serves two primary purposes. First it allows for the execution of lengthy automated tests where the resulting data is collected in stored digitally. An example of this type of automated test would be the mapping of the 360^4 combinations of potential phase shift combinations given a maximum resolution of 1 degree.
Once this data has been collected, this same application allows for the immediate visualization of the acquired data. The interface allows one to overlay the microphone amplitude values overtop of a mathematically correct prediction of the interference patterns that would occur within an anechoic space.
The image set below describes the various states of the application in its present form. The main display area allows one to see both the mathematical prediction of areas of phase cancellation as well as the microphone amplitudes gathered during a given experiment. The fifth slider is attached to the experimental data and forces the phase of the 4 channels to match the experimental conditions at which the visible instance of data was gathered.
[ please contact for source code and experimental data ]
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