initially i have planned to realize the art project i was writing in my previous post about, in C++ Open Frameworks. Since I had some trouble though getting the range finder data into OF i have settled for Flash which worked out straight away using a flash’s binary socket and a custom written java proxy server by James Alliban. There are still some performance issues i believe that need to be fixed as well as sudden jumps in range values, which i still need pin point down. Anyways…here’s the result.
it has been months since my last blog post and now I intend to pick it up again.
In the course of an interactive art project I finally found a good excuse to get my fingers onto the Arduino Mega I’ve bought last year.
Idea is ( nothing ground breaking and surely nothing that hasn’t been seen before ) to creating an interactive wall projection. Projected elements ( words ) will be reacting according to two sensor inputs. The first is based on a range approximation through the very well known Ping ( Ultra Sonic ) Range finder from Parallax, which will be used to scale elements up and down in relation to the distance of the nearest person. The second will be a live camera feed that will be used to detect edges of people moving in front of the projection. Projected elements will be collision tested against those edges in order to interact with elements on a very basic level. So far so good.
Wiring the range finder to the Arduino is straight forward and can be done in no time. Arduino.cc supplies very comprehensive material.
I’ve simply uploaded David A. Mellis’s Arduino sketch onto the controller and could straight away see the results being printed into the serial monitor. Easy as. Make sure your baud rate is set correctly.
