#physcomp

[2487] talk2.

[2486] accel.

Creating this interactive painting was definitely a useful exercise for my future art practice! I have been wanting to tap into working with addressable light systems for a long time now and I think that working towards the prototypes and final product definitely gave me a much better idea of how I can use certain parts to create certain effects - particularly working with the electroluminescent wire and Neopixels has already given rise to many ideas for further development and I already have sketches laid out for a few more pieces exploring light and movement in the field of painting. I think there is a lot of possibility of using Arduino and addressable LEDs or El Wires to create more complex, visually compelling installations and this is something I will definitely be pursuing in my own art practice.

All in all, I think this was a good experiment for expanding into the field of light installations and I have definitely learned a lot - I do intend to keep working in order to create more polished and visually complex light systems; right now, I am experimenting with using the same light strips used in the centre of the piece in conjuncture with various diffusing materials, to see how I could better suggest smooth, organic movement; this experimentation might go towards my final piece next term. 

Here is a video of my further development at the moment, where I am trying the same diffusing material used for light boxes with the LED strips in order to see what light effects I can achieve:

This is sort of a two-part schematic; the first image indicates the connections made to the Arduino itself, outside of the pins used by the shield. The second schematic shows the shield and the respective parts being driven by it. This is due to the nearly non-existent documentation for the Escudo in terms of parts file that could be added to Fritzing. The official schematic offered by Sparkfun seems to detail the individual parts of the board rather than the shield itself as a standalone object (it can be accessed via the link here: https://cdn.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Components/EL/EL_Escudo_Dos/EL%20Escudo%20Dos%20v21.pdf). In light of not being able to implement the actual part, I edited the one photo they offer as guidance for hooking up the shield to fit my own circuit:

I also could not manage to find parts for the screw terminal to DC power adapter and DC power supply anywhere. Essentially, the Neopixels are powered exactly as recommended in the Adafruit official guide, using the same parts:

Circuit overview: 

The gesture and distance sensors are connected to the Arduino via SCL and SDA; this was an ideal setup as the El Escudo shield needs to make use of all the digital pins on the Arduino. They are externally powered with 5V via a 4xAA battery pack. The Neopixel strip is driven from pin A3 and connected to an external 5V supply. The shield itself drives 6 strands of El Wire and makes use of a 12V inverter 

PARTS: 6 x El Wire strands, 12V inverter, El Escudo Dos Shield, Side Light Neopixel Strip, DC Power Supply, Screw Terminal to DC adapter, 1000uF Capacitor, 470ohm resistor, Adafruit VL53L0X time of flight distance sensor, Adafruit APDS9960 gesture, proximity and RGB sensor, 12V power supply. 

Code overview:

I started out by creating a sort-of fluid, organic-like shape that would fit with my sketches and design page in Cinema 4D and then importing it into Tinkercad and slicing to the desired height: 

Once it was printed, I used a ruler to trace where its outline would be on the board used as the painting support: 

From there onwards, I proceeded to paint the main shape in a uniform matt black colour and add a concrete-like texture effect to the outside of it, using acrylic paste and different substances to thicken the paint, such as marble dust. Here is the a picture of the piece before I started adding the wire: 

Once the support was finalised, I traced where the outline of the shape would fall once again and marked a path for each el wire strand. I then proceeded to glue the wires to the painting using a glue gun - this was a step that posed many unexpected problems, as the nozzle of the glue gun was much wider than the wire itself, making the glueing process very difficult and messy.

 I am not too pleased with how polished the areas around the wires came out looking and although it is not noticeable when viewing the piece in semi-darkness, I am looking into ways of sanding or perhaps even cutting the excess glue away in order to have a more polished final product. 

Attaching the Neopixel strip also came with its own problems: I used half of a side light strip for their extra flexibility and left them in their waterproof case thinking it might be easier to glue that way, as they are quite thin on their own; the plastic, however, did not react to hot glue or silicone glue and only stuck to a significant amount of super glue that required holding the strip in place for over an hour so that that the glue would be dry enough to keep it in place by itself, a process that took unexpectedly long; after about 6 hours drying time, they were finally well-attached. Here is an image of the planning for how the strip is fitted inside the 3D-printed case prior to the actual glueing (a 100-LED strip is used here; I realised I did not need that much for my project as the area was quite small and even though I wanted high brightness, half of it would be enough. the rest will be repurposed in a different project):

After each strand of wire was glued to the surface of the painting, I drilled holes into the surface of the panel in order to hide the cables behind the painting. Holes were also drilled in the bottom beam of the panel frame to ease making the connection and avoid pressure on the wires by having the weight of the painting on them when pulled out from underneath. 

In between the glueing, drilling and cable routing the lights were tested using alligator clips and a simple circuit that ran through all of them. Despite the connections I soldered being protected with heat shrink tubing, some of them still got damaged in the process and needed repair, and a few wires had frayed and nearly broke and required soldering. I found it was best to keep testing after each new action that altered the electrical elements.

Here is version 2.0 of the design page, detailing the final piece:

A full resolution, high quality image is available at:

Conceptual Research

Although I have already posted my research into audience interaction and light art, I realised that I forgot to expand on the conceptual basis of the actual subject of the piece. Inspired by Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, the piece seeks to explore the politics of the real and the increasing intervention of the virtual into our everyday lives. In Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”, Plato presents the reader with an allegorical tale in which an individual finds it difficult to discern between appearance and reality, as often times what is presented to individuals may in fact be an illusion.

In a similar manner, this painting aims to create an illusory space, the play on light being a contemporary re-interpretation of the shadows in the cave. Coincidental with the situation of the prisoners, the audience is presented with fleeting images of an alternate space, depending on their interaction with the sensor - what they choose to believe or what they interpret the image as is up to them. This idea of simulation, of playing with perception and depth, aims to turn the age-old Myth of the Cave on its head; by using digital, computationally-controlled light as a symbolic manifestation of the virtual, alongside traditional painting techniques, it aims to offer a dynamic visual representation of how the ‘virtual’ and the ‘real’ overlap today, whilst at the same time playing with spatial configuration and perception.

Sketch:

The visual approach to creating this piece is informed by the Myth of the Cave reinterpreted in a contemporary approach - I aim to create a visual “black hole”-like shape, encased in a surface with a finish similar to concrete or other building materials, a reference to the mass industrialisation of today’s world and humanity’s ever-increasing need for expansion and mechanisation of environments; the shape contains the strands of neon wire, arranged in a decreasing fashion to reference a spatial approach similar to a tunnel. The centre of the artwork is dominated by the 3D printed sculptural object, which emanates light sequences.

Post-prototypes planning

After careful consideration and taking into account the outcomes of the prototypes I made, I created a final work plan for building the piece over the course of weeks 9 and 10. The most successful prototype was that which made use of the electroluminescent wires, so the interactive painting will primarily rely on those as the main light system. As per the following image, the placement of the neon wires will create the sense of a tunnel-like structure, the strands lighting one by one in accordance to the distance sensor and flashes will be triggered at minimum distance - this would constitute my MVP; however, due to the prototype involving a Neopixel ring encase in a 3D-printed structure being so successful, I aim to incorporate a similar idea in order to further develop and build on the MVP; thus, I will be aiming to create a 3D-printed structure at the centre of the shape created by the wires, that will light up and ultimately become animated in accordance to the same ultrasonic distance sensor. This will be subject to whether I can run a neopixel strip off of an analogue pin (as the shield I am using to drive the wires needs all digital pins on the Arduino), but from my current research it should be an achievable outcome.

-even though I used a Neopixel ring for the prototype, I have acquired a Neopixel side-light strip in order to be able to create a more abstract shape, whilst also having flexibility - I found that with regular strips it is very easy to bend them forwards and backwards but nearly impossible to form a curve unless it is extremely large; the side-light allows for the strip to be bent in pretty much any way with ease.

Final technical details:

Size: 60x80 cm (painting board )

Parts required: Arduino, 7x el wire (different shades of white and blue - max 15m combined), El Escudo Dos driver, 12V inverter, 12V + 5V wall adapter, female DC power adapter, JST PH connectors, Neopixel Side Light Strip, 1000uf capacitor, 470ohm resistor

Other materials: acrylic paint, texturising medium, gloss varnish, acrylic modelling paste to fill in holes if drilling will be required for the cables, frosted acrylic sheet

3D printed enclosure for the light strip, laser cut top to diffuse the light

A process post will follow up on the fabrication of the piece, as well as detailing the final circuit.  

Work plan:

Week 9:

build on MVP and finish final circuit

incorporate pixel strip in circuit

test the distance sensor in different settings + fine tuning

print 3D enclosure

laser cut the diffusing top for the 3D shape

prepare the board, paint the sides and shape

Week 10:

final circuit test to check that everything is working to plan

attach the neon wires, pixel strip, 3D enclosure to board

final circuit test once everything is attached to the board to make sure the joining process did not damage anything

documentation of the functioning piece (blog posts on process, final circuit + video of working piece)