Inspiration + Conceptualization
Not long ago, I visited Interiam, an immersive, interactive art experience. Initially, I was led into this empty room surrounded by white walls. As the experience began, projections started appearing on the wall. The elements on the screen would change based on the participants. The installation focuses on the fundamental aspects of the earth, such as water, fire, wind, etc. It's almost as if we control the elements and how they move. I hope to create a similar experience for the viewer. I decided to concentrate on the element water because we only had blue LED bulbs. I wanted to have it so that every time the viewer touches the screen, it creates a ripple effect. When that ripple hits the corners, it would light up something in real life. This mirrors the concept of giving viewers the power to control the elements both digitally and physically.
Interiam immersive experience
(video taken with permission)
Idea sketch
Coding Pt. 1
This is one of the most intense coding project I have completed. I needed to borrow from multiple sources. I wanted to thank Patt Vira's video for saving my life out here. Her particle system served as the foundation for all my code. I have linked the video below:
This was what I had after watching the video. I created this system where every mouth click would create a ripple.
Couple of problems I needed to figure out:
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how to create multiple ripples with one click
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how to change the color and the number of particles released at once
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how to have P5 be able to know when particles have hit a corner
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how to link P5 to arduino
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how to set P5 to full screen
Coding Pt. 2
I had to schedule multiple office hours and hang out at the coding labs for hours to get help. Big thank you to the super nice person working at the coding lab on Wednesday afternoon. She taught me many things, such as:
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how to simplify problems down when you don't know how to solve them
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how to use console.log to check for mistakes
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how to ask chatgpt for help and how to put in the right prompts
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how to understand p5 language
Also big thank you to Professor O'Sullivan for walking me through how to connect Arduino and P5. (image of him showing me the different ports that can and can't be used)
This was one of the problems we ran into regarding the push new system. I learned that when things don't work, I should try to break it down first and not try to simplify it from the beginning. In this case, I was trying to set the mousepress so that one mousepress would create 7 ripples with a delay in between each. We started with the image to the left and were able to simplify it down to the image on the right
Test run...
Me trying to figure out how to set my code to fullscreen. I ended up switching to Chrome, which allowed me to put the projection at fullscreen without the search bar. However, on top you can still see the P5js webpage bar. If I had more time, I would try to export it to a separate platform and see if I could hide the P5js bar as well.
Big thanks to Chatgpt for all the help, especially on how to return positionX and positionY to the coordinate of the vestor as opposed to the position of my mouse.
Me getting so stressed out because I didn't know how to connect the Arduino to P5. I kept trying to connect it and it just won't happen. Later I realized that it was because the Arduino won't connect if the P5 sketch is running. I needed to pause the P5 sketch before I connected Arduino.
Arduino
For my arduino, I just needed to connect 4 lightbulbs. I didn't need to set up any inputs, so that made my life a whole lot easier. I still had a lot of trouble at one point because none of the lightbulbs would even light up. I had to refer to the first lesson on arduino to even connect it correctly... But I was able to figure it out in the end.
Had to do some soldering again(which I'm kinda starting to enjoy a little)
Making shapes + final touches
In order to make the shapes, I first experimented with creating them out of printing paper. The model turned out well, and the light was able to reflect through. However, I wanted something better. I visited the Blick store and found some translucent paper that was firm enough to stand on its own. The shapes turned out very well, although I did have to tape it multiple times.
I also bought a black background paper to put the project on when documenting.
New material model
Transluscent sheet
Cube
Final shapes
FINAL
