Visuals

I have made considerable progress since the last update.

As with most of my art projects, I dream big and then compromise afterwards. I've had to widdle down my project mock-up to something a bit more simple. At this point, obtaining the three specific types of drums isn't exactly manageable. Fortunately, I managed to get my hands on a set of bongos. These should be more than enough to generate the kind of sounds I need to trigger the animations. Instead of touch screens mounted on the walls, I have settled for projectors displaying the animations from Max/Jitter. Although not exactly the same idea, the sound made by the drums does still act as a trigger for the program.


Recently I discussed my idea with a fellow CIA student with prior knowledge of Max/Jitter. He has agreed to help me with the programming part of my project. He said that the animation and trigger should be pretty simple to program, and he has been keeping in touch with me on his progress.

As happy as I am at my progress and the fact that my project is quickly becoming a reality, I still hope to have my original idea fully realized. I've been reading into the inner workings of touchscreen technology and unusual user interfaces. The different kinds of touchscreens lend themselves to a variety of interfaces. Some rely on a person's electrical charge to indicate what information to display while others rely on interruptions in the constant sonic waves they generate.

I still plan to create my original idea, but for the time being, the mock-up will do. Bongos, projectors and Max/Jitter are much easier to obtain than a war drum, a Japanese drum, a snare drum and giant touch screens.

To date the only outstanding things in the completion of this mock-up are the finishing stages of the Max/Jitter programming of the animations and the triggers and acquiring the projector.

Sonic Partnership

Surface Acoustic Wave, or SAW, technology uses ultrasonic waves that pass over a touchscreen panel. When the panel is touched, a portion of the wave is absorbed by whatever object or person comes in contact with it. This disruption of the ultrasonic waves registers the position of the touch event and sends this information to the user.

Originally and commonly seen in electronic circuits, Surface Acoustic Waves are used as transformers, oscillators and/or filters. SAW's sensor ranges include all areas of sensing, including chemical, thermal, pressure, thermal, torque and biological. SAW's have become widely popular in the commercial industry, especially in the cell phone business.

This method of touchscreen interface may be very beneficial to my project. Although more research is required before deciding if this is indeed the method I wish to use, I believe the use of the SAW's ultrasonic waves on the touchscreen-walls and sonic vibrations from the drums can be the perfect combination for my project.

Hurdle

So, I've hit a hurdle with my project. As I researched by idea for using bigger version of the iPhone screen for the walls of the drum hallway, I found something that forces me to alter my idea.

The iPhone screens are not mere touchscreens, they utilize technology known as "capacitive" screens, which generate a constant electric current that only interacts with a human's electric field. A stylus pen, a gloved hand or any other object not be recognized by the iPhone screen. This includes sonic vibrations.

This is possibly for the best, because the liquid-crystal screens at the size that I am imagining
are easily $50,000 each, if not more.

Thereby, I have downgraded my idea to a *simple* touchscreen (similar to display screens in stores and computers, etc.) which has had its sensitivity greatly increased to detect the sonic vibrations of the drums.

I have also played with the idea of not just having one long screen per wall, but a series of reasonably-sized flat touchscreens, each of varying size for aesthetic effect. Just an idea.

Update 2

I plan to further my idea of utilizing haptic technology and incorporating an audio element.

My first idea was have a room with three of the walls be large screens with a haptic interface. These haptic screens would be highly sensitive in order to pick up sonic vibrations. Specifically, a user would bring their MP3 player to this installation and plug it into a speaker system. The following vibrations caused by the speakers would trigger the haptic screens on the walls, causing them to show various animated visual displays.

My second incarnation of this idea was to have the animated displays reflect the audio waves visually.

After some thought, I ditched the idea of having the user bring in their own music, and have them create sound at the installation itself. Instead of the speakers and MP3 player dock, I would install three drums: a snare drum (military-esque), a giant Japanese-style verticle drum, and a large leather floor drum (war-drum). The square room is replaced with a long hallway, with haptic screens lining the two longest walls and the ceiling, with the same sensitivity. When triggered by the vibrations of the drums, the screens will display a visual representation of the sonic vibrations caused by the three drums

Ideas

Haptic technology:

The interface between human to digital/electronic mediums through the sense of touch. Much more advanced than pressing buttons or moving a mouse, Haptic technology combines touch, heat and movement as means to convey information between humans and digital devices.

examples:
- iPhone
- Novint Falcon Haptics Controller

Last semester in Steve's class I had an idea of how to combine audio elements with haptic technology. I conceptualized a device where one could manipulate music using their hands. I might like to expand upon this idea, or use it as a jumping-off-point.