Visualization

     



 Have you eve play music through iTunes, or any other music player that has visualizations? The visuals are so cool; they can enhance the listening experience, and also help give ambiance to a party. I came across this video of physics and chemistry demonstrators that brought the concept of these virtual visualizers to life utilizing the Ruben's tube, except... They created a Pyro Board the has about 2,500 holes for flames to fire through. They utilize nodes and anti-nodes through various sound waves to create a visual pattern using fire. I was so fascinated by this video, and thought that the properties that are inherited in this experiment can work to fuse science and art to create a visual experience that comments on scientific properties as tools for art making.

Behold the Pyroboard

Photoshop, Then and Now - A students revelation

          Next semester, I will be observing and teaching lessons at the Saturday Arts Lab in SUNY New Paltz. I will admit that Im very intimidated, but also very excited to actually utilize the lessons that I learned in my Learning in Digital Visual Cultures class. Learning about Scratch and Sculptris made me think about the possibilities in utilizing new creative programs that will help motivate students to engage in creative art making that encourages exploration. But the more and more I think about it... I realize that when it comes to programs like photoshop.. I wonder if I know enough to make a difference to impact student learning. Yesterday I told my professor that I would like to teach Digital Media to high school leveled students... I felt confident...  But then I came to a realization and spoke with several classmates about the gap. I realized that I learned of photoshop through experience, whereas the students at the high school level grew up around programs like photoshop. I began to question my abilities to be an effective teacher in this subject. What can I teach them that they don't already know? Then it occurred to me that to teach is to learn; its a reciprocal experience that helps build a stronger relationship between teacher and student. It empowers the student to contribute their knowledge, and encourage them to teach and become open to learn of the unknown as well.

3D Painting Replicas

     

         Imagine your favorite renaissance painting, now imagine a 3D printed replica of the painting.... What would it looks like? Do you think it would come even close to the original? Tim Ziman has developed a technique that allows the 3D printer to fine tune the printed details to resemble brushstrokes from paintings printed in large format at 600PPI.

Here's a brief video of the process; Video.

Minecraft for education

 

           In thinking about my upcoming semester in the Saturday Arts Lab, I've been researching new ways to engage students utilizing their modern day interests. I noticed that during my time at Duzine Elementary in the New Paltz Central School District, most of the students in the Kindergarten class that I was observing were into minecraft. They often made reference to the Minecraft world during their choice time activities... they would play with play dough and create drawings based around the Minecraft world. Some students even referenced Minecraft in their writing assignments; they would often talk about how much they would create environments with their parents.

                This intrigued me, and I began searching for ways Minecraft can be used in education. This is where I stumbled upon Minecraftedu.com. It's a website that gives educators a big avenue to dive into the world of Game-Based Education. It provides resources into creating lesson plans based around the world of Minecraft, giving educators a special tool kit that can be used in conjunction with the game to explore  architecture, science, and engineering in conjunction with art. It helps bridge the gap between academic learning and creative inquiry. It also helps educators by providing resources that helps them work within the boundaries to hit all of the core aspects of the National Standards in education. I believe this is a great way to engage the students interest in science and art in a creative environment that they can relate to.

 To learn more about Minecraftedu.com, click here.

Oculus Rift

     

         The future of virtual reality might be here sooner than you think.. lots of companies tried their best in creating innovative VR headsets that can actually transport the user into a different world for a complete immersive experience. The problem is that technologies of the time created boundaries, and fell short of the supposed immersive experience that they were trying to portray.

 

     Back in the 90's Nintendo released its Virtual Boy system... It was virtual but not in the way you would imagine.. The headset didn't have any secure straps to actually wear it, and it came with a small stand. The screen was black and red, far from reality, but nonetheless it was a bit immersive. I used to own one, and had my fun with it.. but all and all it was a complete gimmick.

   The Oculus Rift is another VR headset that promises a fully immersive experience utilizing advance stereoscopic lenses that literally fools the brain into believing that you are in the virtual environment. The new Oculus Rift has a higher frame rate and better latency in synchronizing the actual VR display with the movement of the user. So far the Oculus Rift is geared towards gaming, but has the ability to interact with various virtual elements. The cool aspect of the Oculus Rift, is that it's still in development, and open to the hacker space community to help troubleshoot the product in various virtual settings. I believe that we will be seeing this product in the market very soon because  Mark Zuckerberg recently acquired the Oculus Rift for $2 Billion, and is currently pursuing all avenues of its functionality with consumers.

To find out more about the Oculus Rift, Click Here
To visit their website, visit: Oculus Rift

Old Software

           Ever wonder what ever happened to old software, once an innovative program of its time... Now it seems like a faint memory. The only things that might be left of them are their instruction manuals... Maskull Lasserre in an artist that has repurposed old software instruction manuals for their fitting end. In Lasserre's piece "Incarnate" 2012, he pressed a stack of old software instruction manuals together in a vice, in order to create his sculpture.

He uses regular hardware tools, and power tools to get the job done.

To visit Maskull Lasserre's page, click here: Maskull Lasserre

Scribbler Too

  I recently stumbled upon a cool art making program called Scribbler Too. It's based off an original program called "The Scribbler" created by Ze Frank, in which the program prompts you to scribble a line. Once you are done scribbling you are then prompted to hit the done button, and a webbing effect transforms your drawing.

     In ScribblerToo, the design is kept to a minimum and the interface is straightforward. This allows you to dive right into the making experience. The best part is that the program is free, and its Flash-based, so you can practically work on any Flash friendly device. Scribbler features a Save function so you can continue your work later on any device. I will say that the drawing program is unlike any, because it has a trace-travel effect that connects to your previous lines. This cool effect creates a web-like pattern that just makes drawing in this program much more fun. The program lets you add images as a background to draw over, and you can adjust the color of the canvas, and the brush. The settings for the brush are very customizable, and the tool settings itself are 'placeable' allowing you to move the tool settings anywhere on the canvas.

To try ScribblerToo for your self, click here: ScribblerToo

To try the original Scribbler, click here: The Scribbler

Thermo-light Photography

   Imagine a photograph that details all of the hot and cool temperature spots in a shot. Designers and artists at Adafruit has utilized a 3D printed thermo ray gun, and a thermo-sensor light handle, to map out temperature zones with cool light effects. In addition to creating these devices, they set a digital SLR camera to a slow shutter speed to 'paint' a map of these temperature zones. 

See it for yourself: Thermo-Light Photography

Here's an article on these neat gadgets: Thermo Mapping

Thoughts on Lesson Plans

           Developing the lesson plans for my Learning in Digital Visual Cultures class became a profound experience. I thought about my experience in high school, and the big technological trends that existed at the time.

Most students had just begun to ditch their cool custom pagers for big bulky cell phones, and their cool Sony Walkman's for Sony Diskman's.

The iMac was making waves in the late 90's. The photo editor of choice was MSPAINT, and many people learned of the new and compressed JPEG file format over Bitmap or BMP.

               Back then, this was the future... everything looked cool, and the world was jumping on a technological highway. We all know what we have today, but the contrast between these two era's are tremendous. In my lesson plans I thought to introduce high school students to the world of scratch, an online programing tool that utilize strings of code built into digital lego blocks. This allows learners of any level to code various interactive games and narratives as they build an understanding for the inner-workings of programs. Another lesson plan was to introduce students to the idea of building awareness through image remixing, utilizing Photoshop. I also thought to create a plan that introduces students to the world of 3D printing, by having them think of useful ways designs can help improve/enhance daily functions. They would also troubleshoot the possible issues they'd run into during the designing and printing process. Technology has come a very long way, but the minds of our learners have to go the distance as well.
               We as teachers have the power to stimulate the minds of the youth in order for them to absorb an interest they find worthy of pursuit. It is this pursuit that will put them on a highway to an innovative world.

A Basic How-To using Tinkercad

               This post is a basic how-to, on getting started with Tinkercad. Tinkercad is an amazing online 3D editing software, that puts the user in control of making a virtual design in a 3D blueprint interface. It is a simple yet precise software that enables users without any 3D crafting experience, to create and tinker in virtual space.


           1) This is what Tinkercad looks like when you first visit the site. It's a very clean and simple design that welcomes the viewer, with a tutorial video.

          2) The sign up process is very simple and best of all, it's free! If you don't want to sign up immediately, you will be guided to an interactive tutorial that will help you become familiar with the functions.

         3) Here's what the main work grid looks like. This is where the fun of working in a 3D blueprint starts.

        4) This is the shapes panel; it is where you find all of the tools you need to build into your environment. There are other tools here as well such as the helpers, which will aid you in making a more precise design.

        5) The main functions bar acts like the typical 'File', 'Edit', and 'Help' functions that you find in many programs across various platforms. It will allow you to Save, Export, Undo, and Duplicate your design.

        6) The file names are a bit ridiculous, but adds a bit of humor to break the tradition 'untitled' default format. Of course, you can change the name.

        7) In addition to the Main Functions and Shapes panels, there is a visual adjustments bar. This puts the essential commands within reach, and allows you to undo, and redo steps. It also gives you fast access to solid shapes and holes, which I will go into details later.

        8) Lets begin by adding a block... Look at all the adjustment points on the block. Tinkercad combines all the basic adjustment functions to work with the user in real-time. 

       9) You can stretch, lift, or rotate the box to your needs.

       10) The 'Workplane' tool allows you to adjust your workspace to focus on various surfaces. This gives you the ability to load objects on a fixed plane.

        11) As I mentioned earlier, Tinkercad has basic options that allow you to create holes within shapes. This is perfect for creating windows, and doorways.

       12)  For this example, we will create a hole in the box we stretched out earlier. This is what the 'Box Hole' looks like.

        13) To create a notch in the rectangle, I pushed the Box Hole into it.

        14) In order to group these two objects, I selected both the rectangle and the Box Hole by holding down the 'Shift' key as I clicked them both.

        15) This is the group button, It allows you to join two or more objects to function as one. This is essential when creating holes in your objects.

         16) After clicking the 'Group' option when both the rectangle, and the Box Hole is selected; we now have a rectangle with a notch on it's side.

        17) Another helper tool, is the ruler... This option will allow you to see the exact dimensions of your object(s), and further allows you to adjust the measurements manually.

       18) Now that you have the basic instructions, you can begin to make a house like I did. Have fun and be creative!