Scaring people in the hall

test movie

lizzard dress test movie

Octopus Cape: New pattern and placement

the ruff

This is a test with the ruff. It is mainly for hiding the servos with.
I am testing different shapes to see what suits the servos best.

Octopus cape: strategy change

I decided to eliminate the silver ink and replae it with fabric.
But the effect is still pretty bad.
It doesn't even change to transparent it goes a milky white.

I contacted Alison to borrow some of the department's black inks.
I will have another test on thursday.
Fingers crossed!

Octopus cape: ink problems

This is the thermo-chromic inks from Ctinks. Yuck!
Under layer: metallic fabric ink
Top Layer: black thermo-chromic ink.


It's shiny and horrible. It doesn't even hide the silver ink.

it's alive | take two

the lizzard dress: preparations

transfer to mini arduino

it's alive !

getting 3 servos to work

Lesson form Katherine: 2 servos with the mini arduino

PC board and mini arduino

Trying to get all the circuit onto the PC board. Also trying to upload the code to the mini arduino from the regular one.

: o

frilled lizzard dress collar

the collar is ready to use. it will be detachable. I'm hoping to find sturdy black tubes or sticks that I can stick onto the propellent heads so they lift the collar up and down.

servos with proppellent head

two servos working

ITP Tutorial

ITP tutorial on how to arduino+servo:

http://itp.nyu.edu/physcomp/Labs/Servo


The code I used:

int servoPin = 2; // Control pin for servo motor
int minPulse = 500; // Minimum servo position
int maxPulse = 2500; // Maximum servo position
int pulse = 0; // Amount to pulse the servo

long lastPulse = 0; // the time in milliseconds of the last pulse
int refreshTime = 20; // the time needed in between pulses

int analogValue = 0; // the value returned from the analog sensor
int analogPin = 0; // the analog pin that the sensor's on

void setup() {
pinMode(servoPin, OUTPUT); // Set servo pin as an output pin
pulse = minPulse; // Set the motor position value to the minimum
Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop() {
analogValue = analogRead(analogPin); // read the analog input
pulse = (analogValue * 19) / 10 + minPulse; // convert the analog value
// to a range between minPulse
// and maxPulse.

// pulse the servo again if rhe refresh time (20 ms) have passed:
if (millis() - lastPulse >= refreshTime) {
digitalWrite(servoPin, HIGH); // Turn the motor on
delayMicroseconds(pulse); // Length of the pulse sets the motor position
digitalWrite(servoPin, LOW); // Turn the motor off
lastPulse = millis(); // save the time of the last pulse
}
}

Servo+arduino lessn from Katherine

Had a long meeting with Katherine. Our goal was to connect a servo to the arduino board for the frilled lizzard collar.
After a few hours we finally managed to get it working with a potentiometer. It would have been much quicker hadn't I forgotten my multimeter! Nevermind.

Will keep playing around with it this week trying to setup 4 servos at the same time. Am picking up the collar from ohmash Thursday.

thermo-chromic ink crisis

The ones I had got from Alison were all dried up due to the bad container. Couldn't ask her again because she had put the rest of the inks in storage.
Started calling around 3-4 places but they all said the same thing: at least 3 weeks to get them to me and and I needed to buy at least a few gallons. (~250$)


Managed to get a deal from ctinks at the last minute. I'm getting left-overs for much cheaper.
1lb of black ink will be arriving today thanks to Jason Crow!

servo trouble

While waiting for the servos and free samples to arrive i'm trying to figure out how all of this works with the arduino...
The lizzard's collar is going to be a challenge. The servos are not the easiest thing to hide on a garment!

Sketching.

Ohmash Design Studio

I have met with Ohmash Studio owner 3 times now.
He graduated from FIT and is helping out with the production of the 3 pieces.

I went to him with a clear idea of the look of the pieces and sketches. He understood it immediately.
So far, we seem to be making good progress. We have chosen swatches of fabrics for each.
I will be visiting the studio quite often for checks.
Our next meeting is april 5th for me to pick up the frilled lizzard collar for me to put the servos in.
Also the front of the cape for me to apply the inks to.

finding the right color ink

Called citiinks to see whether I could get the color i wanted.
I wanted the cape to be white with a pattern that is white ( invisible) when cold but changes to red when activated.
After a long discussion, I understood it was not possible, the only color chart they had was the chart above.


I didn't want random colors, so I decided on the black thermo-chromic ink that disappears when activated.
This actually inspired me to make the whole collection black. This I think will tie the collection together and add sophistication to its presentation too. I'm really happy with this decision now, wouldn't have thought of it if it weren't for bad luck with the inks!
Basically, I will be applying the pattern on in regular fabric paints (yellow) and then a second layer of the black thermo-chromic inks on top. This way when the black disappears it reveals the yellow pattern.
Yay : )

asking for free samples

Managed to get free samples from Bekaert for the Octopus cape. Sweet.
I'm hoping that these conductive yarns are going to be much more effective than the one i used for the first prototype.
Also sent a similar e mail to micro pump providers for the puffer fish but no reply so far... Fingers crossed...