Interactive Installation

Interactive Installation, Spring 2008

Thursday, 9:00 - 4:00
MacLean (112 S. Michigan) Room 416, 417 (The Sensorium)
Instructor: Ben Chang ( b chang at artic dot edu )

In Brief

This is a studio course in computer-assisted installation practices. Students will work with physical materials, electronics, sensors, video, and computer code to develop interactive, participatory objects and environments. We will draw inspiration from artists working in both electronic and non-electronic media who explore ideas of interactivity.

Requirements

Prerequisite: Interactive Multimedia, or consent of the instructor
Requirements: completion of projects and assigned readings; class participation; participation in Midterm and Final Critiques is mandatory to receive credit.
We will be covering a lot of material each week - attendance is crucial to success in this course. After the third unexcused absence, each additional unexcused absence will negatively impact your final grade.
In case of absence, (excused or otherwise), you are still responsible for the material covered in class.

Materials

the ATS department has some components available for resale; however, students are responsible for researching and purchasing components for their own projects. There are two primary pieces of equipment you will need:

1. a webcam, or a laptop with a built-in webcam such as the MacBook.
2. an Arduino board. This is an interface device used to connect sensors, lights, and motors to the computer. ATS will be offering Arduino kits through department resale after the end of Add/Drop; or, you may purchase one directly from one of the resale sites linked from the Arduino site.

Platforms

This class will be primarily taught using Processing, but students are welcome to use any tools and platforms that are appropriate for their projects. Students are encouraged to bring laptops. We will also be covering techniques for using Processing on Linux, providing a completely Free and Open Source software platform for interactive artworks.

Books

Class lectures and online materials will cover the bulk of the material for the class. However, here are some highly recommended additional books:

• Processing: Creative Coding and Computational Art, Ira Greenberg
• Processing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists, Casey Reas and Ben Fry

• Making Things Talk: Practical Methods for Connecting Physical Objects, Tom Igoe
• Physical Computing: Sensing and Controlling the Physical World with Computers, Tom Igoe and Dan O'Sullivan.
• Getting Started in Electronics, Forrest M. Mimms III (if you can find it still ... )
• Electronic Sensor Circuits and Projects, Mimms, Radio Shack Engineer's Mini Notebook Series.

Space

We will be using the Sensorium as an installation and critique space. It has multichannel sound, a lighting grid, a video projector; it's main limitation is its low ceiling. Students are welcome to find and use alternate sites for their projects.

Schedule

1. (1/24)Introduction
   overview of ideas in interactive installation and physical computing; programming in Processing.
2. (1/31)Stimulus / Response
   keyboard input; mapping keys to images; tempo and envelope (attack, sustain, decay)
3. (2/7)Gesture:Mouse
   drawing; drawing variations; introducing complexity; thresholds
4. (2/14)Stimulus/Response : Video Capture
   array, image loop; video capture and display; motion detection; motion threshold
5. (2/21) Sound: Video Grid
   nested loop; pixel array; pixel values; grid of triggers; sound playback
6. (2/28) Gesture: brightness tracking
   tracking bright points and colors; array of points; trails
7. (3/6)Automatons, Physics, Simulation
   better object tracking (ReactiVision, Blob Tracking); motions and behaviors; random, seek, avoid, bounce, friction, spring
8. (3/13)Midterm Critique
   
   (3/20) no class - spring break
   
   
9. (3/27) Arduino
   basic electronics - LED, switch, potentiometer
10. (4/3) Arduino->Processing
    Firmata, pushbutton, potentiometer; controlling Processing from sensors
11. (4/10) Sensors
    photocell, force-sensing resistor, and more
12. (4/17) Networking
    using Processing to connect computers over the net; shared sketches
13. (4/24) Work Day
(5/1) No class, graduate critique week


14. (5/8) Final Critique