Interactive Installation

Interactive Installation, Spring 2006

Thursday, 9:00 - 4:00
MacLean (112 S. Michigan) Room 415 (the Linux Lab), 426 (Electronics), 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.
More than 3 unexcused absences will result in a grade of No Credit.
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. The department does have interface devices available for checkout (EZIO boards, webcams, USB->Serial adapters, microphones). Since our supplies are shared between several classes, students may wish to purchase their own.

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. For supplementary material, I suggest the following books:

• 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. (1/25)Introduction
   overview of ideas in interactive installation and physical computing; programming in Processing
2. (2/1)Basic electronics
   switches and buttons, switch-type sensors; keyboard input in Processing; keyboard hacking
3. (2/8)Interface boards
   EZIO / Arduino / Artbus; serial input in processing; digital inputs ; passive infrared
4. (2/15)Analog Sensors
   photocell; variable resistor ; force-sensing resistor ; ultrasonic rangefinder
5. (2/22)Sound
   sound playback and synthesis in Processing ; sound input
6. (3/1)Video
   video playback in Processing
7. (3/8)Work Day
8. (3/15)Midterm Critique
   
   (3/22) no class - spring break
   
   
9. (3/29) Video Input
   getting video into Processing ; mixing and processing ; accessing pixel arrays
10. (4/5) Video Tracking
    brightness and color tracking ; infrared
11. (4/12) Video Tracking
    Motion tracking and blob detection
12. (4/19) Video Tracking
    marker-based motion capture with ReactiVision
13. (4/26) Installation Preparation
    launchable applications from Processing ; autostarting ; boot setup
14. (5/3) Work Day
15. (5/10) Final Critique