Making Toys

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  Thom Hines 11:21 pm on February 7, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  Pre-class Musings… 

  Explain your code structure, logic, important parts

  The code for my “creature” follows a very simple programming pattern. First of all, the loop() handles most of the logic, and depending on the current lighting conditions, it will run one of several functions that play a corresponding sound. By breaking the code up into chunks, each part could be created and tested separately.

  The loop() initially takes input from the photoresistor and evaluates whether this makes the creature happy or sad. The higher the light level, the “sadder” the creature becomes. When no extraordinary conditions are occurring, the program will run the normal sound function. This function will play a small sound sample that bases it’s top-most frequency and tempo on the excitement of the creature. The happier the creature, the faster and higher pitched the creature’s voice becomes. These changes are not immediate, but as a reaction to a higher or lower level of light. It is only over time that the mood really changes.

  If there is a sudden and large change in light, the creature will react much more abruptly and either scream out in rage (low to high light change), or a sigh of relief and joy (high to low light change). Furthermore, if the creature exists in the high light levels for a long time, there is a function that initiates the creatures death, after which it needs to be revived by hiding it from light for a short while.

   

  What did you do that you feel is new, non-obvious and useful

  One feature that my partner Bree and I did that I haven’t seen in other people’s work is to account for rapid changes in light. Essentially, we are not just looking at how light affects the sound of the creature, but the speed at which light changes. In many ways this is how most creatures are, including humans. We endure changes for the worse when they happen incrementally, and we take small positive changes for granted, but as soon as something big changes quickly, people and animals become quite vocal and the pain/elation is much more apparent. It’s a very recognizable aspect of life and we wanted to incorporate this tendency into our creatures. Furthermore, this gives time and the light level a certain active quality as well. Instead of just being a value that directs our creatures in a one-to-one sort of way, allowing for changes that happen at different speeds gives another avenue of interaction and depth, like moving from a static velocity to one with acceleration.

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  Thom Hines 10:07 pm on February 7, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  Light-Sensitive Noise Monster 

  http://vimeo.com/upload/video

  Working with the code we made last week to create different emotional gestures through sound, this week our task was to make creatures that responded to light using a photoresistor, either by loving light and hating dark, or hating light and loving dark. I partnered up with Bree Rubin to make two characters that were somewhat diametrically opposed. My creature is a predator of sorts that gets excited when darkness comes, as if that were the time it hunts. Bree’s creature is meant to be my creature’s natural prey, and so it fears the dark and loves the light.

  

  a monster in progress

  Another part of the assignment was that the light sensor wasn’t supposed to act as if it were a switch, but that changing light should affect it over time, in some sort of life-like way. Both of our creatures get happier or sadder based on their preferences, and these shifts happen over time. If it is light for a long time, my creature continues to get sadder and sadder. However, if there is an abrupt change in light levels, our creatures react in much stronger ways. For instance, if it is dark in the room but suddenly the lights come on bright, my creature will scream and very quickly be depressed. If, on the other hand, there is a lot of light and it suddenly gets dark, the creature will have a sudden burst of happiness and his mood will be shifted much quicker.

  Additionally, if either of our creatures are in their negative state for too long, they die, and can only be revived by making the room completely dark (in the predator’s case) or completely light (in the case of the prey).

  Here’s the code that runs the predator. The loop() handles all the logic and tracking of light levels and happiness and it runs various functions to indicate what emotion the speaker is supposed to convey.

  Also, here are my thoughtful written at the beginning of last class.

  

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  Thom Hines 1:57 am on February 3, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  Emotional Audial Gestures 

  The sounds I was going for, in order, are:

  1) Alarm: “Emergency!”
  similar to a naval ships alarm, this has a linear rise in pitch, which is sustained at the end. It gives a sense of urgency.

   

  2) Positive: “I’m happy”
  a simple melody played one note at a time. Like our speech patterns when we want to convey something positive, the pitch and tone go up at the end.

  3) Spooky: “Something Strange (in the neighborhood)”
  a base frequence switches back and forth between 600Hz and 800Hz, with a vibrato for effect. It uses two for loops to control the panning sound, and to switch between the base tones.

  4) Negative: “That’s not good.”
  an oscillating pattern that is very dissonant. It consists of two atonal sounds being played in rapid succession.

  5) Dying: “I’m dying… boo.”
  a decelerating pattern that lowers the frequency and period of the sound over time, giving it the feel of a device that is quickly losing power.

  6) Bye: “Signing off.”
  a normal melody, played in linear order

   

  And here is the code that made it all possible.

   

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  Thom Hines 2:32 pm on February 1, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  Let me tell you a little bit about one of my favorite things… 

  

  Thom Hines, intrepid explorer

  I have been interested in the intersection between programming and art for some time, and have incorporated code into almost all of my work for the last several years. That’s the main reason why I chose this graduate program, and a big part of why I chose this Major Studio. Getting into the nitty gritty of code and hardware is almost always my favorite part of my job/schooling, and I want to do it in an awesomer way.

  Before coming to to this school, I was mostly doing freelance web design and development (dontgetthewrongidea.com) and working on more conceptual, fine arts based work with my wife, Rachel Hines. We’ve collaborated on a lot of work, and acted as assistants to each other when we have a personal project.

  Before that, I was getting my undergraduate degree in Oregon. I originally attended Oregon State as part of it’s Electrical Engineering program, hated it, and then switched to Graphic Design. It was a much better fit.

  And before that, even, I was a dumb kid and I had no idea what I was doing.

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