Projects

Bubble Display Art Commission

Wood and Aluminum frame with sixty square tubes. A 60 tube bubble display where bubbles could be injected into the bottom of each tube under computer control. This commissioned artwork was four feet tall and five feet wide. Air bubbles under computer control in 60 tubes with RGB LEDs Each tube is illuminated by an individually addressable color controlled RGB LED. Custom designed circuits controlled each of the sixty air pumps under serial control from a single micro-controller. Custom software allowed each pump to be calibrated to generate uniform sized bubbles across the display.

Virtual Rear Projection

Two projectors filling in a display around a person
Front projection is an economical way to produce large displays, but suffers from the drawbacks of shadows caused by occlusions. Occluders suffer from projected graphics on their body and light in their eyes. By detecting occluders using computer vision, a Virtual Rear Projection system can turn off portions of projectors that would fall on users, and use alternate projectors to fill in the missing portion of the display. This results in a robust projected display without shadows, and prevents blinding light from falling on users.

Optical Location Tracking

This optical tag consists of an optical sensor connected to an rfPIC micro-controller much like those used in automobile keyless entry keyfobs. By detecting coded flashes of light from a video projector the tag can determine it's own location and radio that information back to a computer. This can be used to maintain a stable projection on a moving display, locate boxes for inventory control, or capture human motion for CG special effects. This project required programming the Linux computer using C++ and OpenGL, assembly language programming on the PIC microcontroller, and simple electronics construction. A followup project included custom optical projector design, CAD/CAM work with a 3D printer, and data visualization using OpenGL on a windows platform. Circuit board with sensor and wireless radio, laptop connected to projector Projected pattern Projected pattern locking onto sensor Projected pattern locked onto sensor

Delta 3D Printer

Custom built rostock-mini 3D printer. Fan shroud, bed leveling system, bowden tube extruder components and wire management blocks designed using OpenSCAD for 3D printing and laser cutting.

Interactive Games

Two people playing a game on a very large projected display Large scale projected displays with touch sensing provide a compelling platform for engaging multi-player games.

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