An interactive installation that unleashes your inner artist.
Team
Truman Williams, Marissa Reichelscheimer, Anna Kate Mattingly, Amarianna Hines
Role
Storyboarding, interaction design, capacitive touch development, physical fabrication
Timeline
2 Months
Tools
TouchDesigner, Arduino IDE
Objective
This course offered an opportunity to combine the skills and capabilities of engineers and designers to create an engaging, interactive installation. Our team explored what a simple but meaningful interaction could look like, then worked through how to technically bring that experience to life. Beyond making the installation operational, we had to consider how it would operate reliably and sustainably during our design showcase Launchpad, where visitors would be intuitively interacting with our product with limited oversight.
Concept
Our concept development was brief and focused around one main goal: creating an interaction that invited people of all ages to jump in and engage. We wanted the installation to immediately catch people’s attention so that visitors would want to stop, watch, and wait for their turn to interact.
The idea we landed on was a paint bucket pendulum paired with an interactive color palette. Users could select their own color, then watch as the paint “dripping” from the swinging bucket was digitally replicated onto the canvas below.
We further refined our idea to make the actual swinging of the paint bucket an input, allowing users to more directly affect the art.
Technical Direction
The most significant phase of this project was determining how the installation could be technically executed. We explored several approaches for both the visual output and motion tracking before selecting a system that balanced reliability, feasibility, and the intended experience.
We explored three approaches for translating the digital paint onto the canvas: overhead projection, a monitor display, and rear projection. We ultimately selected rear projection, which minimized mounting constraints and eliminated shadows caused by users interacting above the canvas.
The second major challenge was translating the physical swing of the paint bucket into usable data for the digital paint system. We selected overhead Kinect tracking for its depth-sensing capabilities, ease of isolating the bucket’s movement, and compatibility with our TouchDesigner workflow.
Beyond tracking the pendulum, we wanted to visitors control over the artwork they created. We decided on an interactive paint pallette that allows users to change the paint color, switch between brush styles, or reset the canvas to start fresh.
These simple controls give each person freedom to make the experience their own while keeping the interaction quick and intuitive for the next visitor. Capacitive touch sensors embedded within the palette translate each selection into an input for our TouchDesigner system.
Technical Development
After establishing technical goals, we began the developing our functioning system. There were three main tasks that need to be completed:
Figuring out the motion-tracking of the swinging paint bucket
Turning that motion tracking data into distinct "brush" patterns
Creating the palette that allowed you to change the brush or erase the canvas and connecting it to the digital media
I was responsible for connecting the physical interaction with the palette to our digital system in TouchDesigner.
Beyond tracking the pendulum, we wanted to visitors control over the artwork they created. We decided on an interactive paint pallette that allows users to change the paint color, switch between brush styles, or reset the canvas to start fresh.
These simple controls give each person freedom to make the experience their own while keeping the interaction quick and intuitive for the next visitor. Capacitive touch sensors embedded within the palette translate each selection into an input for our TouchDesigner system.
PICTURE
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Construction + Install
TEXT BOX
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PICTURE
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PICTURE 2