My office time elapse

8:00AM-11:30AM Time Elapse

Here is a shot of the ceiling above my desk at my office.

The most noticeable thing to my eye is the balance between the exterior light and the interior light.  It was bright outside but when a cloud would pass you can see the light from the right side of the pipes appear to creep over.  When the cloud was out of the way of the sun it looks like the left side overtakes the right.  So it is the contrast of luminosity that is dictating which light takes the scene.

The outdoor light is rather cool compared to the warmer yellow of the interior light.  Also, since this is an east facing window, after about 10am or so the brightness from the left starts to vanish as the sun is higher in the sky than the window, so ambient light is received rather than direct.

Heavy Metal

The smell of oil reminds me of working on cars back in jersey.  The intricate machined bits underneath the hood all spinning and whirring in unison.  A mechanical marvel, even if it isn't the most efficient mechanism created.  The turn of the metal lathe reminded me of all the the pulleys rotating through the timing belt.

The metal lathe, final impressions?  Fun machine, this one is a little "out of tune" so to say but it was able to accomplish this little top hat nicely.  I was a little startled when my aluminum block fell off the chuck somehow.  I tightened that thing pretty hard, you can still see the indents on the final piece.  I've seen worse, so no trauma here.  I also like standing to the side of the machine instead of head on. It feels more natural when spinning the "wheels" and I can get a more consistent speed.  Also, I'm out of the pathway of any rogue bits of aluminum.

Early Morning Sun: Week 2

Early Morning Shot taken at 7:00 AM

The sun is just starting to peak though the buildings.  You can see there silhouettes against the Barclay center.  The Barclay center is reflective enough to capture the light, but the architecture gives lots of texture to the incoming light.

I even like how the red stoplight is orientated right in the opening of the buildings creating a harmony of red/orange and the contrasting dot of green sits nicely in there too.

There is a subtle tint on the blue/grey buildings in the background, giving a nice soft appearance.  The cloudy skies make warmer colors pop out even more, such as the yellow of the bus, or the dull glow of an older headlamp from the car in the foreground.

Candle Vigil

A flame is as complex as it is simple.  What I did like about a candle lights behavior is the dimming of a weak ember and the burst of a flame kissed with oxygen.

Once I found a way to emulate that, I went on to experiment with diffusion and different materials.

 I found a bottle discarded on the table and filled it varying amounts of fluid, adding some salt to give it a cloudiness.  It was a fun idea, but didn't really give the result I wanted.

I went back to my giant spool of fiber optic, and decided to twist it around into a spiral.  It gave a unique way to separate the light, similar to what other's in class did turning the acrylic tubes, but I lost the fiber optic "path" because the light would bend so much it wouldn't reach the other end of the string.  Which kind of defeated the perk of using it.  But wouldn't it be cool it create crackling sparks and embers from a flame?  That'd be some intense candle.

I went back to my tried and true paper diffused method.  I have a lot of paper materials laying around from past projects so I always love to re-use the leftovers.

The height of the tube allowed the colors to fade away nicely and it cut the sharp lines created from the LEDs beaming.  Also it hid the on/off of certain LEDs pretty well.  Where it was fun programing different light loops, I had more fun constructing elaborate diffusers because you get the benefit of an appealing structure, while also controlling the light in a unique way that is hard to replicate through code (but I wouldn't say impossible).  I think a good balance of both is needed, but I will also lean heavier on the diffusion, just because I really enjoy it.

 

 

 

Hammer Time

I was thinking of a fantastical hammer, that would be impractical to wield.  The challenge this week was sourcing large enough blocks of wood to create a big enough hammer head.  I was hoping to find some wood around the sidewalks during my walking routes.  I did find a set of nice oak sofa legs, but they were too small and tapered for this project.

Tuesday is usually my most productive day since I don't have classes and I'm nearby school.  It was snowing a mixture of snow and gross.  I recalled in my memory that one of the Blick stores by Canal st. had these large wood blanks when looking for supplies for my final last semester but, to my disappointment their stock had changed (or my brain).  So I stepped out and Googled "wood supply" and came across a building supply store a few blocks away.

I walked inside the warehouse of building materials, wall-to-wall with plywood and pressure treated wood.  It was the kind of environment that reminded me of the lumbar yards my dad used to take me on his various supply runs for projects.  This one was more compact, Chinatown style.  Anyway, I came upon two decent sizes of wood, looked like cedar, discarded by the table saw.  Perfect,  I grabbed them and went up to the counter and asked.

"Hi...Can I just take these?"

"oh no, you have to pay."

"But they are just scrap left over by the table saw over there."

"No, still have to pay for everything here."

A pause.

"How much?"

"Five dollars"

I paid the man and he included one of those generic bags usually associated with take-out food.  I hopped on my way through the snow excited I found something to turn.

The lathe was open! Yes!

The fresh wood I bought from China Town smelt wonderful as it pelted me like the exit of a wood chipper.

~

The only drawback of using the wood lathe when assignments due is that there is a queue of people behind you.  While some are calm and polite, others may have an encompassing stress, constantly asking when you are done.  Every time I stepped out to have a drink of water or wash some of the dust off every pore of my body, I was asked if I was finished or told how I can turn faster if I use this chisel (which was totally the wrong way to use that type of chisel, you can tell by it's shape).  Then while I was turning someone goes behind my back without asking to turn on the vacuum for the band saw.  They were students I have never seen before, much younger, being loosely accompanied by a 2nd year.  I don't know where they came from but the shop became crowded with lost looks.  The air of the shop changed into a nervous taint and I had to take a break while they were exclaiming how big the pieces of wood they were cutting were. I will not get into how the chisels were before I used them, but they were burnt black and misshapen.

(I needed to get that out)

Anyway, how I longed for an environment to match the nature of turning.  This was not the setting I wanted to work and it turned to a rush job.  My holes of my hammer head are all offset but I had to step away.

Next time, when there is more time, I want to re-do the hammer head with the other block of wood I have. I want to rework this project, or at least create one in a better environment.  The handle feels in great in my hand, and I'm proud of that.  I also want to buy my own chisel and keep it far from anyone but myself.

But I still love that moment of smelling the fresh cut wood.  It was so fragrant and intoxicating. 

LED Fade

This weeks assignment was to create an LED fade that can be interrupted.

Using materials around the floor I planned to create a flower night light.

Some fiber optic cable I bought last semester but never used.

Arduino with a HIGH and LOW state switch along with the LED light source for the flower.

Testing ways to use the fiber optic cable.

Construction of the diffuser petals, created from different opacities of paper.  The thicker weight paper was used as a base to focus the light and give structure.  Then the lighter opacity paper was built off of that.  YG in the back hard at work.

Difficult to capture the LED in this environment, but this video shows when the user activates the switch, the fade will accelerate the speed fading up/down.  When the user's hand comes off the switch, the fade will resume the default speed at the same point it left off.

Here is the default fade being run in a darker room.

Light and Interactive: Week 1

A view from the Manhattan Bridge – Sunrise.

The sunrises in NY is often something that is overshadowed by morning commutes and the anxiety of the day that awaits.  I find that in the morning, as the sun strikes the buildings facing east there is a spectacular display of reflection from the different architectural choices from the buildings.

The warm glow from the sun filters through the smog giving a diffused blue glow in the background.  Closely resembles robin egg blue, but paler. 

The windows of the newer buildings reflect the light like a seamless mirror from a distance, adding depth between the seemingly cramped city plan.

The older buildings absorb more of the glow and offer a nice contrast to the cooler colors emitted by the reflective buildings.

In the foreground the bridge has many shadows cast by the steel support frames and even the brilliance of the traffic cone pops out from the dark asphalt it sits upon.

There are many objects in this photo, but the tones set by the sunrise brings it all together in unison.