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Processing PhotoBooth v2

Simple Photobooth

If you saw my old post about a simplistic photo booth using Processing, you probably loved it so much that you used it, and you probably loved using Processing so much that you used that too, and you even installed the betas of Processing 2.0, and then you cursed out loud as the code no longer worked.

Calm down, sport… we’re here to help.

While not final yet, Processing 2.0 has a lot of changes compared to Processing 1.5.x, and those of us who dabble in writing sketches can expect some breakage, but we can also attempt some fixage.

Here’s what I’ve got now… which works for me! (YMMV) 

/**
 * PhotoBoothV2.pde
 */
 
import processing.video.*;

// resolution: 800x600 - change it if you want
int cols = 800;
int rows = 600; 

Capture cam;

int mainwidth  = cols;
int mainheight = rows;

void setup() {
  frameRate(30);
  size(mainwidth, mainheight, JAVA2D);
  colorMode(RGB);
  cam = new Capture(this, cols, rows); 
  cam.start(); 
  noSmooth();
  background(0);
}

void draw() {
  if (cam.available()) {
    cam.read();
    image(cam, 0, 0);
  }
} 

void keyPressed() {
    if (key == ' ') {  // space bar
       saveFrame("picture-####.jpg");
    }
}

Boom! You got a simplistic photo booth application. Congratulate yourself by purchasing this lovely button for it. (Or get this “bare” button and build your own damn case.)

Also, special thanks to Evil Mad Scientist for releasing their Atkinson Dithering sketch, which reminded me I had to fix my Processing code, and provided some hints on what needed updating.

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Laser-Etching Tweaks

Laser-etched name badges

I made these laser-etched badges at Milwaukee Makerspace recently, and if you’ve see our logo before, you may have noticed it has some thin lines in it. Thin lines are great, except when they aren’t, and when etching with the laser, they might not be.

the photo above shows my three attempts, with the first being on the bottom, and the third being on the top. You can see the difference by comparing the helmet in each badge.

Logos

The image above shows our standard helmet logo on the left, and you can see the line widths, which work fine for graphics we use online, or printed materials like flyers and stickers, but for laser etching, the lines are just too thin. The middle logo shows how I tried to fatten up the lines to allow the etching around them to leave a bit more material (in this case 3mm Baltic Birch plywood.) Match the middle logo up with the middle badge in the photo above… it’s better, but still not great.

The logo on the right side shows the lines around the eyes and nose thickened up even more, and this is what worked the best, as seen in the final (top) badge in the top photo. (And yes, these were done using the 60 watt Laser Cutter at Milwaukee Makerspace.)

Example #1

Here’s a poor macro shot of the second attempt, where you can see that not enough material was left for the eyes and nose, even after the first attempt at fattening up the lines. (I didn’t bother to photograph the first attempt, as I sized up the logo on this, the second attempt, and then maintained the new larger size on the third attempt as well.)

Example #2

Here’s a poor macro shot of the third attempt, the one with the fattest lines. This one worked out quite well, especially for the eyes and nose. The detail in the solder iron were completely lost, which is fine, as it’s extremely fine detail, and we’re etching it at a small size.

I’m pretty happy with the final result, and I’ll keep in mind that thin lines may need to be fattened up in the future. (There’s always the issue of altering someone’s logo or artwork, but in cases like this it’s necessary if you want good results.) I don’t think there’s any hard and fast rules on this, as things will vary depending on size of artwork, material being etch, and other variables, but it’s a nice reminder that tweaking is needed for this type of thing to work well.

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Hot Shoe Mount

Hot Shoe Mount

In June I posted about my Hot Shoe Audio Mount which allowed me to put my Zoom H2 audio recorder on top of my DSLR… and I also had this to say:

The nice thing about the “Nikon DIY GPS Holder” I printed was that I can see it being a generic part I can modify in the future. I can easily import the STL file into Google Sketchup and built on top of it

Hot Shoe Mount

Well, in the past few months I’ve done a lot more in OpenSCAD than in Sketchup, so I wanted an OpenSCAD version of this thing, so while you can still grab the original Nikon DIY GPS Holder, there’s a new derivative, the Hot Shoe Mount, which features the OpenSCAD code.

Brain Slug

But what can do you with this OpenSCAD stuff? How about combining it with other OpenSCAD scripts so you can mount a Brain Slug on your camera? ;)

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MiFi Money

MiFi

I got my MiFi less than 24 months ago, and I wrote about it six months later, with this bit about the costs:

I liked the idea of a prepaid account because I just wanted to buy the device and the “pay as you go” model fit my usage. Of course you can’t predict the future, and those Virgin Mobile folks have changed the pricing more than once. When I was planning to buy one, the 3 options were $10, $20, and $40, and by the time I bought one weeks later, it was $20, $40, and $50. And who know? They may change again…. Urgh.

Just dropping this in as a point of reference… the current prices are $35 for 2GB per month, and $55 for 5GB per month, and there’s an “unlimited” for $50 per month which gives you “3G speeds up to 2.5GB” which I assume means any data over 2.5GB will be delivered at the speed of a 14.4 modem. I’m not sure if the $50 is available to me because I’m grandfathered in, or not, but this is the kind of shit that drives me crazy. I mean, I knew the price would increase, just like I’m sure the price of Adobe’s Creative Cloud subscription will increase, which is why no matter how “cheap” it is right now, I can’t be convinced it’ll be some amazing deal in the long run…

I’m not sure that Virgin Mobile is still the best solution for my MiFi needs (which end up being maybe 3 to 5 times per year) but I don’t know what the other (cheaper?) options might be… I did find TruConnect, which might be an option, but I’m open to suggestions.

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Fixed: GPS Mount

3D Printed Fix

The part of my GPS mount that snaps onto the ball thingy broke, but it was a pretty easy fix with the RepRaster 5000 3D Printer. I started with this Parametric Ball Caster from Thingiverse, which I’ve used before. A quick measurement or two with the calipers to get the ball diameter and width of the caster.

GPS Mount

I printed it in orange instead of black because I was too lazy to change the filament, and on the original mount I just ran a drill bit through what was left of the broken part to give me space to jam the new one in there… a bit of hot glue, and it’s not quite good as new, but it’ll work for now!