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Make A Sketch

Make A Sketch

The Make A Sketch features an Arduino-based microcontroller and a Processing application that work together to function like an old Etch A Sketch, letting you draw images using just two knobs. It’s a blend of old-school analog art with the modern digital world.

At least, that’s the fancy copy I wrote to explain it… But really, that’s what it is.

Back in May 2011 I did something we called Processing Month (as inspired by Vormplus) and I started out publishing some simple Processing sketches, and about halfway through May, with Gallery Night looming, I decided to try something a bit more challenging, and the Make A Sketch is the result.

Along the way I ended up drilling acrylic, breaking acrylic, drilling more acrylic, learning about Posterous, writing some Perl code, rewriting some Perl code, destroying an Apple Cinema Display, and finally putting it all together into a complete piece.

I used the RED ONE we have at Z2 to shoot this little video explaining it all… There’s also some time lapse footage from Gallery Night, and a selection of drawings from that night.

Oh, I also ended up building a Project page, and a page for the Make A Sketch, as well as permanent static pages for many of my other projects, such as Time Lapse Bot. These pages will serve as the home for each of my projects, and will point to all the associated blog posts, and other related info.

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BusyTime!

Whew, it’s been a little crazy these past few weeks… Here’s a quick recap.

I started off May by declaring it Processing Month. I ended up doing well for a while, but things got quiet near the end of May. That’s not to say I wasn’t doing anything, as I was actually working on a Processing application that will be part of my show at Bay View Gallery Night.

Controller (in progress)

That’s all I’ll say about that right now. If you want to see it, come to the Milwaukee Makerspace June 3rd, 2011, otherwise, I’ll post more about it next week.

Speaking of the Milwaukee Makerspace, I may be working with Make:Live on their June 8th, 2011 show to do a live call-in from the space. That should be cool… assuming it all works. As much as the Internet provides a good amount of magic, it’s the kind of magic that doesn’t always work.

Speaking of Make, they had a nice little post about my Photo Booth project. Which, by the way, will also be at the Milwaukee Makerspace for Gallery Night. (Seriously, I may need to get a trailer for the CR-V soon!)

Egg-Bot at Higher Learning Day

Speaking of eggs, I also joined Sean from Milwaukee Makerspace to do a “Higher Learning” day at an elementary school, which included demoing the Egg-Bot all day long. It was fun but exhausting. Kids have a lot of energy, and more than one told me they were “unpatient” whatever that is…

And because that’s not enough going on, we’re also doing the second PhotoCampMilwaukee on June 4th, 2011.

The next few months may have a few more surprises in store, they might not all be good, but I’m sure it’ll be an adventure… Happy motoring!