Hi there! I’m Matt Johannesen, a senior majoring in CS and IMGD Tech. Aside from the past few years here, I have lived in Los Angeles, California my whole life.
As one might guess from my majors, my background is largely technical – most of my work in and out of school is programming-related. I also have some experience with electronics and Arduino (and similar boards), which I’ve used a few times to make interesting input devices for games.
This was my final project for IMGD 3100, Novel Interfaces. I worked with two other people to make a collaborative experience for a crowd.
The idea is that the digital train shown here would be displayed on a large monitor, or projected on a wall. A smaller monitor would let anyone add a new train car, with the color and design they choose. Finally, viewers can work together to collect mineral boulders as the train rolls past them; if they collect enough, the scenery changes.
This was a project for AR 3200, Interactive Electronic Arts. I made a book with conductive tape and magnets on each page, so that the Makey Makey board (next to the book) could detect which page was open. This information was used by a program that changed the backdrop of the paper temple sitting on the keyboard.
I have a little experience in both traditional and digital art (mostly from classes here, but also from occasionally sketching or 3D modeling over the years), but I am most comfortable doing things that fall somewhere between. For example, I’ve been very drawn to laser cutting and 3D printing, as I like producing physical works but am more confident in my ability to use digital design tools.
This was the gameboard I made for my team’s final project in IMGD 1000, and my first large laser cutting project. Plenty of things went awry in the process, and I wound up having to manually cut out some pieces – but in the end, I’m very happy with how it turned out!
Now I like to make smaller laser cut objects, like these business cards I designed for a game some friends and I were working on a couple years ago.
In terms of 3D printing, the last project I started was this reusable mold of a low-poly frog statue. I made it with the intention of pouring in concrete or plaster, but never got around to fixing some internal edges that wouldn’t fit together. I hope to revisit this someday, though – it seems like a great way to make sturdy objects with a largely digital design process!
I don’t have any specific inspirations to name, but I always love to see all the interesting things people can create at the intersection of traditional and digital artistry. Shader scripts that make 3D scenes look like watercolors, computer-generated physical sculptures, alt controllers, and the like fascinate me to no end.
Thank you for having a look – I really look forward to doing and seeing some really great work in this class!
Quirky! I like your digital train project. Its just asking to be put up on the Innovation Studio’s big screen. The little train carts and scenery elements are very charming to look at. And I really like the way you described your inspirations: “the intersection of traditional and digital artistry.” I’ll have to use that some day.
Clever. The train project is cool because it encompasses different things to engage people in crowds. You have a great idea with the frog mold, hopefully you get it worked out! The book project you did shows how clever you can be by incorporating books and technology together the way you did.
Clever! The idea of creating a mold using 3d printing is really cool and allows for an interesting transition between computer modeling and a 3d project. I was also really impressed by the book project!
Quirky! I really like your laser cutting projects such as your custom gameboard and the business cards you designed for another game. I really think it’s cool that you’re able to make unique games by encorporating things around you and find it impressive that you were able to do so while encorporating laser cutting as well.
Clever – I love the stomach of ablubes section of your game, the imagery and pieces inside, it makes me happy, like the game is alive. I hope you do finish your frog mold, I would love to see what the frog would look like. I also like the idea that you created something to create more things.
Clever! I like your use of materials ranging from the plywood to marbles. Did you ever think about using the 3D printed mold for a silicone model?
impressive – All the laser cutting you have done is impressive.
FAMILIAR! Er… very familiar….
Clever! I remember seeing the train idea in class, and I remember really liking the concept, and I think it turned out pretty great! The 3D printed mold and the business cards are very clever as well!
Familiar! I like the laser cut game board and business cards, I’ve worked on similar projects with the laser cutter. Your 3D printed mold idea is really cool too, I’d be interested to see what the resulting piece looks like if you revisit it!
Detailed – I have also done some laser cutting, and know the amount of detail that you have to pay attention to in order to get a good finished product, and I am very impressed. I as well know the struggle of having to cut out the pieces manually when the wood and laser don’t cooperate!