Concept 1: LED Cube or Sculpture
This idea was inspired by a project I saw on Adafruit’s website. It would entail making a 3D array of LEDs controlled by an Arduino board. The LEDs can then be controlled by the Arduinos digital outputs, making a dynamic sculpture. To put a twist on this, I was thinking of making a rectangular prism out of the LEDs that is only a couple of LEDs tall. Reducing the height of the cube would allow me to expand the footprint horizontally. I could then program the LEDs to light up in a wavelike pattern, creating the illusion of a liquid. This would be static in the sense that the wave is constant and has no input.
This project would utilize the skills I’ve learned in electrical and robotics classes, since a fair amount of circuit design and soldering would be required. That being said, I think I could get a lot out of this idea while making a really cool piece.
Some initial thoughts about building: This will require many LEDs and a lot of soldering. I may need to 3D print a base to conceal the wiring and electronics as well. The final product may be delicate as well.
Concept 2: Irregular Infinity Mirror
My concept for the infinity mirror stems from the presentations last week. I thought the concept was really cool but I wanted to put a spin on it. I was thinking of making a 3-Dimensional mirror. There are several of these online, but I’m thinking of making one out of an irregular shape. This would create an unpredictable matrix of twists and turns, creating a feeling of uncertainty about the future.
Inside the sculpture, I would put strands of color changing LED lights. If the lights are controlled through wifi, the color could be changed. This would make the sculpture dynamic in several ways. In one way, just being able to see the sculpture from different angles can produce completely different views of the reflections. In another way, changing lights and colors can change the way the mirror is perceived.
To create the random reflection illusion, the shape needs to be irregular, with no parallel faces. This could be something as simple as a oblique pyramid, or something elaborate like a pseudo deltoidal icositetrahedron.
Some initial thoughts about how this could be built: The panels could be made out of acrylic sheets and lazer cut at the Makerspace. I could 3D print joints for the mirrors so that the structure itself it sturdy. I think the difficult thing will be installing the LEDs. In order for shifting colors to look like they flow through the mirror, there would need to be some uniformity to how the lights are wired in parallel.
Concept 3: Light Painting Photography
This concept was inspired by my presentation about Janne Parviainen. I really liked the look of his pictures and think there’s potential for self expression in these. That being said, I’ve had some trouble thinking of ideas for what I could do. I’ve had some brief thoughts about locations around campus where I could do paintings at night, like the fountain area, Higgins Lawn Swings, the Quad etc. I just cant think of a theme for an album of images. These would be static images, not a video.
Questions
- If I had to choose a concept, I would say I’m tied between 1 and 2. Which one would you choose?
- Do you have any suggestions for how I could improve the concepts above?
- Has anyone here ever done a project like the ones I’ve listed? Do you have any tips for me?
- Do you have any ideas for my light painting concept?
Hi Casey! I really like the illusion of the liquid, it would be cool if it is interactive and you can play around it, maybe touch it to create rainbow ripples?! (I think you said it would not be interactive though) However, I also like the infinite mirrors idea (my chosen artist was Chul Hyun Ahn, so no surprise there!). I think I would lean towards the second idea a bit but admittedly I am biased here, the first idea also sounds really cool! Do you have plans to make the infinite mirrors interactive?
You know, you could combine them and have irregular infinite ripples?!
In regards to the first one, perhaps I could use a potentiometer to control how quickly the liquid ripples. One concern I have is having a resolution small enough to look like a liquid instead of random flashing leds. As for the second one, I’d have to think a little bit about how I could make the mirror interactive. It could involve some tinkering with the control module for the LED strip I get if I choose this idea.
Of the first two options, I think the LED cube is going to be much more feasible. While the infiinity mirror will be challenging for the reasons you specified, an additional challenge you didn’t mention is the *shape* of the mirrors – since the frame is expected to be an irregular geometric shape, you may need to make custom-shaped mirrors as well! If you feel that that is not a challenge, and you have a surefire way to cut glass, then that concept will probably work fine – but otherwise, I think the LED cube is a much safer (if labor-intensive) choice.
If you do go for the LED cube, definitely consider what you’d like it to do. It’s much less complex to control an entire column of LEDs at once than it is to control them individually, but you get a less flexible result. Both have been done before, so there should hopefully be a wealth of resources out there to help you figure out what would work best for you.
For the light painting, it might be cool to simply trace out some iconic parts of campus in addition to any figures in the scene. It’d be cool to see the vague, glowing forms of things like the Gompei statue or the seal, since those are so recognizable to those familiar with WPI.
Ah, I just realized you said you’d use acrylic for the panels – that’d be much easier to manage! If you can get enough one-way mirrored plastic, that might make the infinity mirror concept a less monotonous (in terms of the work involved) option than the first, for what I think might be a similar amount of work.
I think the first concept would look surreal, having a static piece that gives the illusion that it’s moving always has this trippy effect. Maybe it could also change colors as the waves travel, either rippling color inwards or outwards from the center.
For the third concept, maybe just have a light figure just sitting and studying in different locations because it seems like recently that’s been a lot of everyone’s time. Having him hold a pencil also drawn out of light, or maybe have it look like he’s plugged into the wall and charging. You could even make it look like he’s “growing” after being plugged in for a while with a series of pictures.
I especially like concept 1, I think that a wave or ripple of LEDs is a really cool idea. If you’re able to control every LED individually, then you could do lots of different animations. I know you said the wave would be static with no input, but I think it could also be interesting to have a motion sensor or something which could affect the size or speed of the wave.
Your 3D infinity mirror concept is also cool, I’ve seen cube shaped ones but one with a more irregular shape would be very interesting. As for wiring the LEDs, if you used addressable RGB LEDs then you could easily control all of them without needing to wire them in a specific order.
I would most definitely choose the irregular shaped infinity mirror, as I think it is super original and the rainbow one just really speaks to me.
I will be interested to know if you have seen any irregular shaped infinity mirrors and if they will actually look how you imagine, or if it will just look random and not how you imagine.
I have never seen an irregular infinity mirror, so I guess it would be a first time experience for me.
I really like your 3rd concept and think that you could do something similar to Janne Parviainen’s piece with the skeletons living in a world when nobody is around. I think this would be a very unique thing to encorporate into our campus, especially with everything going on. With that you could do something in multiple different locations around campus at night.
To answer your question about being between concept 1 or 2, I really think the infinity mirror would be unique and offer unique challenges with it. I always like seeing how people encorporate 3D printing and laser cutting into projects like these and would really be interested in seeing how you solve for some of the issues you have mentioned. I have done a bunch of projects with the laser cutter and 3D printers in the makerspace, and also work multiple jobs over in the building, so please reach out if you need more assistance with the fabrication or just to bounce ideas off of.
Your first concept would look really cool on a desk or in a room. it seems like you have a good idea on how you’ll tackle creating the concept using the skills you’ve acquired.
I haven’t done anything like these before so i dont have any suggestions
I think light painting photos around campus would be a great idea.
I like the 1st concept and I image depending on your coding skills (it’s past my skills) you could put a sensor in it to tell what way was down/the acceleration of the cube and make an LED matrix liquid simulation
With your first concept you may want to look into different optical illusions that you could incorporate into the shape. In a way you could try to animate it and make it more interactive.
I like the 1st concept and the idea of having it flatter and wider, I feel like I haven’t seen that as much as regular LED cubes and I think it would have a lot of potential for interactivity if that’s something you’re interested in (eg. put in motion sensors that can detect hands).
Some great comments here, I don’t have too much to add. I think my vote is on #1, but all 3 have potential.
If you decide to do an infinity mirror, some other students have done similar projects in recent years so you may want to look back at the previous years’ websites to get a sense of what their challenges and discoveries were.
An infinity mirror in an irregular shape would be so awesome to look at! I don’t know how difficult it would be to execute this idea but I definitely think the concept is something worth looking into.
The first concept seems pretty feasible and sounds like it would be really cool to look at. Perhaps you could even program multiple ripples happening concurrently as if it was raining.
They’re both great ideas, I feel it’s mostly a question of feasibility. Do you think you have time to experiment with both and create little test/mock-ups?