So, after trying multiple methods with the glass (using more of the glass etching cream, using vinyl, doing the inverted image with glass etching cream, using different distances between the frames of the glass, etc.) it turned out that the frosted glass was not transparent enough to see the light through. Because of this, I turned to acrylic.

First, I took my sketches (both paper, and online) and made them more pretty. I originally drew out a heart with different stages of blood flowing through it as well as a minor change in shape. The combination of the two was definitely best at depicting a heart beating after going through many different animation styles. I also wanted to make the heart look more realistic when it was beating so instead of going through the frames in the order 1-2-3-4-3-2-1 I decided to add two frames and just go in the order of 1-2-3-4-5-6. This made the heart more believably beat and look cooler. If the light is not able to diffuse through that many frames the amount can be lowered (which is integrated into the design of the animation). I then inverted the images I drew to the ones seen below.

I converted these into .svg files using illustrator and then used the laser engraver that the school has in the maker space to transfer these images onto the acrylic. It took a lot of time testing the different speed and power settings to get the right amount engraved so it is still transparent but able to be seen with a light underneath.

I came to the conclusion that the power of 30% speed 70% was the best for the heart so then I started on the heart. The machine did not like how many images I wanted to raster as well as all the boxes I needed to cut out so it took almost 2 hours just setting up what I wanted to engrave/cut. Then it took an additional 40 minutes to cut out the boxes and engrave the hearts however it only engraved 2 of the 6 hearts so I need to book another appointment and figure out why they didn’t engrave.

So, while materials side of the project has had major improvements, the technology side of things is slow going. I have all the code still working, however I am afraid I am going to break my Arduino by using 6 different small strips of LED. I’m not sure how to integrate it and although I’m confident I did it correctly I’m afraid to turn it on. I booked a session with the makerspace for Arduino project help this Thursday so hopefully it should be done by then. I also just have to make the actual stand to hold all the pieces in place and make it look less raw. But all the major stuff is mostly done!!!