DM Inspired
Daniel Murray's protfolio
RESEARCH
In an uncertain future, creative thinking will be the catalyst necessary to solve problems created by the modern day. Education should teach students to deal with the outside to deal with the outside world. Developed at the height of the industrial revolution, the current education system has failed to keep pace with changes in the outside world. At a TED conference, Ken Robinson described the similarities between schools and factories: pupils divided by subject and age, factories by assembly lines and manufacturing dates. The system still reflects the need to produce workers fit for the factory, which is no longer as relevant in today's industry
Where children find their talent lies in a creative subject, such as music, dancing or design they are discouraged from following it both at school and at home. At school because of lack of resources, at home because these careers don't have the prospects and security of a lawyer or scientist. Talents need the right environment to develop. Students require opportunities to learn, grow and strive for excellence.
The one element of primary research the was undertaken was Observation - looking at pre-school children and comparing behaviour against 18 year olds who have just finished full time education. The observations focussed on how the subject played and spent their free time. Younger children when playing alone or together choose activities that involve imagination or creating something. School playground games are a great example of this; often being made up and changed as the children played.
In contrast, the older teens tended to play in a way that took practice and skill, and may involve competition. One of the subjects said that they had sometimes spent as many as 12 hours just doing one activity; yet they continued to say that they did not think they had a talent.
When playing in a group, teens changed how they played to a more energetic activity such as football, but it was still about practice, skill and competition.
PROJECT AIMS
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To make a medium on which someone can be creative, so they can potentially discover a talent
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To encourage use of the imagination of the user, but still require skill.
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To provide the potential for continuous creative development.
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To produce a toy which can be integrated into play.
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This project does not have the scope and power to change things inside the education system, so what is envisaged is a product that is used at home to help redress the lack of emphasis on creativity in the current educational system.
SOLUTION
After consideration the humanoid controller seemed to be the best solution. It controls the modern software for animation in Autodesk Maya while incorporating old methods of stop motion animation. The humanoid controller is designed using two types of joint motion, a bicep curling motion and a medial rotation. Designed this way, the configuration of these joints can be changed to make new controllers such as hands or quadrupeds. The produced model is 1.5 times bigger than the designed size, this is because of the size of the electronics available. The real size of the humanoid controller would stand at 30cm tall. Five buttons are all that is needed to control the main functions of Maya so that the user can animate solely from the controller.
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ELECTRONICS
It was decided that potentiometers would be the way to produce the model, therefore the mechanical side to the controller was designed around their fixed size. Digital encoders would have a more accurate reading as they measure rotational placement compared to resistance inside a potentiometer. Using resistance as the output put created problems when the first circuit was produced with socket wires and breadboard. 16 potentiometers cover the configuration of the humanoid, each one with an individual signal wire. Each limb has a rail wire for ground and power to connect the potentiometers in series.
PROGRAMMING
ARDUINO
The Arduino mega receives all 21 signals 9 times a second. 16 analogue potentiometer signals and 5 digital button signal. The Arduino software prints the values to the serial monitor.
PYTHON
Python takes the string of values from the serial monitor. Python knows what to expect so checks incoming string of values against that. Python splits the string into a dictionary of values and attaches the values and the needed mel attributes to the command port.
MEL
Mel first sets up the command port, and checks for Python signals. Once the line of code is received Mel executes the commands inside Maya. Each potentiometer relates to one attribute on the rigged character
