Feeling: underwhelmed
Today I got the entire unit togther (minus a camera casing due to some issues physically accessing the wiimote to turn it on, doh! - new case is tomorrow’s task) and actually had my first go at using the unit and seeing video from it’s point of view.
Ignoring the rubbish quality of the camera (still to decide if it’s worth investing in a more expensive one) I was somewhat dissappointed by the results. Jerkiness, slow response rate and inconsistent movement really brought the whole experience down.
This is an experience prototype so this failing is a big deal and must be changed. I’m unsure to what degree the shittiness (pardonez moi) is hardware or software related but some time is needed fine tuning, or starting over, the code.
I shot a quick video and merged it with a screencast of the webcam - I’ll post it later tonight as I’m on my iPhone at the moment.
I’m really beginning to lose faith in both the project and myself. sigh cry me a river…
Make Mark II
I hereby (embarrassingly) submit my Make Markl II blog post a few days late.
I don’t feel the need to write a short story summarising my Make Mk II phase as I have been continuously blogging my thoughts, experiences and issues from the beginning. However, nothing wrong with a few, short, points explaining the gist of things…
Mk I was very much experimental, I was toying with different approaches to try and find the one best suited to what I was doing. The majority of Mk I was a learning curve with a crude app and a failure of a prototype being the outcomes (in a good, “I’m learning” way). Mk II has taken what was learnt in Mk I and started again. I rebuilt the app from scratch and completely reinvented the pan/tilt unit using servos and the laser cutter. I also implemented a webcam and have connected the WiiMote to an onboard power supply therefore rejecting the need for batteries.
Mk II also saw the development of a project brand and identity. Time was spent crafting a visual language which encompassed many parts of the project and had some correlation with my design boards from People Design Technology phase.
The final products for Make Mk II
The purpose of this entry is to showcase the final products as they are at the end of Make Mk II. I have taken photographs of the camera unit and shot a quick video of the app in action:
And to demo my iPhone app, please grab a seat and enjoy this short video!>
Pre-Make Mark II deadline
Today I finished crafting the first iteration of the cardboard model of the pan-tilt camera unit. Yay! Unfortunately it was promptly broken (accidentally, of course) which means I’m begging to be allowed back into the laser cutter first thing tomorrow morning to recut the bits which snapped. Shouldn’t be a huge issue to fix and hopefully won’t take too long as I have all the files prepared and know what I’m doing this time around; that’s assuming I can actually get access to the laser cutter.
Here are some pre-disaster photos of the unit. Yay.
Anyway, I have much work to be getting on with; the app and website need significantly adjusted to take into account branding. Oh, one thing I managed to do (which I think is schweeeet) is to take my logo and pace it behind the WebView in PhoneGap so that when the user scrolls past the end of the page a logo in the snow peaks through - see photo below. It looks YUM! But there are still many issues which also need to be addressed, so I should do that now I guess… *sigh*
Far from finished
Well, sadly, this week has been a bit of a write-off with fundraising taking up more time than anticipated. I’m going to be in Manchester this weekend also which means I can’t be in the studio working away. *sigh*
I had a catch-up chat with Graham the other day which highlighted some issues; in a nut-shell I’m terrified at the amount of work that needs done and I’m getting slightly scared that I’m just not going to be able to cut it. In short, I spy panic town in the not so distant future.
Anyway, to summarise my chat with Graham, I am approaching my project more as a well developed proof of concept (I think). This is the antithesis of what I was setting out to do. In the early days of the project I wanted to create something which was very well executed, looked great and had a very specific purpose. I am now aiming to boil the concept down into it’s three main elements demonstrating them well and documenting them thoroughly.
I feel like I’m getting caught up in the product design element of the project now and neglecting my core skills as a graphic artist and interaction designer; many elements of the project still have a long way to go before I will accept them as anywhere near complete. As such I’ve made the decision to build my prototype camera/pan-tilt unit from card and ‘decorate’ it with the visual language and branding which will apply across the elements. This will bring a unity to everything while also making it very clear that I am not a product designer and hence not focused on the materials but instead the interactions (for lack of a better word) and user experience of the concept/service.
Regardless, I have mounted my pan tilt system onto an old tripod but in order to do this I had to seek the help of the workshop staff. No blog post would be entirely complete without photos so here goes…
Roddy preparing the cylinder which will securely hold the servo.
And a little wide angle shot to give an idea of scale.
Katy managed to pick up some IR LEDs from Maplin when she was home over the weekend for me. After successfully blowing up two of the few seven I had I succeeded in creating an ‘IR pen’ - i.e: an empty biro with an LED and a resistor soldered together inside.
Now I have a constant, non-flashing, IR source (but still without my second stepper motor) I can start building the second part of my project - the pan/tilt mount. Using the processing code I developed in my Zoom Phase (a hacked apart IDEO project, this one in fact) I made a make-shift pan rig. I mounted a HandyCam and the WiiMote to the top - professionally with sellotape - and recorded a Point of View video of how it looks. The result is somewhat jerky but it’s definite proof that the system can work (and in fact only needs a bit of dampening). Yay.
Below is a photograph of the setup (minus a WiiMote, well, it’s there but not attached as I’d dismantled it all to downlaod the video from the camera before I thought to photograph it - silly me).
I’m still not entirely sure how I’m going to build the entire pan/tilt unit nor am I sure if the motors will be strong enough. I may be spending a day in the Product Design studios tomorrow…
My, still nameless, project is coming along nicely; just not in the direction Iw ant. I am still waiting for components to arrive which is preventing me from building the mechanical part of the project. This is a huge setback as it is a key element of the project. I had hoped to spend time building it during the Make Mark 1 phase so that it could be perfected or refined for Make Mark 2 - unfortunately the way things are going now I may be hacking it together for MM2. Not ideal.
In lighter news, I have a fully functioning demo app (see image above). I say demo as some elements (i.e store and weather) I have left out as I deemed them too complex or time consuming to focus on. I do however have an app which accounts for multiple users and syncs with an online database. Currently however you cannot view video offline (I had hoped for viewed video to cache locally) but that may come in the future. For the time being however this is fine - at the Degree Show everything will be networked locally anyway so will act as a suitable demonstration; I’d really only need to think about these things if the app/system were to go live.
Here’s hoping I get my components tomorrow so I can power on ahead with the mechanical (and hardest) part of this project!
