Michael Ang

For my very first Pixel by Pixel class with Danny Rozin I attempted to duplicate an 1889 self-portrait by Van Gogh using only coloured pushpins.

Here are pictures of Van Gogh by Pixels on the floor at ITP. The pics could be a little better — the piece does better with more diffuse lighting. The first assignment in Pixel by Pixel was completely not based on the computer, and was perhaps one of the most satisfying. I showed it in class without explaining the origin, and after a few seconds people got it. Neat!

My good friend Jesse was kind enough to donate his oscilloscope to our campaign to saturate the world with blinky lights.

I used it to test out my ADXL210 accelerometer that I’m using for Smash Your Computer. Here are the ADXL210 construction pics.

If you haven’t wanted to smash your computer at some point you are neither a computer user nor hacker (and then how would you be reading this page?)

The goal for Smash Your Computer is to use the processing power of the computer to provide a cathartic simulation of its own destruction. The installation consists of a beige computer case in front of a projection screen and a foam rubber sledgehammer that the participant uses to hit the case. Sensors in the case determine the force and direction of the sledgehammer and drive a software physical model that is used to generate graphics of the case breaking apart. Hitting the case in a different direction or with a different force causes the simulated case to break apart appropriately.

Preliminary sketches:

PyODE is a Python wrapper around the Open Dynamics Engine. ODE does rigid body simulation including collision detection and friction.

I had to modify the source code for their third tutorial to make it work with my version of cgkit (2.0.0alpha5). Code on the next page. You can also press ‘d’ to drop a new object.

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