Helmet design : Technical drawings, 3D Model and First prototype (expansive foam and filler) : completed.
- After a meeting with the technician of the plastic workshop on friday, I have to come on tuesday with my prototype and certainly make a 1:1 scale mold out of solid wood. Then vacuum form it in the plastic workshop (details on the blog).
- What's going inside the helmet : The head support will be acheived thanks to the inner structure of a construction helmet (solid hat). The filling will be done with special foam found in bike shops.
Video glasses : They will be ordered as soon as I find an interesting price according to what kind of device I'm looking for. It has to be done before the end of the term anyway. I'll defenitely avoid using a mini-LCD screen.
I'm in contact with Christine Bieslin Clark, Main Costume Designer for Tron:Legacy. She told me to contact IronHead Studios LA, specialized in costume and creature design for movies (Alien serie, Xmen, Batman, 300, ..). This could be very usefull, and not only on the technological aspect.
Software : I managed to upgrade my laptop to snow leopard with my DVD drive broken so I'm re-starting the experimentations with OpenFrameworks. I'll focus on producing a clean and improved version of a Point Cloud DOF for low-res diplays during the break. Indeed it's something that could be acheived only with an internet connection, my laptop and the laser captor whereever I am. The school workshops will be closed, no technical support available, it makes sense to focus on this part.
Glove : On the design aspect it should be weared by anyone so I bought a pair of unisize gloves for heavy duty works. I friend, fashion designer, is ready to help me to design the final product with the electronic embeded.
I also ordered the missing components on Sparkfun last week, it should arrive before the break if there is no problem with the US/UK customs. The circuit is meant to be basic and upgradable. It'll be first composed of :
Mini force sensing sensors x2
10k Ohms resistors
An arduino card
A dedicated electronic circuit (extremely basic)
Communication Arduino > Processin/OF via PureData ?
Cables, portability : I didn't really work on this specific part yet because I'm focusing on the helmet design. However, I found a project using a portable kinect thanks to a 12V AA portable battery (available on ebay or DIY). They cut the alimentation wire but I don't know exactly how, so I'm trying to get more info about this part at the moment.
In France, I'll also work on a very important point : How to connect everything together. VGA to DVI to Mac ports, Battery/voltage issues, etc..
Scenario : Most of all, I don't want to complexify the project at this point. Every pieces of narrative or scenario should help the future user to understand the project. It has to be simple, efficient and clear. I still have some ideas which could work, Thor was quite usefull and brought new ideas. I'm still looking for the places which could be interesting to experience through the suit's vision than finding a proper scenario without fully taking into account the environement. I'm still thinking of an adaptable/multiplayer exeperience according to the place. I'd like to experiments an live demo and scenarion at the V&A – greek marbles.
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