Final Project Idea

As a conceptual focus for our Final Project, Jana and I are considering the complex social fabric of our university. Namely, the heavy focus on our perceptions of perfection and our ideas surrounding productivity. Vox Media created a video essay on the nature of our perceptions of productivity, describing how we often consider forms of self-care as precursors and necessary acts for the sake of our own professional, academic and all-around utilitarian productivity. This notion is frequently reproduced at NYUAD as we witness many slouched students scattered around our campus stressing about the next assignment due, or whether they have a worthwhile internship lined up for summer.

As a conceptual attendance sheet, our project would be placed one of the entrances to the exhibit, asking visitors to input data pertaining to their relationship to leisure, self-care, and perceptions and indicators of productivity.

As a way of measuring these relationships, we collect the following data from visitors: level of stress (pressure sensor), hours of sleep (typed input). We also want to understand the current state of mind an individual is experiencing upon entry to the show. To determine this, we will use Paul Ekman’s five foundational emotions (joy, sadness, disgust, fear, anger). Here we will use a keypad or coloured buttons.

 

Libraries; sound, minim.

This data, after testing, will be visualized into a live animation. The three biggest fears with anticipating are

1) coding simple data into a visually compelling form;

2) creating reliable and durable forms of input;

3) collecting cumulative data that relies on user involvement.

 

Classwork:

PImage source;
int increment=10;
float diam;
float z;
void setup() {
  size(512, 512, P3D);
  source = loadImage("baboon.png");
  noStroke();
}

void draw() {
  background(0);
  rotateY (0.5);
  source.loadPixels();
  for (int y=0; y<height; y+=increment) {
    for (int x=0; x<width; x+=increment) {
      int loc = x+(y*width);
      color pix=source.pixels[loc];
      diam = map(brightness(pix), 0, 255, 1, 5)*map(mouseX, 1, width, 10, 30);
      pushMatrix();
      translate (x, y, diam);
      fill(pix);
      box(diam/5);
      popMatrix();
    }
  }
  source.updatePixels();
  
}

 

 

Notes on Final Project:

A toggle button to see the path of movement of the objects in space, as opposed to the objects themselves. Also between showing a transparent fill, or just stroke.

Add noise to the movement path.