Get Physical!

It's all done! Hard to believe the show is already over. It was a blast though, a lot of people came by so that was nice as well. Here's the only good picture I had from the show (I thought for sure I took more). Looking forward to grabbing Sean's pictures and movies.

There's the iGrind in all of it's glory!

A close up of the display (and yes, all of these features are false).

I'm still considering doing some more filing for documentation, just so I can demonstrate everything that the project did.

One More Thing...

Remnants of the stencil.

Final product!

It's Done?!

I can't believe it either, but I think I'm done!! I bought the spray paint this morning, started working on it in the afternoon, and before I knew it I was complete! It's definitely nice to have everything done far before Thursday's class...so any improvements or suggestions are welcome!

I like the look, although in person the gray came out a little too dark. The massive Apple on top is a nice touch - I was intending on doing a small one but messed up, so I was forced to do a really big one! The whole time I was imagining the new Macbooks, with the aluminum and black glass (as opposed to the whit plastic Macbooks).

Enough words though, here are some pictures!

Spray paint, Wiimotes, and force cups...not sure what else I could ever need.

I should have thought ahead on this one...hopefully the landlords don't come by anytime soon!! (Or read this blog...)

Here's a close-up of the handle, quite sturdy. It does through the entire wheel and then has an extra brace on the outside.

Here's the box (without the handle). Notice the large Apple!

And that's it! All done!

Great to be done. Once again any suggestions are welcome. The computer won't go inside, only because I don't want to trust flimsy cardboard with my computer. It should work though, since you need the display of the laptop anyways. And everybody who's played it has really enjoyed it even though the laptop is out. Feels so good to actually have a project to show (that works!)

First Steps Shots

Here are some shots of the final box built (and drying from the ridiculous amounts of glue!)

Drying, but it's built!

Close up! Shouldn't of put glue on carpet...

Prototype Shots

Here's some shots of the prototype version I built to test out the mechanics.

This is where the Wiimote goes.

A shot of the lazy susan piece.

And this is what the whole package looks like!

Almost Done?

So here's some more progress on the organ grinder - with more pictures of the process to come!

So here's the coding on the computer. Users can select any of the songs available, and in fact any mp3 can be added (in case of requests).

Here's a snippet of the program - "iGrind"

The box with one piece of cardboard attached. It's sturdy enough to take some abuse.

The box with all of the sides covered. Tracy's working on the fancy cardboard handle.

It's done! Completely turnable handle - which actually makes the entire project feel much better - it provides some resistance, and forces users to not spin it too fast.

A shot of the inside of the box. It's only a Wiimote!

The project's starting to shape up! I still need to decide the aesthetic for the project. I'm leaning towards wild and crazy right now, but we'll see. I'd like to go the whole "smooth and slick" iPod look, but still use the cardboard.

The code is also working well enough. It plays fast, normal, and slow. The wheel feels responsive, but I do wish it could be more so. I was originally using the accelerometer raw data, but the numbers became very complicated, so I just used the orientation sensors. It gets the job done, but if you spin it too fast it doesn't pick up anything. Thankfully the handle slows people down!

Pictures (with progress tomorrow)

So here are some pictures! I figured we need to document our progress, so I thought I'd take some (relatively?) useful pictures. I have an unexpected break of time tomorrow before class, so much of the construction/designing/coding will be done then (and the blog will be updated accordingly).

The tools of the trade: cardboard, wood, pencils, glue, and screws.

A nice cliche shot down the wood pieces - DEPTH OF FIELD!

A test to see if the cardboard would look good with colored pencils...

The colored pencils came out surprisingly nice! I think the box would look great like that instead of sharpie, but would that be the best way to do it? (and notice how the pencils are nicely laid across the cardboard, CLEARLY IN USE!)

How the corners of the box will be assembled.

I imagine that should be sturdy enough (especially with some glue in-between)

And that's it so far. I know it's not much, but there will be more tomorrow! In class I'd like to get the code working like I want it to. All I need to do with the code is register rotations (which it's doing, I just have to hook it up to the audio file) and figure out variable speed. It's coming together!