zero to one

does anyone else get scared that the last idea they've had for something is the last idea they'll ever had? that the magical place where they suddenly spring up from will just dry up and instead of making things you'll just spend the rest of your life trying to have an idea that never comes?

i think this sometimes. it's usually in a lull between projects like this one. i worry that the last project i've done is the last one i'll ever do, that for my next one my creativity will just go *poof*, and i'll spend the rest of my life in a creative block.

i then i start thinking about creativity, because i honestly have no idea where it comes from. and then i start freaking out a bit because i've based my whole life on something that i don't even understand.

i'm also in the middle of an identity crisis, which doesn't help.

the final thing

this is what it looks like, and that's what it all means.

final processing code:


//finds a word, sends a signal to the lilypad then stops the loop.

import processing.serial.*;

Serial port;

String[] tokens; //array
int counter;

void setup() {
size(100, 100);

println(Serial.list());
port = new Serial(this,Serial.list()[0], 9600);

//load file and split up words
String[] lines = loadStrings("http://twitter.com/fiowantscoffee");
String allText = join(lines, " ");
tokens = splitTokens(allText, " ,.?!:;[]-");

}

//so it's now pulling in that sentence and splitting it up.

void draw() {
background(255);
fill(0);

String s = tokens[counter];
counter = (counter +1) % tokens.length;
//look at the words one at a time please



// mood uno: cuppa -------------------------------------------------------------------------------


if (s.equals("coffee")) {
println("coffee");
port.write('A');
noLoop(); //DON'T LOOP IT BAHBEE.
}




// mood zwei: love -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

if (s.equals("love")) {
println("love");
port.write('B');
noLoop(); //DON'T LOOP IT BAHBEE.
}


// mood tres: sex -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

if (s.equals("sex")) {
println("sex");
port.write('C');
noLoop(); //DON'T LOOP IT BAHBEE.
}



// mood funf: fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

if (s.equals("fail")) {
println("fail");
port.write('D');
noLoop(); //DON'T LOOP IT BAHBEE.
}


// mood six: internet -------------------------------------------------------------------------------



if (s.equals("internet")) {
println("internet");
port.write('E');
noLoop(); //DON'T LOOP IT BAHBEE.
}


// mood seiben: twitter -------------------------------------------------------------------------------


if (s.equals("tweet")) {
println("tweet");
port.write('F');
noLoop(); //DON'T LOOP IT BAHBEE.
}




// mood acht: geeking out -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

if (s.equals("geek")) {
println("geek");
port.write('H');
noLoop(); //DON'T LOOP IT BAHBEE.
}

}


final arduino code:


//getting it to keep one light lit up

int timer = 10000000; // The higher the number, the slower the timing.




// geeking
int geek[] = { 3, 4 };

// fail
int fail[] = { 5, 6 };


//internet
int net[] = { 7, 8 };


//twitter
int twitter[] = { 9, 10 };

// cuppa
int drink[] = { 11, 12,};

// sex
int sex[] = { 13, 14 };

// love
int loves[] = { 15, 16 };







int num_pins = 18; // the number of pins (i.e. the length of the array)
int val;

void setup()
{
Serial.begin(9600);

int i;

for (i = 0; i < num_pins; i++) // the array elements are numbered from 0 to num_pins - 1

pinMode(drink[i], OUTPUT);


pinMode(loves[i], OUTPUT);


pinMode(sex[i], OUTPUT);


pinMode(fail[i], OUTPUT);


pinMode(net[i], OUTPUT);


pinMode(twitter[i], OUTPUT);



pinMode(geek[i], OUTPUT);





}

void loop()
{
int i;

if (Serial.available()) {
val = Serial.read();

//cuppa --------------------------------------------------------------------------


if (val == 'A') {
digitalWrite(drink[i], HIGH);
}
else {
digitalWrite(drink[i], LOW);
}



//love --------------------------------------------------------------------------

if (val == 'B') {
digitalWrite(loves[i], HIGH);
}
else {
digitalWrite(loves[i], LOW);
}


//sex --------------------------------------------------------------------------

if (val == 'C') {
digitalWrite(sex[i], HIGH);
}
else {
digitalWrite(sex[i], LOW);
}

//fail --------------------------------------------------------------------------



if (val == 'D') {
digitalWrite(fail[i], HIGH);
}
else {
digitalWrite(fail[i], LOW);
}


//internet----------------------------



if (val == 'E') {
digitalWrite(net[i], HIGH);
}
else {
digitalWrite(net[i], LOW);
}


//twitter --------------------------------------------------------------------------




if (val == 'F') {
digitalWrite(twitter[i], HIGH);
}
else {
digitalWrite(twitter[i], LOW);
}





//geeking out --------------------------------------------------------------------------



if (val == 'H') {
digitalWrite(geek[i], HIGH);
}
else {
digitalWrite(geek[i], LOW);
}


}


}


that's all a lot shorter than i wanted it to be, but oh well.

ok..

so half of it doesn't work, but lets concentrate on the nice half that does shall we?



LOOK! shiny.

i was originally going to have it looking for words that i had put into groups reflecting similar emotions, so the words coffee and tea would light up the coffee part, but as computers have no sense of common sense my approach of thinking "this technique worked for one word so it will work for a list of words" failed me. so i've just had to have one word for each bunch of LEDs. gutting. the app was behaving in a very different way, instead of going through the whole list of words in the program it just latched onto the first word it recognized, instead of going through the whole program to see if there was an earlier word that it recognized. i'm explaining that terribly and i apologize but that's what it was doing.

also, the LEDs signifying internet wont light up even though the circuit works. and the program looks fine.

this project has become very "flashish". i think i'm doing things right and i can't see any problems but it just says "NO" and wont listen to me.

making the final piece

my hands are seizing up after all this.



this is all the glorious stitching i've done.

half of which wasn't working when i tested it for reasons unknown. i've checked it for shorts and i can't see any problems. so i've just glued up every loose bit of thread or knot that is tempted to fray in the hope that it will magically work in the morning.



mmm.... glue.

you never know.

the main problems are that every circuit i've made including my prototypes were extremely temperamental. if the tiniest threads cross each other that's it borked. conductive thread likes to fray into the tiniest annoying crit ruining threads.

also, i was unable to use the lovely lilypad LEDs that i now have a new found love of that i used in my protoyupes. because it would have cost me around £100 to have enough LEDs (i've already spent around £85 on this project, which i think is enough on my income thank you), and they were out of stock anyway. so i decided to use these square high flux or whatever LEDs that i read about in "fashioning technology" that i mentioned in an earlier blog post. that scratched at my fingers and fell out of the fabric after i stitched them in and generally made me want to cry.

now lets see if my program works.

fingers fingers ow ow

it's blurry because my fingers are BLEEDING.

prickly prickly ow ow.

now i need to do the sewing! hope they all work...

i've decided.

i'm not going to define what feed the piece has to follow. i'm going to make several versions of the code that follow several different feeds. it's up to the user what feed they want to follow.

yes.

incredibly short blog post.

more on 100 feelings felt

These are some screen shots of the web site used to create the cards.







I like how soft and delicate it all feels, the burst of colour and the way the feelings fade in and out.

more patterny ideas

mmm... LED tetris. thinking of using this to show geeking out / gaming.


trying to make something resembling thought bubbles to represent bored.

i'm still trying to come up with the words that i am going to use... need to trawl through some twitter feeds methinks.

playing with pixels...

maybe 100 isn't enough.