High-Low Tech

Drawing the TinySynth

sam — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 19:09:59 +0000

TinySynth is a project oriented around a paper-craft synthesizer that can be built with a handful of components and conductive inks. It explores the possibilities presented by crafting on a paper substrate. There’s more information here, from a workshop that we conducted at SparkFun Electronics.

Playing a note.

Adding a speaker cone.

Participant’s example from the SparkFun Workshop.
People
Sam Jacoby
Leah Buechley

DressCode

jacobsj — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 18:37:39 +0000

Computational design is the practice of using programing to create and modify form, structure and ornamentation. Through computational design it is possible to create unique, beautiful, functional and personal objects and experience a rewarding creative process through programing. Unfortunately, use of programming as a medium for art and design, especially by young people and non-professionals is limited. Many people consider computer programing to be a highly specialized, difficult and inaccessible activity that only has relevance as a career path rather than as a mode of personal expression.

By finding ways to connect programing to the production of personally relevant beautiful physical objects, it is possible to expand the number and types of people who are both interested in and empowered to participate in creative programming. DressCode is a programming language and enviroment for designing and building decorative and functional artifacts.

Download the alpha version of DressCode here

Note: DressCode is still in development.

DressCode wiki and code reference

DressCode source on Github

Code:

DressCode’s programing language is designed to support 2D visual design and fabrication.The API includes methods for defining and manipulating shapes, as well as polygon boolean operations.

Design:

The environment supports real time changes in the design based on changes made in the program. It includes a set of graphical selection tools designed to work in conjunction with process of writing code.

Fabricate:

You can export your designs from DressCode to a vector format that is compatible with two-axis fabrication machines including laser cutters, vinyl cutters, computer-controlled embroidery machines, inkjet printers and CNC milling machines.

Craft:

DressCode includes templates that allow the user to write code for a specific crafts, like clothing and jewlerly. Once the design for the craft has been fabricated, it can be assembled using traditional crafting methods.

People

Jennifer Jacobs

Photos

i2 Camp: Interactive Monsters

Leah — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 15:18:38 +0000

Summer 2013

The i2 Camp organization will be teaching a series of workshops in New York, Massachusetts, and New Jersey based on the e-textiles curriculum Kanjun designed. For more information and to register, see: http://www.i2camp.org/schedule.html?school=The%20Chapin%20School,%20NY&age=Entering%207th-8th%20Grade&course=68

StoryClip

sam — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 03:00:42 +0000

StoryClip is a software-hardware tool that allows you to record sounds and attach them to specific conductive regions in a drawing. Metal clips attach to the edge of a sheet of paper, and turn conductive drawings (either with conductive ink or graphite) into capacitive touch buttons.

Painting with conductive silver ink.

An example of a workshop participant’s work:

People
Sam Jacoby
Leah Buechley

StoryClip Paper

sam — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 15:53:01 +0000

Sam Jacoby and Leah Buechley, “Drawing the Electric: Storytelling with Conductive Ink” (forthcoming), IDC 2013.

Shakerag Workshop

Leah — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 16:30:44 +0000

June 9-15, 2013

Leah will be teaching a workshop titled Crafting Electricity at Shakerag in Sewanee Tennessee. For more information and to register see: http://www.shakerag.org/.

Untoolkit paper

Mellis — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 23:59:55 +0000

David Mellis, Sam Jacoby, Leah Buechley, Hannah Perner-Wilson, Jie Qi, “Microcontrollers as Material: Crafting Circuits with Paper, Conductive Ink, Electronic Components, and an ‘Untoolkit’” (forthcoming), TEI 2013.

Codeable Objects Paper

jacobsj — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:48:28 +0000

Jacobs J., Buechley, L., “ Codeable Objects: Computational Design and Digital Fabrication for Novice Programmers“. To be included in Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Paris, France, April 2

Fab Learn Conference

jacobsj — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:37:22 +0000

We were invited to conduct a lamp-building workshop at the Stanford Transformative Technologies Learning Lab using a new version of the Codeable Objects lamp software. During the workshop, educators used a combination of computational design and laser cutters to create colorful paper lamps, while discussing the educational potential of combining programing with digital fabrication.

FabLearn Conference, October 17^th 2012

Tiny AVR Programmer available from SparkFun

Mellis — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 19:33:55 +0000

The Tiny AVR Programmer is now available from SparkFun Electronics. This programmer, developed by David A. Mellis in High-Low Tech, makes it easy to program the low-cost ATtiny45/85 and ATtiny44/84 microcontrollers from Atmel. (See the tutorial on using the TinyProgrammer for details.) Together with our tutorial on programming ATtiny microcontrollers from Arduino, the Tiny Programmer makes it easy to build projects using low-cost components. For an example, see this tutorial on building microcontroller circuits with copper tape.

The Tiny Programmer is based on the USBtiny firmware by Dick Streefland and the V-USB firmware by Objective Development, along with the USBtinyISP from Adafruit Industries. Jordan McConnell developed the production version of the programmer for SparkFun.

Get the Tiny AVR Programmer from SparkFun.