Albert Hwang

Hi all -

So it looks like quite a bit of traffic is being directed to my blog from my Wiremap 256 vid. So, to accomodate all those visitors who are interested in just the Wiremap content, I decided to write this post.

First off, I have a Wiki entry on the Wiremap, where you can practically find anything and everything about the Wiremap. Also, you can browse only the Wiremap content on this blog.

Here are some general notes I have to all the types of messages I’m getting:
** If you want to be involved in the software development of the Wiremap:

So, I went to school to study theater, not CS.  While I would hope that the code is elegant, I can’t speak for it’s efficiency.  Although it would be cool to bump up the framerate on this thing, I’m really interested in seeing how much it can redefine digital 3d.  In any case, if you want to mess with the code, whether it be framerate optimization or a clever new idea, the existing code is available at the Wiki.  If you email it my way, I’ll be sure to post a YouTube vid.
** If you want to build your own Wiremap:

I’ve always sort of wanted to get a DIY kit out there, but never got around to it. Well, I’ll start developing a DIY kit over the next couple of months. Probably through the Wiki, so that other people can share and contribute to the project.

** If you want the Wiremap 256:

Okay, I haven’t been getting any emails like this… yet… but I am interested in getting this project up in a public space in or very close to NYC. So, if you or anybody you know has a public space that could use this, send me a note.

Also, I have an interesting request. I’m looking for people or people who know people who have worked with water fountains. If you thought the Wiremap was cool, check out the design for the mirage. Of course, if I want to take this seriously, I’ll need to do quite a bit of R&D.

Questions? Hit me up at: hwang (dot) al (at) gmail (dot) com

Rock on. Once again thanks for all the traffic, and come back soon!

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Here’s a nice little combo of hat tricks:

Not really much to say about it because wysiwyg (can you use ‘wysiwyg’ like that?).  I’ve seen not too many, but a few hat tricks in clubs and whatnot – and as much youtube dancing, juggling, and contact juggling there is, there’s really not much in line of killer hat tricks.

In other movement news, I’m going to be performing a dance piece come the end of January.  I’ve been in rehearsals with Morgan Murphey for a while now.  We’re aiming for thirty minutes of material.  More news will be posted when we figure it out.

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So, a little background before I explain the Rescaler. The way our brains build the sensation of depth by comparing the differences between the left and right eye.  3d movies work by giving you different images for your right and left eye.

So I’ve been thinking, what happens if you give someone really wide-set eyes?  What I mean to say is, what happens to the world when the visual information we get isn’t separated by 2.75 inches (the average distance between our eyes), but instead is separated by say a foot apart.

So Dave Tennent and I got together and recorded a scene with two cameras, set 6 feet apart.  Get yerself some 3d glasses and check out these shots:

Although the first image looks like a crumpled tissue, it’s actually a bed sheet I tossed into the air.  With your eyes set 6 feet apart, the full-sized sheet looks like it is only about 4″ by 5″.

The second image is me.  The size makes it seem like you’d be able to pick me up.  That’s because, to scale, I should look like I’m about 3 inches tall.

Theoretically, you could rescale anything. If you and your friend live at the top of a hill but a mile a part, you could rescale your city to look like a scale model. You could team up with a friend who lives a mile away to rescale some clouds and make them pretty awesome 3d images.

***

Well, a part of me wanted to achieve this rescaling without having to go way too digital, so I built a geeky-looking device with mirrors that rescales the space around me. Take a look:

This is a photo of me looking at the camera through the rescaling device. In the photo, you can see both of my eyes – set about an inch outside my face on either side. By using mirrors, I can virtually project my eyes, which sit about 2.75 inches apart, to an arrangement that is 6.5 inches apart, and two inches back.

Here’s a close-up of one of the eyes:

This photo gives you a better sense of how I built the thing.  That’s just foam core, hot glue, and a few mirrors.  Both mirrors are at precisely 45 degrees.

The effect is stunning.  Your depth perception gets a whole lot better, especially when looking at objects that are far away.  Because things are scaled down, my house sort of looks like a doll house.

Also, because this is so foreign to my brain, it all looks rather virtual.  The space I’m looking at is a virtual extension of a 3d universe that isn’t biologically natural to me.  It feels like I’m playing a video game or interacting with a digital 3d environment.

And, to the same end, I get a little queazy looking through this thing.  : P

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Ever see those eight year old kids with wheels in their shoes?  Those shoes are called Heelys, and I’ve owned a pair for a couple years now.

Sometime last week I saw a Jamiroquai music video where Jay Kay grabs onto the back of a moving car and grinds his feet into the ground, sending off sparks behind him.

I thought it’d be awesome to try this with my Heelys.  Here’s what I came up with:

That’s one of my Heelys with a customized lighter taped to the side of it.  I tampered with the flintlock to make the sparks shoot in the opposite direction (not hidden inside the metal guard), and I removed the butane lever.

Here’s another photo from underneath:

There are two lighters taped to this shoe, one on the left side and one on the right.  Now, this is the left shoe, the one that I break with, so the idea is that when I ride everything is totally normal, but when I break, I spark up.

And this is the end result.  I’ve tried it in the street, and it totally works!  I was going to film it today, but it was raining really hard, so that video will have to come later.

After doing all this work, I discovered that some people have already done this, but with these things called Tail Devils, which are attachments designed for skateboards.  Pretty cool stuff, definitely more professional and sleeker than my homemade custom design.  Although, I have to say, I think I feel better custom-designing my geekdom than buying it.  Look for a video soon.

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I’ve been doing some additional Wiremap programming.  Check it out:

This video also features three programs from Joaquim Virgili from Spain.  He got in contact with me via YouTube after seeing a couple of my other YouTube videos.

Sharing the Wiremap with another coder was a very cool experience.  If anybody else is interested in playing with the code, I’ll gladly render it in the Wiremap 256, record it and post a video.

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Yesterday I gave a talk at Dorkbot. I showed off the smaller Wiremap, answered a bunch of questions, and did a VJ set with a few new components I built for performance purporses. The program (including new components) and the source code can be seen here.

There were a few questions about the Wiremap 256.  It’s a lot bigger and it has a better resolution.  If you want to get a sense of it’s size and resolution, take a gander at the video.

If anybody has any questions or wants to play around with the code, feel free.  If you want I’ll be able to run it and post a video on youtube.

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is a monthly event giving people the opportunity to share their latest project that involves doing something interesting with electricity. In New York, meetings happen on the first Wednesday of every month and are open to the general public. If you’re interested in the Wiremap stuff, you should definitely go check it out.

At this upcoming meeting, November 1st, I’ll be giving a talk about the Wiremap as well as a demonstration of Wiremap 1.01. Meetings are at 7pm, usually in a space in Soho called Location1. Come check it out and say hi.

Mostly, I’ll be rambling on about my experiences with the distinctions between digital 3d and analogue 3d, and where one ends and the next begins. Should be a good time.

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While getting myself uber-involved with the coding and configuration of the Wiremap, sometimes I forget to just relax and have a good time w/ it:

Although I’ve never played around with it, the wiremap visualizer reminds me of The Abstractor, by Ji Lee, the guy behind the Bubble Project. It takes 2d information and transforms it into 1d info, which is somehow visually more yummy. It’s an abstraction of an easily recognizable 2d image. So, if you throw that abstraction, that 1 dimension, across a 2d array, just like the wiremap, you get a 3d abstraction of music.

Werd.

The really cool thing about all of this is that it’s way easier to build than a 3d volumetric renderer. This concept doesn’t need any accurate hole-drilling, straight edges, or calculators. All it needs is a projector and a bunch of white thread.

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Isn’t it astounding how much we use our voices to talk to computers nowadays? Whenevever I call customer service, I must first talk to the computer receptionist who wants to direct my call. I picture her as an anamatronic lady from the late 80s, held up with cobwebbed hydraulic pistons. How long have I been on speaking terms with a computer?

Instead of feeling taken advantage of by yet another computer, here are a few things you can do to take advantage of the situation.

• Talk to the computer with a thick Accent. Jar Jar Binks makes for a good time.
• Pretend you’re 70 and have never talked to a computer before. Say something like “Hi, I’m, calling regarding an issue with my service. I was reviewing my bill the other…” When it cuts you off, just repeat what you said, but louder.
• Just say, “blahbudubadubaduba” over and over again. While neither computers nor humans understand what you’re saying, computers invariably give you the benefit of the doubt and sincerely apologize when they don’t understand.
• Of course, you can always say “customer service representative” over and over again. If the computer insists that it’s only trying to help you by correctly directing your call, argue with it.

At any rate, I decided to hack my voicemail. I got a Skype account and called myself and a friend to capture the default prerecorded voicemail message. Then I edited it in Adobe Audition, and put it back into my phone.

The first draft of my altered voicemail was just the vanilla regular version of the default voicemail plus the woman saying “one is the loneliest number.” I made it from the following audio clips:

1, is, the, ‘l’, tone, leave, message, number.

But it didn’t sound right, and a lot of it was because of the limited source material I had. A possible answer for this is to drop ten bucks into a Skype account to capture more from Cingular’s voicemail interface (that thing you listen to when you retrieve your voicemail). She talks a lot there.

So I ditched that effort and tried to imagine what would happen if the anamatronic lady broke down – here’s what I came up with.

Voicemail Message.

And here’s a screenshot of the audio mix of the ‘or’ sequence at the end of the message:

Click to enlarge in new window

I’ve also made a customizable version for anybody to use. Here’s how:

1. Download this file
2. Dial into your voicemail and navigate to change your message
3. Play the file, pausing when you should say your name
4. Say your name
5. Continue to play the rest of the file

Enjoy!

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So while I was building this, I knew that there was not much of a margin of error, and quite a few opportunities for error to add up. Each wire uses 4 pixels, and each pixel is only about a millimeter wide. Accounting for the lame straight edge (a taught string), inacurate drilling, and blurring of the projection image, I was prepared to cut every other wire if blurring was too much. Accordingly, while I wanted to call it “Wiremap 256,” I decided to lay off until I was certain that there would actually be two hundred and fifty six wires in the final project.

Well, I finished putting it all together and callibrating it this week, and am proud to call it Wiremap 256. Have a look:

Like always, the video isn’t really a good representation of the experience of standing in front of a volumetric renderer, but hey, you sorta get the idea.

I mention some Java applets in my video, here they are:

• http://www.phedhex.com/wiremap/256/calib/
• http://www.phedhex.com/wiremap/256/globe/
• http://www.phedhex.com/wiremap/256/cube/

Feel free to take a look at the source code and play around with it (a link to the code is available at the bottom of each page). All of the programming was done in the Processing environment. If you have any questions regarding the code, feel free to email me.

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