Being makes me forget to update my blog, I definitely need to watch this as it is my documentation. It came as a surprise that it was already 11 days ago that I had updated this blog!
Therefore I am going to make it up to date, hardcore updating.
Sunday, 13 November 2011
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
Laser printing and etching
01-11
The Eagle file is exported into Illustrator and the only thing Rik and myself needed to include the drillholes. Geert Langereis came with a great solution and the procedure was done in 5 minutes! Next we got on the bike to the guys of Easy Laser. One we got there, we left our files and there were some test runs to see how deep the laser needed to 'print' our files. Besides this, we discussed how to cut the PCB into a nice round shape, how we could etch the print and how to drill the holes fast. After a discussion in Vertigo, we got sent to the GTD, they are specialized in electronics and much more. We arranged a drill in which we could drill the 2500 holes ourselves. This would probably even be faster than drilling the holes in a machine. As a last, we visited Brigatti to buy buy sodium as an etching substance and retrieved the PCB from Easy Laser. The result be on the blog as soon as I have received the pictures.
02-11
This morning we had planned to etch and we did (only it also took us the afternoon:P), Rik arranged a 'zuurkast' and a bowl to etch the PCB, which was great, as we did not have to worry about toxins. The guys there were very helpful and helped us out a lot. At first, the sodium solution did not bite of the copper at all. Then one of the scientists proposed to use fuming nitric acid. At the moment we put it on there, we found out that there was a layer on the copper, which is why the sodium was not able to react. We polished the entire pcb with nitric acid until we saw the 'real' copper, which was much shinier than the copper before. After half an hour in the sodium solution, we had a 'bare PCB'. We polished the left-overs of with nitric acid. When we washed of the paint with thinner, we saw that a lot of tracks had been broken by the nitric acid, which means that the PCB is 'broken'. This was a big bummer... What we do next depends on the damage of the tracks, which we will also discuss with Geert Langereis
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
SDL activity: Full Power
As I mentioned before I am working on an LED-clock with Rik Bootsman. Rik performed a lot of work on the project already while I was busy with the Reporter Bootcamp, ID'11 and the DDW itself. He already made a large chunk of the PCB in Eagle. The only thing I had to do was connecting the datapins and latchpins last Sunday. We worked on the PCB as well as the DCF77 (which was going to receive the time). Unfortunately we could not get the latter working. This is why we came up with a new solution; making a button attached to the Arduino which would reset the time to a default time. This looks like a 'simple' alternative, but we will discuss it with Geert of the e-lab probably before we continue with it.
As Rik finished the PCB on Sunday, Monday was the day to double-check our PCB en look for the options to laserprint it at the university. The laserprinter however, did not agree. It broke last week.. Chet however made a quick phone call to the guys of Easy Laser and they could help us the next day! So on Tuesday it was going to be laserday.It also took us quite some time to export the files properly in illustrator (to and .eps file) with the drill holes in it as well. This would make the drilling of the holes easier, because the drill will 'lead itself into the drillhole' so to speak. Serge Offermans showed us how to do this in a short time, but this way did not include the holes. As a last thing, we made the ISD-chip in Eagle as well, to use a test for the laserprinter.
Next post will be about the printing itself and how we arranged a good place to etch and drill
As Rik finished the PCB on Sunday, Monday was the day to double-check our PCB en look for the options to laserprint it at the university. The laserprinter however, did not agree. It broke last week.. Chet however made a quick phone call to the guys of Easy Laser and they could help us the next day! So on Tuesday it was going to be laserday.It also took us quite some time to export the files properly in illustrator (to and .eps file) with the drill holes in it as well. This would make the drilling of the holes easier, because the drill will 'lead itself into the drillhole' so to speak. Serge Offermans showed us how to do this in a short time, but this way did not include the holes. As a last thing, we made the ISD-chip in Eagle as well, to use a test for the laserprinter.
Next post will be about the printing itself and how we arranged a good place to etch and drill
Saturday, 29 October 2011
Time flies... DG505
Just found out that it has been such a long time since I properly wrote something down. The midterm and assignment deadline, the reporter bootcamp and the Dutch Design Week (DDW) have taken a lot of time. From now on, I will maintain my blog better and will document the activities of the past weeks as well
DG505:
Making a report, while organizing a reporter bootcamp does not really fit together, but thanks to the dedicated committee it became very feasible. After I gave a warm welcome to the bootcampers, I immediately went to the meeting to create the final report. In the weekend I had already prepared my parts of the work, which resulted in a good thing; finishing my work quickly! This way, I could continue my support at the bootcamp sooner than expected. In hindsight, I think the team worked good all together, but sometimes a bit inefficient. I want to thank the guys for the dedication once more.
The final report can be found at: http://www.student.tue.nl/Y/R.Bootsman/Jesse/FinalReportDG505.pdf
My reflection at: http://www.student.tue.nl/Y/R.Bootsman/Jesse/FinalReflectionDG505.pdf
I put the files on the W-drive of Rik, because my computer denied my existence (notebook service centre fixed it in 5 minutes).
Several hours ago I received my first official feedback of this semester! I must say that it is pretty good. my understanding of the models themselves and how they are used is good. Everything which the assigner marked (in competencies and process) is marked as substantially. It is this sentence which makes me proud: 'Has acquired good insight in the use & integration of the models in the context of business decisions'. This is the reason why I signed up for the assignment; getting a more realistic approach on business and the influence of cost. There is (luckily) also something which can be improved; the translation of the plan into the number, still is vague sometimes. Next time, when I use these models and skills I have gained, I will try to make a better overview of the 'cost-translation'.
DG505:
Making a report, while organizing a reporter bootcamp does not really fit together, but thanks to the dedicated committee it became very feasible. After I gave a warm welcome to the bootcampers, I immediately went to the meeting to create the final report. In the weekend I had already prepared my parts of the work, which resulted in a good thing; finishing my work quickly! This way, I could continue my support at the bootcamp sooner than expected. In hindsight, I think the team worked good all together, but sometimes a bit inefficient. I want to thank the guys for the dedication once more.
The final report can be found at: http://www.student.tue.nl/Y/R.Bootsman/Jesse/FinalReportDG505.pdf
My reflection at: http://www.student.tue.nl/Y/R.Bootsman/Jesse/FinalReflectionDG505.pdf
I put the files on the W-drive of Rik, because my computer denied my existence (notebook service centre fixed it in 5 minutes).
Several hours ago I received my first official feedback of this semester! I must say that it is pretty good. my understanding of the models themselves and how they are used is good. Everything which the assigner marked (in competencies and process) is marked as substantially. It is this sentence which makes me proud: 'Has acquired good insight in the use & integration of the models in the context of business decisions'. This is the reason why I signed up for the assignment; getting a more realistic approach on business and the influence of cost. There is (luckily) also something which can be improved; the translation of the plan into the number, still is vague sometimes. Next time, when I use these models and skills I have gained, I will try to make a better overview of the 'cost-translation'.
Sunday, 9 October 2011
Project meeting; combining the ideas
7-10
During our coach meeting today, there was a slight emphasis on how we as a group intend to combine the concepts of the individuals into one room/area for the workplace. I will come back to later in this post, as there is some additional information necessary to explain how we combined them.
Mariette explained her ideas. One of them consisted of clouds, which people can use to be transported around. This proves how games can act as a very good source of inspiration, as this is related to the Mario games of Nintendo.
Jelmer had a very productive day on Thursday which resulted in a couple of ideas, his latest involving a waterfall which can be used as an interactive wall for a non-fixed purpose yet.
My concept, being the 'liquid light' idea (which is not a very good name for the concept actually) and those of Jelmer and Mariette can be integrated with each other pretty good. We have decided to present this during the mid-term exhibition. The clouds of Mariette will move around in an oval/circular shape. At one moment, they an animation will 'take 2D clouds upward'. Clouds natural behaviour is that they evaporate into rain, rain is water of course --> Waterfall. The water at the bottom will be used by people, at the midterm for my light activation. In other words, Jelmer's waterfall is the link between the concepts of Mariette and myself. The link will be clearly visible on the posters, which will be blend in with each other. Below you can see the poster which Jelmer made:
During our coach meeting today, there was a slight emphasis on how we as a group intend to combine the concepts of the individuals into one room/area for the workplace. I will come back to later in this post, as there is some additional information necessary to explain how we combined them.
Mariette explained her ideas. One of them consisted of clouds, which people can use to be transported around. This proves how games can act as a very good source of inspiration, as this is related to the Mario games of Nintendo.
Jelmer had a very productive day on Thursday which resulted in a couple of ideas, his latest involving a waterfall which can be used as an interactive wall for a non-fixed purpose yet.
My concept, being the 'liquid light' idea (which is not a very good name for the concept actually) and those of Jelmer and Mariette can be integrated with each other pretty good. We have decided to present this during the mid-term exhibition. The clouds of Mariette will move around in an oval/circular shape. At one moment, they an animation will 'take 2D clouds upward'. Clouds natural behaviour is that they evaporate into rain, rain is water of course --> Waterfall. The water at the bottom will be used by people, at the midterm for my light activation. In other words, Jelmer's waterfall is the link between the concepts of Mariette and myself. The link will be clearly visible on the posters, which will be blend in with each other. Below you can see the poster which Jelmer made:
Another thing we discussed in this meeting is that we could add a more practical dimension in our concepts. In my case, it could be a way to focus the light on a particular area of the room. There are a lot of different ways to include things like this, which I want to explore on the midterm exhibition by engaging discussions with people about this area.
Thursday, 6 October 2011
analysing frustration
Concept choosing day! Making the decisions which ideas have more potential is always hard, especially when having an opinion on them. This, again, was the reason to fall back on the QOC- analysis, something I learned in the UFP-Basics assignment. It is becoming a routine in my decision making process lately. As a start, I created 4 criteria. The first was the amount of playfulness, as this is the goal of the project. Secondly, the feasibility is an important factor at this point. I want to create the products of the concepts and test with them. Thirdly, I wondered how long people would be keep being interested in the interaction, as I want to have a connection to the process of creating with my concept. As the last criteria, I decided, at first, to go with 'How well does it fit the Atelier van Lieshout'. Later I changed into 'can it be used anywhere?'. The urge was that my final concept could be implemented in multiple places, not only the AVL.My goal was to cut down to two ideas.
This worked out great! After adding a multiplier of 2 to the first and second criteria, I had clear division in points. The 'Vision Tree' had 22 points, the 'Pursuing Light' 21, the 'Wishing Well' 18, the 'Leave your mark Wall' 30 and the 'Liquid Light' 29. As one can see, there are two ideas with the most points were the mark wall and the liquid light. So far, so good.
Now, cutting down from 2 to 1. This took me 5 hours... After setting up a pro's and con's list of both of the ideas, I saw potential in both of them. Talking to a lot of different people, gave me even more insights of the potential directions and possibilities. After I talked to about 10 people, about two thirds of them chose the liquid light idea. Eventually, after doubting for a while, I was convinced that this should be the one I had to chose. This idea is more creative then the other one and will help me a lot in my goal of user-testing this semester. As we say in Dutch: 'Duurt ff, maar dan heb je ook wat'
This worked out great! After adding a multiplier of 2 to the first and second criteria, I had clear division in points. The 'Vision Tree' had 22 points, the 'Pursuing Light' 21, the 'Wishing Well' 18, the 'Leave your mark Wall' 30 and the 'Liquid Light' 29. As one can see, there are two ideas with the most points were the mark wall and the liquid light. So far, so good.
Now, cutting down from 2 to 1. This took me 5 hours... After setting up a pro's and con's list of both of the ideas, I saw potential in both of them. Talking to a lot of different people, gave me even more insights of the potential directions and possibilities. After I talked to about 10 people, about two thirds of them chose the liquid light idea. Eventually, after doubting for a while, I was convinced that this should be the one I had to chose. This idea is more creative then the other one and will help me a lot in my goal of user-testing this semester. As we say in Dutch: 'Duurt ff, maar dan heb je ook wat'
Coach meeting
05 - 10
I was excited and bit nervous for this meeting, having to present ideas is something which is fun and a bit scary at the same time. Most of the ideas that I have posted are, I feel, outside of the box and playful. Sam thought the ideas were a good as well luckily, which I was very happy to hear. He also mentioned that I am enthusiastic and sees that in my work. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I had the feeling everything was 'gonna be alright'. With these ideas and this feedback, I feel very confident about my project and process. Next step, choosing a concept!
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