[Lab] The Big Plan - Chris B

Sun Mar 24 00:33:59 EDT 2013

Hi Chris,

I had a chance to try out the visual aspect of what you are describing on a
Raspberry Pi and it was pleasantly easy! The code was written in Python on
a stock install of the operating system 'Rasbian', I simply turned on the
Pi, wrote the code and ran it - didn't have to install anything else!

The code displays 5 'breaths', each cycle lasts 2 seconds going from black
to full white. If you had the Pi connected to a projector as your 'light' I
believe this could work nicely. There are some artifacts as the colour
changes because I am simply refreshing the screen really fast, but if you
have you canvas to act as a diffuser I don't think you would see them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjOoXHBC5Ic<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjOoXHBC5Ic&feature=youtube_gdata_player>

Have you picked your sensor yet?

Cheers!

Kirk
On Mar 22, 2013 9:03 AM, "Kirk Sutherland" <kirk.sutherland at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I second the raspberry pi as a projector controller! Its cheap, projectors
> are bright (and can be borrowed!), and I don't think the code would be that
> hard. You will have to use some external controller with the Pi if the
> sensor is analog as the pi has only digital io. I could try out some simple
> code tonight to see if the video part is possible without getting into
> opengl code :)
> Cheers!
> Kirk
> On Mar 21, 2013 9:21 PM, "Henri Kuschkowitz" <henri.kuschkowitz at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Hey Chris,
>>
>> I know you already received tons of ideas, but i was thinking about a
>> mini fan put somewhere between parts of the tube (maybe after the bacteria
>> filter) and you then just measure the speed of it to determine the power
>> for your lights?
>>
>> For the question regarding lights, there are hundreds of controllable led
>> strips out there that could suit your needs. or maybe EL solutions (though
>> it would cost you more i think) like this:
>> https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10800
>>
>> Also, you can dim a projector simply by projecting grey scale images…
>> which means a raspberry pi connected to the sensor could be a neat solution.
>>
>> Just my 2 cents.
>>
>>
>> Cheers and good luck,
>> Henri
>>
>> On 2013-03-21, at 5:46 PM, The Big Plan - Chris B wrote:
>>
>>
>> Hi Modlabbers,
>>
>> Thanks for all the interest in my art installation!
>>
>> So far it looks like the pressure sensor idea is the one I'm leaning
>> towards. Having a microphone detect the ventilator breaths sounds more
>> finicky to me.
>>
>> Still trying to figure out how to back light the canvas. Would a
>> projector work instead of using LED lighting? Can a projector
>> be connected to the pressure sensor set up to do the variable dimming?
>>
>> Club SAW has 3 projectors available:
>>
>> Panasonic PTAX200U HD Video Projector
>> 16mm Projector
>> 35mm Projector
>>
>> As for a timeline / schedule. If I could do this in May / June that would
>> be great but it may be more realistic to wait until September.
>>
>> Here's a photo of the painting below. It's about 7 by 11 feet:
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Chris
>>
>> <2012-11-12 14.51.55.jpg>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 15-Mar-13, at 8:41 AM, Michael Sepa wrote:
>>
>> Chris,
>>
>>
>> The clarification of the project really helps out.  I looked up the
>> manual for the Puritan Bennet LP10 (
>> http://www.meql.com/Manuals/Puritan-Bennett-LP6-Plus-and-10-Ops-Manual.pdf)
>> in the hope that there would be a simple electronic monitor connector on
>> the back that you could hook into, but no such luck.  There are pressure
>> alarms that can be set and a remote alarm connection on the back of the
>> machine, but you'll get audible alarms off the machine at the same time.
>>  Not what you intend.
>>
>>
>> One approach would be to do the following:
>>
>>
>> 1. Lights start off, no ventilator pressure
>>
>> 2. Ventilator turns on, a microphone beside the patient air tube senses
>> flow
>>
>> 3. Arduino detects change from microphone
>>
>> 4. Arudino uses pulse width modulation[2] to brighten an LED array from
>> off to full on in 1.5s, and holds
>>
>> 5. Ventilator turns off
>>
>> 6. Microphone detects stop of flow from patient air tube
>>
>> 7. Arduino uses pulse width modulation to dim an LED array from current
>> level to off in 1.5s and holds
>>
>>
>> [1] pulse width modulation is just a fancy way to say turn on/off the LED
>> array fast enough to control brightness.  This is built into the Arduino
>> system, so it's very easy.
>>
>>
>> Connecting to and dimming an LED array with an Arduino is well
>> understood.  No issues there.
>>
>>
>> The microphone will require an amp chip to get it producing a signal the
>> Arduino can easily read.  If we can find a pre-made microphone and amp,
>> then it will be all so much easier.
>>
>>
>> The programming of the system would be straight forward.  Certainly less
>> than a day of effort.
>>
>>
>> The system would work well if the room was reasonably quiet.  If there
>> was other noise it might trigger the microphone causing premature light
>> adjustment.  A better approach would be to use a pressure sensor.  I
>> checked ebay and see several pressure sensors available, all use I2C
>> interfaces.  That would take a bit more programming effort, but certainly
>> less than a day or two.
>>
>>
>> If you go with a pressure sensor, we'd need to makes sure the sensor has
>> the right range to sense the ventilator pressure.  That I couldn't get from
>> the quick ebay search because they don't usually publish specs with sale
>> items.  I'm confident  we could find an appropriate one on ebay, spark fun,
>> or somewhere else.
>>
>>
>> As for your budget, I'd think you should have no issues buying all the
>> tech plus paying someone a small honorarium for helping you program it all.
>>
>>
>> My big question would be what's your schedule?
>>
>>
>> -Michael Sepa
>>
>>
>>
>> Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2013 17:49:08 -0400
>> From: The Big Plan - Chris B <tbp at ghostwise.com>
>> To: lab at artengine.ca
>> Subject: Re: [Lab] Controlling Light with Sound
>> Message-ID: <F3148EB9-8831-464E-92AA-2144AB15E72B at ghostwise.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
>>
>> Hi everyone,
>> Thanks for the awesome replies so far. I think I should clarify my
>> intentions:
>> My plan is to suspend a loose canvas that is approximately 7 by 11
>> feet on an angle from the ceiling.
>> I would like to put lighting behind it (I don't know what lighting to
>> use or whether it
>> should be a set of lights). The rest of the room will be dark.
>> A ventilator (Puritan Bennett LP10) will be on the floor. Every breath
>> of the ventilator
>> should cause the lights to turn on in a gradual way and then dim dark
>> as the breath
>> ends. Each breath should take about 1.2-1.5 seconds.
>> I like the idea of an Arduino or Raspberry Pi controlling the lighting.
>> It sounds like I will also need a mic by the ventilator.
>> Finally, I have zero programming experience or overall technical
>> experience to do this. I'm the artist
>> with a vision. I would appreciate assistance from anyone interested in
>> this project.
>> It would be great if it could be done on a $250-500 budget.
>> Thanks in advance,
>> Chris
>> On 14-Mar-13, at 4:11 PM, The Big Plan - Chris B wrote:
>>
>>
>> Hi!
>>
>>
>> Looking for some advice for an art installation. I'd like to have a
>>
>> light or set of lights respond to an auditory
>>
>> input. I'd like the lights to turn on in time with the sound of a
>>
>> ventilator (a medical one). So when the ventilator is
>>
>> not doing a breath, the lights would be off, but then when the
>>
>> ventilator starts doing a breath they would
>>
>> turn on for the duration of the breath. I'd like the lights to light
>>
>> up and dim gradually, not just on an off.
>>
>>
>> What's a simple or best way to do this?
>>
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>>
>> Chris
>>
>>
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