Steve Cooley Fine Art

I helped kickstart Full Spectrum Laser’s 5th gen 20×12 hobby deluxe laser last year. They delivered the laser, and I tried and failed really quickly at building my own fume extractor.  I bit the bullet and purchased an industrial strength fume extractor, and now I can use the laser without polluting the air. Yay!  So: game on!

My head is overflowing with new ideas that feed off these initial tests. All very exciting!

I made a graph that helped me figure out if I can use IDs as CSS selectors.  One side of the argument is “NO NEVER” and the other is “Well, it depends.”   I obviously don’t spend any time working on CSS for fun. You only need look at the website you are on now to see this fact.  For fun, I make things, and  for work I also know how to make some level of html/CSS/javascript/php/mysql.  So this concept hit me as being novel today. But, wait… does anyone care?  Then this graph entered my mind.  I’m pretty sure it’s right. Maybe not.

The bottom axis is number of css designers affected by using IDs as CSS selectors, starting with a value of “nobody” on the left and “everybody” on the right.

The left axis is the number of pages using the stylesheet in question, starting with a value of “zero” with “greater than zero” in the middle and “infinity” at the top.

The trend line in the graph is linearly up and to the right.

Now you just need to figure out where you are on that graph.  To me it seems like the more pages you have, the more designers will be affected by the choices made about the strategy.  Certainly no strategy with even zero designers can lead to awful no-fun times to change the layout of a page… but if designers=0, do I really need to have all this strategy for a site that only has a handful of pages?  I’m really not so sure.   Ok, I’ll think about it.  Classes for styling, IDs for javascript. Ok, maybe. Maybe I should do this, moving forward. Hmm. I don’t know. I’ll have to think about it.

I had this idea of using a vector drawing of a krylon can as the stroke style of a font in the year 2000. I took at stab at implementing it in Illustrator in 2003, and now in 2013, I’ve decided I will probably never get around to producing a better version of it, so I release the idea into the wild.

this isn’t even full size!

Many years ago, I wrote a processing sketch to take live video and generate a 3d pixel grid, varying the height of each 3d box based on the brightness of the video pixel it was sampling. And it was good. Times have changed, and so has processing. Now it’s easier to do what I was doing then in regards to accessing the video input and controlling the 3d camera in the sketch.  There aren’t as many bells and whistles on this version as the original, but hey, it works today.

As such, you will need JMyron and Peasycam to run this sketch.

/*
* 3dPixelcam
* steve cooley
* http://beatseqr.com
* license for use: creative commons non-commercial attribution share-alike
* Do Not Omit This Information From Whatever You Make With It. Thanks! -steve
*/

import processing.opengl.*;
import peasy.*;
import JMyron.*;

PeasyCam cam; // a virtual, 3d camera control
JMyron m;//a physical, actual camera object

int resolution = 20;

void setup(){
size(640,480, OPENGL);
cam = new PeasyCam(this, 320.0, 240.0, 100.0, 500);
cam.setMinimumDistance(50);
cam.setMaximumDistance(2000);
m = new JMyron();//make a new instance of the object
m.start(width,height);//start a capture at 320×240
m.findGlobs(0);//disable the intelligence to speed up frame rate
println("Myron" + m.version());
rectMode(CENTER);
noStroke();
}

void draw(){
background(255);
lights();

m.update();//update the camera view
int[] img = m.image(); //get the normal image of the camera
float r,g,b;

for(int y=0;y<height;y+=resolution){ //loop through all the pixels 
 for(int x=0;x<width;x+=resolution){ //loop through all the pixels

float av = (red(img[y*width+x])+green(img[y*width+x])+blue(img[y*width+x]))/3.0;
fill(red(img[y*width+x]),green(img[y*width+x]),blue(img[y*width+x]));
pushMatrix();
translate(x,y);
//ellipse(0,0,(255-av)/8.0,(255-av)/8.0);
box(resolution,resolution,(av));
popMatrix();
}
}
}

void keyPressed(){
// m.settings();//click the window to get the settings
resolution -= 2;
if(resolution <=1)
{
resolution = 40;
}
}

public void stop(){
m.stop();//stop the object
super.stop();
}

2013-03-12 Updated to fix wp code manglation

this is the piece of art I donated for the 2012 Art auction for works/san jose. it is 24″x12″ acrylic on hardboard with 3d printed polylactic acid.

Lest you think I’ve been languishing in some kind of artless state, Here are some photos of what I’ve been using my 3d printer for on the fine art front. My machine is stable, I understand how to fix it when it stops working, and I’m now using some software that’s letting me really scratch the surface of what I can do to use the 3d printers best traits, versus a laser cutter or cnc router. Pretty cool stuff. More to come.

I was working on a thing on sketchpad.cc for work and, well, one thing lead to another. Click to save the frame. Close the new tab to restart the drawing.

I learned some OpenSCAD!

This script has a *lot* of variables you can tweak.  I don’t even feel like I’ve put everything into this script that I want to, either.

an incomplete list of parameters you can adjust:

• knob radius
• knob height
• shaft hole radius
• shaft hole height
• set screw inclusion, radius, and location
• flatness of shaft hole
• rounding on top (thanks very much to http://iheartrobotics.com for the articles on edge rounding!)
• indentations
• directional indicators
• plus a lot more!

About

One of the most stressful things about making multiple copies of an electronics project is reliably locating interface controls that you like. Maybe you can locate them one time, but can you locate them a year from now? two years from now? And how much do they cost?

For example, I found some slide potentiometer knobs at Mouser.com for about $0.50 apiece two years ago, and they ran out of them… forever. I tried sourcing them elsewhere, and the best I could find was a seller that had them for $4.00 apiece (!!wtf!!). So that really sucks.

One strategy is to buy in bulk. But, buy too few and you may run out and pay twice for shipping.  Buy too many and you  end up with unused knobs sitting around not making your money back. That also sucks.

Round potentiometer knobs are somewhat readily available. But still, they can be from $0.80 to $5.00 each, and if you can’t find enough for your project, that can be problematic. Mostly I’m tired of paying multiple dollars for things that should basically cost $0.25 apiece. Aesthetics are important too, so having options beyond what’s out there is nice.

A different strategy is to print them yourself as you need them.  No shipping, no running out, and you get to call the shots on how it looks and how it fits. Now, I like this way. Plus, for my project, making the knobs just goes along with the rest of the stuff I’ve done myself.

Well... some are better than others. Limited success is better than no success at all.

Download

Click here to download the parametric potentiometer knob generator OpenSCAD script.

License

parametric potentiometer knob generator by steve cooley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at sc-fa.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://sc-fa.com/blog/contact.

My makerbot thing-o-matic has a problem with a drifting y axis, but only when a layer is complete. There’s lots of vague advice about how tight or loose the timing belt should be, but I’ve tried a dozen different tension guesses, and nothing seems to work without shifting the print mid-way through.

edit 2012-02-01 : my voltages were set to the makerbot motors, where the should have been set to the moons motor voltages. :-\

Now that I’m a dad, I’m starting to realize that I need to give my kids the cutting edge advantage like my dad did for me. For him, it was getting us an Apple ][+, at no small expense. It was a huge gamble, but my dad was right to take the risk. It paid off for my brother and I. It wasn’t just that my dad committed the family resources to an unproven technology, it was that he could see that this technology was the start of an important new path that his kids would have the option to travel down. The sooner we could start, the better. Who knew where the path would lead? Nobody.

For my kids, I think 3d printing is going to be one of the important tools of their lives. It uses the stepping stone that I was given and takes it further. Now not only can you visualize anything your mind can think of, but you can hold a copy of it in your hand. No doubt that 3d printing at home is in its infancy, much the same way that computers at home were when I was a kid. So, to me, 3d printing appears to be the most likely tool my kids can have to propel them into their future. In my opinion, a 3d printer in the home will foster: problem solving skills, imagination, healthy non-conformity, the concept of iteration, no fear of being wrong or failing, and hands on application of the scientific method.

So, I’m in research mode. Here are the links I can find to commercially available sub-$5000 hobbyist 3d printers. I’m mostly focusing on fused deposition modeling type printers. The other technologies I’ve seen for 3d printing are either experimental, lacking in resolution, lacking in base affordability, or the media is too specialized (and presumably expensive).

MakerBot Industries has one called the thingomatic. These guys have been at the heart of the maker/DIY front and honestly, they have a lot of momentum. Their machines are iterating very quickly, and they have a huge community rallying around their project. Their laser-cut plywood product is undoubtedly borne from the DIY mentality their product aims to foster. They have some super nice features like an automated build platform, and a new dual extruder head option. They’ve generated a lot of buzz about attracting $10M in investor funding, so it’s likely they will be able to afford support staff for the foreseeable future. Has Mac software available and/or printing from an SD card. Their wiki and build instructions are incredibly detailed. $1,299 kit, $2,500 assembled.

Reprap, represents the wild west of 3d printers. It sort of kicked off the DIY 3d printer revolution happening now. As such, it’s really focused on bootstrapping quickly with the least amount of time spent on worrying about what the machine looks like. (what the machine looks like?? Look what it’s DOING!) There’s no official source for parts. That’s kind of the point, though. It’s open source, so you need to find someone who will print our the parts for you (and you presumably pay them)

botmill surprise! a presumably reputable source for reprap based 3d printer design. No exterior enclosure, all wires exposed. This machine will undoubtedly appeal to the mad scientist crowd. $1,395.00 assembled. Pretty cheap, actually.

Ultimaker The videos I’ve seen of this thing are of it printing really really fast. Designed and sold out of the Netherlands. €1,194.00 base (kit)

UP! best consumer based enclosure design. The machine itself looks great. Sensible and clean. Definitely made to alleviate concerns about reliability and reputability. Looks like a real product. Compact. Comes with integrated software. Higher on the price scale. Has Mac software. You’d think they could price it under $2650+~$150 shipping. C’mon, China. What the hell. Alibaba says I can buy whole laser engravers for that price.

RapMan. Pretty. laser cut clear acrylic. Alibre sells software, so they probably will support the machines they sell for a while. With the revolution happening at the pace it is, your mileage may vary on how long they do support it. (5 years?)

Bits from Bytes 3DTouch lots of options for number of print heads. mo’ printheads, mo’ problems. It may be the most capable from an aspect of possibilities, but the workflow must be significant to munge multicolor GCode. Maybe not.. It’s probably right on the edge of being past the scope of being a machine for the home.

buildyourcnc’s white ant I have the buildyourcnc.com blacktoe 2×4 cnc machine and it’s great. Their white ant 3d printer is still in active development, and given the flexible nature of their design ethos, this could be cool. The downside here is that you can’t buy everything you need right from them. You have to pick up some of the required parts from MakerBot. Which is kind of a drag. What I think we owners of blacktoe and blue chick machines are waiting for is some word about why an extruder print head for our existing machines is impossible. I guess I could image why. I’d gladly replace my 3 axis control board with a 4 or 5 axis board if I could interchangeably use a router or a 3d printhead. GLADLY. Use the motion control table and hardware I already have for multiple tool heads? Yes, remind me why I can’t have this? A ridiculously large 2′ x 4′ FDM 3d printer. It’s probably impossible because its a ridiculous idea.

So, for me, time to make a verdict… and that task is pretty easy. MakerBot has the juice right now. I love how they’re dedicated to the movement and driving innovation. They have lots of instructions and a huge community. And funding, so more brains getting paid to focus on it means good things for the future.

If price is a sensitivity for you, buildyourcnc’s white ant would be a good choice, with botmill coming in a close second. If I was in the Netherlands, I’d probably go for the Ultimaker. UP! sure looks nice, but I can’t fathom why it’s so expensive. Cut the price in half and then it’s a horse race.