MOD

• 2017
• Sculpture, electronics, software

• Description

  This is MOD (Mobile Object for Drawing)--a portable instrument for combining analog and digital drawing.  MOD is intended for live performance and content creation efforts that mix common analog drawing interfaces (i.e. paper, transparency, pencil, marker) with  digital cameras (webcams, scientific imaging cameras, digital magnifiers and microscopes), custom software (for keying, thresholding, looping, layer) and digital projectors. The iteration of the instrument described here combines all of these components into a single portable battery powered package that embeds the computation on a small linux computer, includes a small laser projector, and integrates custom tactile controllers.  The intended uses of this instrument include experimental performance and rapid content creation; the instrument is intended to be suitable for formal (concert hall, theater) and informal (street performance, busking, parade, protest) settings, classrooms and maker spaces.

  The design and fabrication of this instrument is documented in great detail in this paper.

• Acknowledgements

  This project was inspired by 10 years of live projection performance with Jenny Schmid.
  This iteration of the instrument was created with help from research assistant Daniel McNamara.
  This project was supported in part by funding from the Carnegie Mellon University Frank-Ratchye Fund For Art @ the Frontier.