Art is often made to appeal to a specific set of viewers. This is the 5th blog in a series exploring the idea of using AI to recognize a viewer and adapt art to their age or interest. The intent is to encourage early art appreciation while being attractive to all household members.
Several people have wondered when I would actually create some art so here is the first masterpiece created for my 3 year old granddaughter using Scratch on the Raspberry Pi.
Back Story
If you have spent any time around 3 year old's lately then you have likely heard and seen the Baby Shark Dance from Pink Fong. What? You haven't? Well then, here is the must see link: Baby Shark. It is my granddaughter's favorite, and although the kids are really cute and the tune is catchy, I thought that Grandpa Shark was too wimpy and was driven to create my own video. So, here is the real Grandpa Shark which I plan to show in the PiCasso Art Adapter Deluxe whenever my favorite 3 year old is detected. Hopefully the rest of my art will be as good.
Scratch
Scratch is a programming language for story telling aimed at ages 8 to 16 and developed by the MIT Media Labs. It comes loaded on Rasbian. I haven't used it before but it was easy to get started with and fun - I plan to teach it to my grandson. There are nice tutorials but I just jumped into it without much study. It is possible to add backdrops, design sprites, animate them, add sound, add thought bubbles and other text, etc.
Background and Sprites
There are a number of backgrounds already in Scratch, including an undersea background that fits the Grandpa Shark theme well. The sprite was drawn in the simple editor that comes with the program.
The Script
The code blocks are on the left and dragged into place in the center. Sprites can be moved around with different speeds, made larger or smaller, and so on by changing the parameters in the code blocks. The entire story is coded in the handful of blocks in the center. It loops through three fish, makes them larger each time, and then brings in Grandpa Shark. The music (royalty free version) was added outside Scratch in post production.
World Premiere of Grandpa Shark
So, without further ado, here is Grandpa Shark:
Upcoming Work
- Improvements to the cabinet
- Obtain training photographs for all the faces and perform training
- Fabricate a small board to connect the two Raspberry Pi computer
- Write Python script to drive the monitor and control the art output
- Develop and obtain additional art
If you made it this far, thanks for reading and your thoughts and comments are always appreciated.
Other Posts in this Series
PiCasso Design Challenge: Adapting Art to Ages Blog #1
PiCasso Adapting Art to Viewers: OpenCV Face Detection, Blog #2
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