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  • Author Author: ilvyanyatka
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Electronic Art app controlled by Arduino Uno

ilvyanyatka

My project is an electronic Art App controlled by Arduino Uno.

The app connects to Arduino port. goes full screen, and starts drawing abstract geometrical figures based on parameters it reads from the Arduino. The user can can control what the app is drawing using potentiometers, switches, and a push button. Everything can be controlled by Arduino, there is no need for keyboard and mouse (after connecting to Arduino port). App can be used for meditation, or just to relax. Drawings can be saved in real time using push button.

 

Push button 1 – clears app screen

Push button 2 - save the screenshot of the drawing

Switch 1 – Start/Stops drawing

Switch 2 – controls line type. Line type can be an Arc (Bezier curve) or a straight line

Potentiometer 1 – controls line width

Potentiometer 2 – controls an angle for a drawing

Potentiomenter 3 - controls drawing speed

 

The app itself is written in C#.NET. To communicate between .NET and Arduino I used open source Sharer library, it is awesome and it can be found here:

https://github.com/Rufus31415/Sharer

 

Fun fact: When testing the board I ran into a problem that all analogRead() functions returned incorrect values. I could not figure out why, it was driving me crazy. I was sure that I fried both of my Arduinos somehow. But finally I figured out that connections on my $1 breadboard were not wired properly. I changed the breadboard and everything started working right away.

 

 

Schematics (updated):

image

 

 

Demo video: (can also be found on YouTube: https://youtu.be/DOUr6JplXHg )

 

 

 

Additional demo video for using save screenshots and changing drawing speed

 

 

Couple of screenshots:

image

 

and

image

 

 

and

image

 

 

This is how the board looks like:

image

Arduino code, and NET main module with math and Arduino communication code will be attached soon.

Update: Code on Github: https://github.com/ilvyanyatka/ElectronicArtWithArduino

Before I added "Save screenshot" functionality, the code was cross platform. Now .NET code is Windows specific. To make it cross platform again one need to remove all the functionality related to "Select Windows Dialog" and "Take Screenshot". I am planning to come back to it later.

Attachments:
Electronic_Art.ino.txt.zip
  • in reply to balearicdynamics

    Hi Enrico,

     

    Yes, in a lot of these type of projects the Arduino microcontroller can end up as a basic human interface device and not used to its full potential. Often it could be replaced by a much simpler GPIO device connected via I2C/SPI to the host processor if all you require is AtoD or digital IO when it is not available on the host device.

     

    I don't see it as a 'trick' though, just a convenient way to add physical computing IO to a host platform. Many Arduino microcontroller devices are used just to emulate USB HID keyboard / mouse / joystick devices in projects (e.g. PIK3A tables). I've also seen projects which use tens of Arduino Nanos just to enable GPIO for large button and indicator panels (e.g. Carnegie Science Centre 200 button wall interactive installation).

     

    I don't think that it necessarily detracts from the overall project however, it is just a very low cost and easy way to achieve the desired connectivity.

     

    In this case 'Firmata' has been replaced by 'Sharer', and Processing by .Net with communication between the two still occurring over a serial protocol.

     

    In each case I think there tends to be a very fuzzy line drawn between the two devices and you can choose to make the 'brain' of each side as clever or as 'stupid' as you want within the capabilities of the devices/programmer.

     

    It crops up in other areas as well. How much do you program on the client terminal and how much on the server it connects to. How intelligent do you make a touch panel device versus its central controller, or device being controlled.

     

    What if you used every ounce of the Arduino's features in order to create a highly tactile responsive controller with aesthetic visual feedback, and then connected it to a host device running the same Processing sketch via the same serial protocol ? Does that make a difference to the project 'architecture' ?

     

    On a similar note, I often see single board computer projects which appear as if they could be easily be replaced by a microcontroller, and microcontroller projects which could be replaced by smaller microcontrollers and smaller microcontroller projects which could be replaced by discrete components... ( I've also seen Processing projects which could be done within SVG animation/scripting for that matter. )

     

    At the end of the day though, I think that these choices are up to the programmer/artist to decide how much processing happens on which side of the line.

     

    Dave

  • in reply to beacon_dave

    Hello Dave,

     

    Thank you. Rotary encoders look like very useful components. I never heard of them before.

     

    For Up/Down/Select controls, I am trying to avoid any UI elements on the screen. Trying to keep it completely black.

    I coded a prototype using just .NET code, no Arduino. But UI controls make part of the screen unusable and make graphics look not so fun, not so relaxing.

    With Arduino it is easier to control the data. In this case used don't need a mouse and keyboard at all, and can change the angle from, for example, 30 degree to 179 degree in split second. When using UI controls, like track bar, it takes several seconds to change the value; and graphics code picks up the values in between that I am also trying to avoid.

  • in reply to beacon_dave

    Hello Dave,

    you know I am always critic respect the options that sound apparently incredibly innovative but not sure if they are. I have developed in past some very strong graphical 2D and 3D algorithms (still available included the source code on the Processing showcase). Me too were fascinated by this couple Arduino + Processing but then I found the trick and my enthusiasm flew away. Processing is just one of the tons of computer java-based programs. And under this perspective, it is incredibly nice and powerful, especially if you integrate it with PureData (I made a first Pi Synth version just in this way). But it is computer-centric. I mean that you connect Arduino just controlling it by serial, with Arduino loaded with Firmata (to have all the hardware potential of the microcontroller). I have also developed in the past, a customized version of Firmata for this purpose. But with this kind of architecture Arduino becomes the stupid side of the project: all the math and design and all the other features are software on the PC while Arduino only exposes the GPIO features through serial commands. Nothing else.

    The real value-added of the project of   IMHO is instead that she used Arduino as the core algorithm, the brain is on the microcontorller-side instead of the computer. At least in my opinion.

     

    Enrico

  • in reply to ilvyanyatka

    "...Adding other geometrical figures could be fun. I will just need something like a 4-positions switch for it..."

    You may find that at some point 4 positions won't be enough. You perhaps may need to use an up/down & select method using three push button switches to select the geometrical figure from a list.

     

    You can also get rotary encoders with built-in pushbutton that can work well for this task

    https://www.adafruit.com/product/377

  • in reply to ilvyanyatka

    Victoria,

     

    A four position switch is pretty much a suitable term.

     

    Dubbie