Category: Daily Entries

In today’s post I would like to reflect on my experience with Arduino so far. While I appreciate the similarity to Processing, feeling as comfortable as I now do in Processing is indeed quite a step (yet) to make.

The main two reasons why I find Arduino much more complicated are the essential theoretical background knowledge in electricity and the dual aspect of designing – coding and building the actual physical circuit. Due to the real-world parts, I realized that without having the option to practice the covered material in class, it is too easy to forget the mechanics despite they are not necessarily complicated. Knowing that the platform is open source without any monetization I have correctly expected virtual electronics labs readily available substituting the real world parts. I found a neat and well-designed software by Autodesk called 123D Circuits (LINK). It takes some initial time to learn how to navigate and orientate in it, however, afterwards it becomes just as fast as real-world building. Here is one example of virtually reproduced circuit from a class.

The interface allows to build circuits simply with the mouse and has an option to start simulation (‘plugging in’ the USB cord), enter Arduino code, as well as additional tools such as debugger. Basic parts are included, more probably available by developers or as charged content. Both virtual and physical circuit building have their advantages and disadvantages.

Given the similarity in Arduino and Processing, one would expect a slightly more seamless interconnection. While we learnt today in the class how to connect Arduino so that Processing code is executed, the method could possibly be simplifies to running a function like script(Processing){processing code} right in Arduino. The potential problem could be the limited memory of the Arduino card chip, however, the program could be tuned so that it automatically creates a virtual Processing window. This would probably be appreciated mostly by beginners but it would be a great way how to immediately open up the possibilities and making people, including myself, more comfortable when transferring to Arduino.

Now on a more positive note, my last semester’s room was decorated by a LED strip, just like the one that arrived today. (PICTURE) With a remote controller, one could bring up similar effect to those we saw by NeoPixel. Back in that time I had not a single clue how complicated LEDs are (they are not) or how difficult is to make the electronics carry out my design (fairly simple as long as most is written in Processing). Once I randomly walked past the IdeaLab and saw a friend working on a remote to their drone, giving me a basic idea what such programming look like. Combining all these pieces I now look at our room’s decoration completely differently and it is very motivating and rewarding being theoretically able to reproduce them. As an Economics and Mathematics major, I barely ever witness such tangible results. However, the real challenge will be the final project…

(add illustration of the room decoration once I receive it)

When thinking about how I could relate to light over the Winter Break, I thought about two things. First, a book I got for Christmas, a Pulitzer Prize winner, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. I do not know whether my mum ran into the city on the 24th but I certainly did not tell her about the class earlier than that. Unfortunately, (a) I have not read the book yet and (b) it does not seem to have much in common with the class afterall. Secondly, I thought of a Czech architect Jan Blazej Santini. He is not as well know as he ought to be and for that reason I would like to dedicate the blog post to him.

Santini is often regarded as Baroque architect, however, he found his own style known as Gothicizing Baroque. The most prominent work in this style is the Pilgrimage Church of Saint John of Nepomuk in Zdar nad Sazavou (Czech Republic). Let me present it here:

This is, of course, only one of many of his works. The reason why Santini is relevant to the course is because of his work with light and while light has been always a factor in catholic sacral buildings, especially in Gothic, Santini’s work goes beyond. Light is really the medium and the surrounding architecture is the platform. It is his mean of expression, root of creativity, and truly achieves the sought higher sacral character. Once I read a phrase that really captures the previous sentences, however, it might not be the case after translation. “Santini stretched the light through his buildings.”

His staging of light makes surrounding mass looks lighter and creates an illusion of movement, one of the typical characteristic of dynamic Baroque. Through thoughtfully planned angles and with varying daytime light Santini achieves changing atmospheres and it is said (at least about Saint John of Nepomuk) that you cannot find a single spot without light in his architectonic works. On the whole, Santini designed his projects (buildings) for light, which puts Santini in direct perspective with contemporary artists we had studied over the course (or with us, students, when engaged with some of our projects).

Naturally, to fully witness and appreciate the Santini’s genius one has to see the light coming through with their own eyes. It is difficult to capture with cameras, nevertheless, I put together a clip from a movie “Santini’s Tongue” and from a documentary. While the post-production might have adjusted brightness etc., it can nevertheless work as an illustration.

Further example shows how light brings attention to the sacral ‘center of gravity’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While writing about the difficulties to capture the light, I have recalled Antelope Canyon in Arizona. It is not necessarily fully relevant here, however, it was one of the most mesmerizing natural features I  have seen.