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March 15, 2010

Two sisters collaborate on The Three Girls

In response to DIY Movie Making Month, one of our readers, Angela Sheehan, sent us this wonderful little movie she made with her (then six-year-old) sister:

This is a stop-motion collage I made, based on drawings by my little sister (six years old at the time). Back in 2005, I was studying animation and taking classes in childhood development/learning and wanted to combine the two. I decided to make a movie with her over Thanksgiving break. I gave her some paper and crayons and asked her to write me a story. I took some video of her drawing and showing her grandparents the story and describing it to them. It was fun to see how she told the story differently to each person and all the little details she included when asked about different parts of the drawings. Back at school, I scanned her drawings in and printed out copies that I then animated to her narration. My dorm room was a giant mess of paper and a camera for about a week. It was a blast. I showed her the finished product over my winter break and she loved it. I would've loved to involve her more in the actual animation process, but my school was too far away.

Getting kids involved in rendering their stories and ideas in a more permanent, "high-bandwidth" way, is a great way to bring a sense of importance to their ideas, get them making and being creative, and just a fun way to engage with them. Or as Angela put it: "This project is part documentation, part observation and interest in children's imagination, and part sisterly bonding." And you have an awesome keepsake when you're done that you'll all cherish as they grow older.

To create The Three Girls, Angela used paper cutouts, animated using iStopMotion, with animated text and compositing in Adobe AfterEffects, and editing in FinalCut Express. [Thanks, Angela!]

The Three Girls

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More movie-making coverage on Make: Online

Posted by Gareth Branwyn | Mar 15, 2010 09:00 PM
Kids, Paper Crafts, Video Making | Permalink | Comments (1) | Suggest a Site

Arduino Tutorial - connecting a parallel LCD

Lcdblue162Ard-1
Another Ladyada soon-to-be classic - connecting a parallel LCD to an Arduino, this one covers character LCDs.

Soup can coffee roaster

How awesome is this drill powered drum roaster? Very awesome.

I never tire of seeing new takes on building your own sample roaster. Keeping the beans moving is the key to an even roast. Tim Eggers decided to use a drill to turn his drum, made from a soup can. He cut and folded vanes into the drum to aid the tumbling. A second soup can drum focuses the heat from his stove-top burner. Genius idea, and look at those lovely beans.

Circuit bent toy frog

Spotted in the MAKE Forums:

Mischka modified this motion-activated greeting toy, making it into a simple sample and loop frog noise machine. There don't seem to an explanation of how it was done, but it looks like a fun project!

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Ball-chain gears on Thingiverse

Vik from the RepRap blog created these printable ball-chain gears, and uploaded STLs and SCADs to Thingiverse.

I have finally managed to print tiny little ball-chain gears that work with 3.3mm and 3.5mm diameter ball-chain and still fit on the NEMA17's 5mm output shaft. The trick is to print the gears in two pieces.

As you can see in the photograph, I print two 4mm thick sections of gear and put them on the shaft with an M5 washer sandwiched in between. Make sure the teeth are lined up on both gears. This gives a channel to guide the ball-chain down the centre of the gear, and grips the sides of the balls adequately. As the gears age, it will also stop the balls grinding their way too far through the PLA, though I must admit that my experience with ball-chain Z axis gears suggests this will not be a major issue.

The gears themselves are designed to be "spiky", but the vaguearities of the printing and rendering process lop the spikes off and leave enough by accident to produce a functioning gear!

Faux stop-motion papercraft animation

This animation, done by NYC's Tronic Studio, for AXA, a French insurance company, is faux stop-motion, faux papercraft, all 3D Studio Max.

Tronic Studio

LED lighting PCB board etching

MAKE Flickr pool member Joel Miller (jmillerid) is planning some LED lighting for his house and has been evaluating Luxeon Rebel LEDs. He etched these boards to experiment with different colors, their heat values, etc.

Luxeon Rebels are designed to dissipate heat through a large "no connection" solder pad directly under the chip. There are specific guidelines for the design of the PCB to draw this heat away from the LED which include a multitude of plated vias to increase the copper surface area. I'm unable to create plated vias in my homemade boards, so my intent is to mount the board to an aluminum plate, using an aluminum machine screw to draw the heat through the hole in the middle of the board.

LED lighting, part 1

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Circuit Skills: Circuit Board Etching, sponsored by Jameco

What do YOU call these things?

Image courtesy June's Tech Files.

I use this tool all the time, but rarely have I ever heard any two people refer to it by the same name. "Wire cutters" is what I called them growing up, but since then I have heard "diagonal cutters," "diagonal pliers," "diags," "side cutters," "side cutting pliers," "snips," "snippers," "dog-nips," the easily-misinterpreted "strippers," and the downright offensive "nips" and "dikes" (which apparently upsets Dutch people for some reason). So I'm starting a collection. Have I missed anything? What do you call them?

Update: Woohoo! Forty comments and still going strong. So far I've added: "cutting pliers," "di-cutters," "sprue cutters," "fifty-fours," "diagonal snips," "Seitenschneider," "Alicates de corte," "bandits," "toenail clippers," and the diplomatically ingenious "alternative lifestyle pliers." Thanks all!

DIY Movie Making article roundup

Beware the Ides of March! I was itching to say that. Ahem. Here is a collection of MAKE magazine articles related to DIY movie making. Note that most back issues of MAKE are available for purchase in the Maker Shed. Don't miss any future articles ... subscribe!

MAKE Volume 01
$14 Video Camera Stabilizer - Make this ultra-low-cost video camera stabilizer and see how much better your video shots turn out.
Flexible Gooseneck Camera Mount - Put a camera or camcorder pretty much anywhere with this flexible camera mount built from a cheap desk lamp.

MAKE Volume 02
15-Mile-High Club - Art Vanden Berg's computer-controlled model glider took images from 79,000 feet.
Stop Motion Animation, the Easy Way - With iStopMotion, making Gumby is less pokey.
Webcam Telescope - Video from still camera zoom.
No More Cue Cards - Make a teleprompter with a laptop, a sheet of glass, and some scrap wood.

MAKE Volume 03
Mailbox Movie - Make a movie that's shot in many locations around the world without leaving your house.

MAKE Volume 04
How to Make a Film, Without Money, While Being Bombed - Shooting a documentary in Belgrade is risky business.
Film Jockey - Julie Meitz uses old film projectors to create collages of light and color.
VJing 101 - Performing live video combines the visual power of filmmaking with the spontaneity of jazz.

MAKE Volume 05
It Came From My Garage! - Model kit makers bring B-movie monsters to your home.
iSight Tripod Mount - Point your webcam anywhere you want.

MAKE Volume 06
The Eye Aquatic - An underwater ROV with live video images.
Video Podcasting - Producing TV shows on the cheap.

MAKE Volume 07
How to How-To - Use a head-mounted video camera to produce instructions for making things.
A Sublime Machine - Mike Wilder makes Lego robots for time-lapse 3D videos of carnivorous plants.
Rocket-Launched Camcorder - Launch a hacked single-use camcorder in a model rocket.
How to Drink Beer on C-SPAN - Put yourself into somebody else's video.
TV-to-Synth Interface - Triggering sound from video images.

MAKE Volume 08
How Not to Make a How-To Video - Ignore these handy rules and your instructional video will turn out great!
Van TV - Big sights and sounds hit the streets.

Ann Arbor Mini Maker Faire: Request for Makers

We're excited to announce that the 2010 Ann Arbor Mini Maker Faire will be on Saturday, June 5, 2010. Last year's event was a huge success, and we are looking forward to seeing what will happen this year! Check out their website for more details, and to sign up to exhibit at the Faire. See you there!

Note that this event is different then Maker Faire Detroit, which will be happening at the end of July.

Organizers of the Ann Arbor "Mini" Maker Faire have issued a Call for Makers for the June 5, 2010 event to be held at the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds (aka "Saline Fairgrounds"). The Faire features exhibits and activities in robots, green tech, science, radio, rocketry, unusual tools/techniques, fixing and/or taking things apart, and other areas, all with an emphasis on "do it yourself." Last year's Faire drew over 1,200 people to engage in activities such as learning to solder and silk screening t-shirts, and saw exhibits some of which were featured in Make Magazine. Organizers are tripling the space and hope to have at least twice as many exhibits for 2010.
The Faire is free to exhibitors and visitors alike, and is funded by sponsors and the organizers. It is a local version of the major Maker Faires in the Bay area, and, new this year, at the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit and in New York City.

Exhibitors can find additional information and an online application form at http://www.a2makerfaire.com. Application deadline is May 5, 2010.

The mission of the Ann Arbor Mini Maker Faire is to present interesting or unique exhibits, individuals, and demonstrations in DIY science, technology, engineering, and art that excite, motivate, and educate. The emphasis should be on cool things, skills, and knowledge. As a shorthand, the exhibits should be the kind of thing you'd see in Make Magazine.

Ann Arbor Mini Maker Faire
Saturday, June 5, 2010, 10am - 5pm
Washtenaw Farm Council Fairgrounds
(a.k.a. Saline Fairgrounds)
5055 Ann Arbor Saline Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48103

Math Monday: Math-play with your food

Math-play with your food

By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics

Making things with your food is an age-old pastime. Here are two mathematical constructions made from crackers.

This illustrates the Pythagorean Theorem for a 5-12-13 right triangle. The number of crackers in the two small squares (25+144) equals the number of crackers in the square on the hypotenuse (169).

With triangular crackers, this 3-4-5 right triangle illustrates a more general idea. The number of crackers in the two small triangles (9+16) equals the number of crackers in the large triangle (25).

Here is an introduction to the Pythagorean Theorem, with two simple proofs, and here is a detailed explanation of why this generalization works.

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Movie made using cross stitch

Filmmaker and crafter Holly Klein combined her talents to produce this short, Maggie and Mildred. All of the set pieces and characters were cross stitched by hand, then scanned into a computer and animated. [via fem!n*Ally]

Winners at the North American Handmade Bicycle show

Yesterday I took a Sunday Scroll over at the North American Handmade Bicycle show site, drooling over the bikes pictured with their enthusiastic creators. With categories like "best fillet brazing" and "best carbon fiber," it's clearly a maker's kind of tradeshow.

Brilliant low-tech soil moisture sensor

Two galvanized nails set in a plug of plaster-of-Paris. That's it. The Cheap Vegetable Gardener, who created the sensor for an automated grow box project, explains:

Technically a gypsum block measures soil water tension. When the gypsum block is dry it is not possible for electricity to pass between the probes, essentially making the probe an insulator with infinite resistance. As water is added to the problem more electrons can pass between the probes effectively reducing the amount of resistance between the problem to the point when it is fully saturated where the probe has virtually zero resistance. By using this range of values you can determine the amount of water than exists in your soil.

[via Hack a Day]

In the Maker Shed: Vacuum Tube Radio Kit

The Vacuum Tube Radio Kit allows you to put together a real, functional, vacuum-tube radio! And it looks so sharp, once you've built it you're going to want to show it off. Includes instructions in Japanese, but we've got English instructions right here under the "How To" tab. MAKE is proud to be the exclusive distributor in North America for these brilliant kits, part of Gakken's Sophisticated Science Kit for Adults series.

Kit includes:

Pin straightener for the vacuum tubes

Testing microphone so you can make sure everything is hooked up correctly to produce sounds

Rubber feet on the fiber board to minimize "howling"

Variable condenser to allow for finer tuning

Re-creation of 60-year-old circuits

More powerful transformer for better volume and sound quality

Runs on five 9V batteries and one C battery (not included)

Tubes are 100% functional NOS tubes

CRAFT weekly recap

Last week on CRAFT we saw:

How-To: Baby Care Bear Costume

Flaky Cheddar and Ham Biscuits

In the Kitchen with Jarod: Make a Mother of Vinegar

In the Makers Market: Police tape scarf

Our own indescribably awesome Becky Stern makes these sweet black-and-yellow crime scene tape scarves to order:

This machine-knitted scarf looks like police tape and features the text "Police line do not cross" along the length. It's double sided! Designed by my close friend Michelle Kempner, the hand-knit pattern and scarf was featured in CRAFT, Volume 04. Knit from high-quality yellow and black 100% cotton yarn, the scarf measures 7 feet long and 3.5 inches wide. Your scarf is made to order, so please allow six weeks for me to lovingly make yours on my computerized knitting machine. The photo of me above was taken by Matt Mechtley.

You may recall Becky's Atomic Emission Spectrum scarves from a few weeks back. They're both available now in Becky's Makers Market store.

More:
How-To: Knit Caution Tape

Cool glass bottle lamp

I dig this Cadillac Dystopic Lamp by Instructables user PopEye42, which does something I've been meaning to try myself for a long time--using cut 1L Perrier bottles as lampshades. I also like that the dimmer switch has a hose valve handle on it.

Scenes from Handmade Music Brooklyn 3/8/10

The Handmade Music event series returns to Brooklyn, NY showcasing a talented collection of sonic experimentalists at Galapagos Art Space. A musical sewing machine, electro-country, the sound of blinking lights, and experimental gestural controllers were all on hand for the event.

In addition to the segments seen above, the night also included a performance by Mouse & the Billionaire which unfortunately I was unable to grab any footage of. In any case, a good time was had by all - stay tuned for details on the next installment in the series.

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