Author: Zeak

Person-In-Time | Points & Paths

 

My goal was to explore movement paths and “light painting” through LiDAR points and photogrammetry.

Polycam only allows you to capture using either LiDAR (which creates a triangulated mesh ) or photos (that creates the mesh for you and not ply. points)

I’m exploiting the points detection capture option inside of the home scanner app, because as long as I keep a fixed distance with the lens, then it assumes that my hand is also a static object within the space. That’s what’s creating the trails, but the effect doesn’t work using the other capture options in both Polycam as well as Homescanner App.

 

Experiment #1 by kcotton on Sketchfab

 

 

 

Experiment #2 by kcotton on Sketchfab

 

 

 

 

Point Cloud Visualizer Documentation: https://jakubuhlik.com/docs/pcv/docs.html#installation

 

I then asked my friends and dog friends to walk for 2 minutes and avoid walking in straight lines as much a possible. Here’s what was captured in that process:


https://3dscannerapp.com/

What 3D Can 3D Scanner App Export to?

Software – Compatible Formats

This following list is export formats that are compatible with the most common 3D Software.

The home scanner app gives you all of these different export options, all of which I tried to import into C4D and failed.

Experiment #1 by kcotton on Sketchfab

Person-in-time | Proposal

updated proposal ideas: 10/25

 

 

My goal is to explore light painting through photogrammetry. I want to capture another typology of drawings by giving participants a series of prompts. My apparatus will have a phone and light source mounted at a fixed distance while simultaneously capturing 360 video in order to incorporate HDRI lighting into the final composite.

 

Vitruvian Self-Portraits : Typology Machine


“Leonardo envisaged the great picture chart of the human body he had produced through his anatomical drawings and Vitruvian Man as a cosmografia del minor mondo (cosmography of the microcosm). He believed the workings of the human body to be an analogy for the workings of the universe.”

We can find out a lot about ourselves when given an opportunity to play with an Etch-A-Sketch and a microscope. 

This project is a typology crafted through an apparatus that is able to collect Etch-a-Sketch self-portrait drawings from passersby.

Please consider changing playback resolution to 4K for a more optimal viewing experience. 

I’ve enjoyed the freedom of viewing this project from the prospective of an alien and observing human behavior more through an anthropological lens. What was immediately exiting to me about this prompt was giving myself the means to build an “alien machine” – that allowed an excuse to engage with the public in a more direct way.  I was first setting out to somehow be able to capture individuals’ drawing processes over time. I attempted to draw under the MacroZoom MZ .7 to 5x Zoom microscope, but alas pens bleed too much… 

I’ve also been reflecting on Western cultures complicated dynamic with structure and order. In fact strangely enough, the drawing of the Vitruvian Man comes up when you Google “Western culture”. My goal was to capture a large number of strangers all throughout Pittisburgh (and hopefully beyond). With that being the case, I had to prioritize a system that was portable enough that I could at least  setup in some larger public and liminal spaces throughout CMU.

Each video portrait was approximately 2-3 minutes each.

Script:
“Are you willing to participate in a series of self-portraits? I’m asking people to draw the universe in relationship with your body through an Etch-a-Sketch. You’re going to stand here and try to work in this little region of the microscope.  Try to look ahead as much as possible. You can look down if you need to see if you’re out of bounds. And with that, you have two minutes and your time starts now.”

click here for more Vitruvian Self-Portraits

A special thank you to Nica Ross, Golan Levin, and the Studio for Creative Inquiry for providing the space and resources to make this project happen.

Typology : Proposal

“Leonardo envisaged the great picture chart of the human body he had produced through his anatomical drawings and Vitruvian Man as a cosmografia del minor mondo (cosmography of the microcosm). He believed the workings of the human body to be an analogy for the workings of the universe.”

 

I’ve enjoyed the freedom of viewing this project from the prospective of an alien and observing human behavior more through an anthropological lens. I’ve been reflecting on Western cultures complicated dynamic with structure and order. In fact strangely enough, the drawing of the Vitruvian Man comes up when you Google “Western culture”. My goal is to capture a large number of strangers all throughout Pittisburgh (and perhaps beyond). With that being said, I would need for the system to be portable enough that I can setup at least throughout campus. Each video portrait should be a minute long and have all around better and more consistent lighting and framing between portraits.

I’m fascinated that once participants introduce lines and order into the frame, then our innate desire to control the image of ourselves inadvertently has an impact our behavior and stance.

I’m still exploring different ways of showcasing or organizing everyone’s self-portraits.

Processes and Truth – Reading 1

 

Processes that centred on measurement did not always have to dispense with the pictorial…


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Press_the_Button,_We_Do_the_Rest


Sarah Lewis explores the relationship between racism and the camera.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/lens/sarah-lewis-racial-bias-photography.html

What I found to be most enlightening  about the reading is the strenuous correlation between anthropometry and scientific racism and the impact these ideas had on the history of photography. This reading helped me reconsider antiquated and “newer” technologies ability  to measure and classify the world around us. The author allows us to re-examine photography’s complicated relationship with truth and objectivity. It’s been eye-opening to recontextualize  my relationship with the image through an evidence based practice. I’m excited to continue to explore a methodology that is adaptive and considers the boundaries of the device/mechanism.

 

Artworks that came to mind while reading:

Lisa Reihana is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice spans film, sculpture, costume and body adornment, text and photography.

 

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The photographs listed below help me reflect on the limitations of our tools as well as our complex history and relationship with the outside world.

 

Fig. 10: Visual Perspective: The Young Painter’s Maulstick – James Malton (1800)

Estudio experimental de las leyes de la reflexión de la luz.

Jean Antoine Nollet: Leçons de Physique expérimentale, 1764, vol. 5

Camera Obscura, Catalogue, William Y. McAllister, New York, c. 1890

"Espejo cilíndrico. Anamorfosis".

 

http://paleo-camera.com

 

 

Alive Painting – Looking Outwards

 

 

Akiko Nakayama’s work primarily consists of her performance pieces that she calls ‘Alive Painting’.  What I love most about her live capturing process is a focus on the  ephemerality found within life.  Akiko describes her work as an ‘energy metamorphosis’ that also exemplifies our relationship within a space. There is a profound beauty in witnessing simple elements create such larger than life reactions. I appreciate her willingness to let external forces push the work forward while allowing the viewer a moment of reflection.

(For me, this work is also very reminiscent of the liquid light shows that were popular in the 60s and 70s.)

 

Akiko’s website:

http://akiko.co.jp/akikoweb/top.html

https://www.instagram.com/akikonkym/