Responses 1-16

Responses to the 1/16 Exit Ticket.

  • Can you talk more about colorization techniques? (For example moving beyond the purple-yellow heat display). Perhaps I’m missing what you’re asking here. Watch this video and let me know if you still have questions.
  • Are there laws about security cameras seeing through clothes? The law governing security cameras is not my expertise, so I Googled it. “The general rule of thumb regarding video surveillance across the U.S. is that you’re allowed to record surveillance video in public so long as there’s no reasonable expectation of privacy. Places where an individual has a reasonable expectation of complete privacy include: bathrooms, shower areas, hotel rooms, changing rooms, etc. […] The recording of audio is restricted by the Federal Wiretap Act, a law that imposes civil and criminal liabilities for intentionally recording communications. […] It’s also illegal in the U.S. to record surveillance video or audio with the sole purpose of malicious intent or blackmail.” More information here. If it’s any comfort, standard NIR security cameras don’t generally see through most clothes, but if the fabric is already sheer, they sometimes do a better job of it.
  • Do we have analyzers/polarizer filters here to use? If not, is there a way to get funding to buy them? Tell me what you want or need; we have a budget. We do already have some polarizing filters. Happy to get more. Give plenty of notice. I don’t know what an “analyzer” is.
  • What’s the longest lecture you’ve given? I start to fall apart after 3 hours.
  • Can we keep the gold-plated thing we bring in to be scanned? The gold-palladium alloy is only one molecule thick, doesn’t look particularly shiny, and rubs off easily, but yes.
  • Did you know that copper is a perfect mirror for infrared light? I didn’t! That’s good to know — thank you.
  • Are there libraries that allow you to work with the raw feed of data from the thermal/uv cameras? There are different ways to answer the question. There are libraries for simply capturing the data digitally (it depends on the signal protocol: USB UVC webcam, Ethernet video, analog NTSC video, screencapture via Syphon, etc.). There are powerful libraries for analyzing the imagery in a general sense (OpenCV). There are specialized tools for analyzing imagery from specialized cameras, generally from the manufacturer.
  • Do we have an infrared sensor or camera capable of seeing/detecting the eyes? (similar to that of the red eye effect). You want to capture the infrared retroreflection of the cornea. Any red or infrared camera can do this; the trick is to have the red or IR illumination on-axis with the camera. It’s easy to achieve this with a small ring light. See my project, EyeShine.
  • Are there examples of people using sensing devices to develop ways to “see like” other organisms? It’s a premise I’ve sometimes seen in science museums, like the San Francisco Exploratorium. There’s a lot of ways to think about this, and you don’t always need fancy electronics. For example, a telestereoscope (EyeStilts) and faceted lens glasses both have analogies in the animal world.
  • Is there a written list of all the capture devices the studio has? We’re working on it. Last week, I provided a list of the multispectral equipment here. There’s still more we’re cataloguing; we’ll ask Philippe for help with this.