Technologic.
| Physical Computing | Flash Platform | iOS Development | Django / Python |
| Multi-Camera Array | Web Standards | Social Media | additional technologies |
How do humans interact with the digital world and how does a digital entity react to the analog world? Enter the realm of physical computing. DIY art projects, installations, experiments, and prototypes play with this interaction between the motion and touch of the analog world in order to change the digital output and response of the computing system. The result can be a screen, robot, machine, auditory device, or whatever you want to control. Our latest project is the logging of coffee consumption from our neediest robot, the office coffee maker. Check out our Neediest Robot Project at http://theneediestrobotever.com/.
Another recent Welikesmall project includes an iPod wall that consists of 20 iPod touches that display imagery based on user control . Next and future projects will be dealing with touch screens and formulating new UI and UX paradigms and data presentation. Hey, you don't need that old servo do you? Hand it over, we have something that we want to build.
"Yo, you have to check this site out, it is so cool." I bet you haven't heard that one before. In the world of experiential web sites, Flash is the King at delivering rich interactive experiences to those who appreciate them. Flash can deliver integrated video with smooth animation along with great UX. Oh yeah, let's also have a nicely designed game in there while we are at it. The Flash platform can handles all of this for us. Many interactive developers and designers began their careers while growing up with Flash. Actionscript has matured over the years too
and also was the first programming language that people learned before adventuring out to other programming languages.
Now we are seeing Flash run on the desktop as AIR and on Android handheld devices. The future is wide open. Look up Jonathon Gay and FutureSplash for some cool history about how it all happened. Secretly we wish that Macromedia was still alive. Viva la Flash!
Apple iOS is the native mobile operating system for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The iOS SDK was released in 2008 and it allowed applications for these devices to be developed by creative studios and development shops. We have a lot of ideas for iOS apps. Dream it up and we can make an app for that! Imagine 2 huge boxes of Legos and in one of those boxes are 1x1 square piece Legos. In the other box are pre-assembled parts, motors, pulleys, and custom pieces that you can use in any of your creations. The 1x1 pieces are yours to fill in the gaps with whatever you can concept.
This is our analogy of the iOS platform. Apple's iOS platform is a mixture of Objective-C 2.0, C, and C++. Originally coined iPhone OS, which doesn't work so well with iPod Touches and iPads the platform is now named iOS.
Welikesmall enjoys developing on the iOS platform and looks to designing and developing many more apps that run on the iOS devices. We are looking forward to see where this platform goes not only on the software side, but also how will the hardware evolve.
Here at Welikesmall, Python has a special place in our hearts. Python provides us with an intuitive and powerful Object Oriented programming language. Python features a fully dynamic type system with automatic memory management. The Django framework provides us with everyday killer Python libraries and a web app coding convention that makes life so much better, it really does shine when it
comes to a team environment. Everybody on the team knows how to structure and code the project.
A special thanks goes out to Guido van Rossum, the Python community, and the Django Software Foundation. If you are interested in Python, we highly suggest the http://www.pythonchallenge.com/
So what is a multi-camera array? Think of the movie the Matrix and the scene that was often dubbed "bullet time". Whoa. Welikesmall built a 30 camera array out of Canon EOS Rebel T-1i's that took one image simultaneously. The rig that held the cameras was designed here at Welikesmall, and built by a guy whose business card reads "Gunsmith, Machinist, Engine Builder." In other words, this thing is burly, and designed to be mounted to a scissor lift or anything else that can lift it off the ground to gain perspective. The entire system is run by 2 Phidget
boards that dispatch commands through USB to cameras, collectively or individually. This process happens with a custom piece of software written in Python. It takes about 2 hours to set up and calibrate the rig through a semi-tedious process of leveling and adjusting the cameras primarily due to the fact that it is built to be mobile. The end result is a photograph or video that can be panned around still or otherwise. Our current system can be scaled to any amount of cameras and arranged in an infinite number of configurations.
Web standards, everybody needs them to play nice right? Best practices are dully noted and followed here at the studio. When you see the term 'Web Standards', this usually means valid HTML, CSS, and Javascript. We dream of a day when all web browsers share the same web standards and follow them for
their rendering of content. Welikesmall feels that we are not alone in this and that many others share the same sentiment. For a full broad sense of Web standards, check out this entry.
We've crossed an interesting threshold in time in the world of digital. People are no longer dipping their toes in the social media pool to feel the water, they are doing cannonballs into the deep end. Social computing technologies are redefining how people use the web and live their lives. Social media integration is baked into the majority of projects we do these days. No longer a "nice to have", it's now a strategy driver for most of our clients. We won't bore you with stats on how fast Facebook is growing, or what the Earned Media dollar value of a Fan's wall post on Facebook is worth, or how many followers @aplusk currently has on Twitter. It all changes in realtime. The bottom line is this: if Search (think Google) was the
internet technology that gathered all the content out there on the web and wrapped it up for you to access from your desktop computer anytime, the age of social media has created a whole new set of tools and technologies that fragment the web. Ever hear of the term Splinternet? It's a high-level concept that attempts to describe what is happening on the web today. It's not just about reconnecting with college roommates on Facebook, or telling the world what you had for lunch at the local Thai place on Twitter. New technologies are enabling the colonization of content, redefining how we use the web to create, consume, and share content.
The art and discipline of producing a finished video piece from early stages to final delivery. The Process includes: 1) Pre-Production - the shoot is planned, scouting locations, scoping out budgets, casting, and all logistics. 2) Production - video is recorded, audio and lighting is setup, the director is engaged, technical and photographic directors are consulted. 3) Post-Production - footage is logged, organized and edited, special effects, transitions, color corrections, sound design, and color keying techniques are applied.
Phidgets are amazing little devices that can be easily programmed to interface with the physical world around us. They are controlled through USB, and have all sorts of different sensors, motors, and relays. We specialize in making them do the craziest things you can think of. Phidgets were a key ingredient in the tech behind controlling the Multi-Camera array. RFIDs or RFID tags are objects that information is used in identifying and tracking of the object using radio waves.
Power to the communities that contribute to Open Source software. Welikesmall prefers to use the open source tools, scripts, libraries, and programming languages. Whether you find Open Source pragmatic or consider it a core philosophy, we are very grateful to the contributors and project leaders of these Open Source initiatives. If you do have a chance, contribute to an Open Source project. And by all means attach a licence to your code. Without a license, your shared code can't be used by many institutions or studios.
Data, data, data. What does it all mean? Some highly functional intellects can look at a spreadsheet and get a picture of the story that the data is showing. This is all fine and dandy, but wouldn't you rather look at a visual representation of the data? The goal of data visualization is to communicate the information to a user as a clean and graphical representation. Aesthetics to make it beautiful and spacial visual functionality pair up to convey data stories effectively. Remember, design and function clearly communicate information.
Sound design is regarded as an art and process where audio segments and pieces are combined to achieve a desired mood, emotion, or effect. Sound design is like gourmet cooking, it can be composed of a few ingredients or a full blend to achieve the final listening experience. Welikesmall produces sound design from scratch by going out into the field and recording the elements that will comprise of the final piece.
The new kid on the handheld device block. Not only are we seeing Android rise rapidly through the handheld world, it is gaining traction on other devices as well like TV set-top boxes. What the hell is Android? Android is Google's OS for mobile devices, and a competitor or if you will a choice to Apple's iOS platform. We like where this is going and we are experimenting and developing on this platform.
A circular device that is capable of rotating on an axle through its center, facilitating movement or transportation while supporting a load, or performing labor in machines. Welikesmall uses the wheel everyday. Whether it be using our 1st gen. iPod wheel or cranking out miles on the bike to get to the studio to storing our designs and code on a harddrive. You should try it and check them out, wheels are cool.
A great application has the characteristics of providing the user an experience that is unhindered and intuitive; a natural progression and flow that provides a purpose and toolset to make like easier. Behind the scenes, the application is making sure everything is buttoned up and running properly for the user while providing data, imagery, information, details, edit-ability, management, etc.
I think that somebody in the studio said, "Let's build our own phone system, that would be fun". Hell yeah that would be fun, so Welikesmall setup our own Asterisk phone system. What is Asterisk? From Wikipedia - "Asterisk is a software implementation of a telephone private branch exchange (PBX) originally created in 1999 by Mark Spencer of Digium. Its name comes from the asterisk symbol, “*”." Sounds great right? Well it is and if you know anything about 2112 - we have assumed control!
Processing is an open source programming language that allows us to create digital art. Processing builds upon the graphical capabilities of the Java programming language. Sometimes a sketchbook and pencil don't quite work effectively when your brain has a little something different in mind. We need pixels and code to power our digital thought pieces. The visual feedback that Processing provides is amazing and instantaneous. We prefer our coffee with Processing on the side.
Stop Motion Animation is presenting the illusion of making objects appear to move on their own underscores the desired effect to present to a viewer. To achieve this effect, the object is shot frame by frame, while in between each shot, the object is moved in small increments. When the individual shots are played together in a sequence, the viewer sees the motion of the objects. This animation technique dates back to as early as 1898 with "The Humpty Dumpty Circus".
Papervision3D is the 3D engine that opened the third dimension to the Flash platform. Papervision3D is an open source Flash Platform 3D engine that brought 3D to the Flash community. It opened many worlds as far as concepts and designs are concerned for interactive experiential flash sites. The project was started by Carlos Ulloa as a way to transfrom stage items and achieve a 3D illusion inside a flash movie.
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