Giladon-line » materials http://giladlotan.com/blog culture technology: bridging the gap Tue, 18 May 2010 00:29:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Solid Smoke – my interactive installation in the Swiss Technorama museum http://giladlotan.com/blog/2008/09/solid-smoke-my-interactive-installation-in-the-swiss-technorama-museum/ http://giladlotan.com/blog/2008/09/solid-smoke-my-interactive-installation-in-the-swiss-technorama-museum/#comments Sun, 14 Sep 2008 22:00:28 +0000 http://giladlotan.com/blog/?p=377 Solid Smoke is an interactive installation I’ve built in collaboration with the Pasadena based artist, Dan Goods, of directedplay. The installation has been recently installed in the the Swiss Technorama science museum.

The installation triggers colored patterns projected onto aerogel, a unique low-density material in which the liquid component of the gel has [...]]]> Solid Smoke is an interactive installation I’ve built in collaboration with the Pasadena based artist, Dan Goods, of directedplay. The installation has been recently installed in the the Swiss Technorama science museum.

Solid Smoke

The installation triggers colored patterns projected onto aerogel, a unique low-density material in which the liquid component of the gel has been replaced with gas. The result is an ultralight semi-transparent material which absorbs light project within it. Leveraging its visually stunning properties, we created a display which changed patterns and lights according to viewers hand movements. By moving her hand next to the piece, a viewer controls the projections and colors.

Solid Smoke Installation

The installation runs on a mac-mini, using processing + additional java libraries. It analyzes the images bouncing off IR light project from the ground, triggering events only when viewers interact with the piece. The project will be running until July 2009.

Some tests with aerogel below:

[tags] aerogel, interactive, exhibit, installation, technorama, science, museum, switzerland, gilad, lotan, dan, goods [/tags]

]]> http://giladlotan.com/blog/2008/09/solid-smoke-my-interactive-installation-in-the-swiss-technorama-museum/feed/ 0 a day filled with rocket science http://giladlotan.com/blog/2008/01/a-day-filled-with-rocket-science/ http://giladlotan.com/blog/2008/01/a-day-filled-with-rocket-science/#comments Sat, 12 Jan 2008 06:31:43 +0000 http://giladlotan.com/blog/?p=266 Yesterday I was lucky to be given a tour through the JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) facility in Pasadena. It is a NASA research center with projects including the Galileo mission to Jupiter and its moons, the Mars rovers. JPL has sent unmanned missions to every planet in the Solar System and is also conducting extensive [...]]]> Yesterday I was lucky to be given a tour through the JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) facility in Pasadena. It is a NASA research center with projects including the Galileo mission to Jupiter and its moons, the Mars rovers. JPL has sent unmanned missions to every planet in the Solar System and is also conducting extensive mapping missions of Earth. Below is the first image of Mars to ever be broadcast on television:
First Live Broadcast image from mars (from the 60's) @ JPL

The image above is comprised of many strips of paper, each containing color-coded numbers, and held together by staples. Story tells of ecstatic scientists who didn’t have time to printout a color photograph for the television broadcast, so colored this first photograph themselves. A great story, especially as we are all used to such detailed imagery coming from the most remote planets. However it is significant to get a sense for how we got here, a notion that is harder to grasp, the further along technology takes us.

The Mars Rover mission sent two unmanned vehicles, designed by JPL to explore the surface of mars. They landed in January of 2004, with a planned 90 days mission. Scientists estimated that after that period, it would be impossible for the rovers to gather enough energy through their solar panels from the dust that would’ve picked up. Little did they realize that Mars is a fairly windy planet (also known for its huge Dust Devils). This wind essentially keeps the solar panels clear, allowing the rovers to still gather data up until today.
Aerogel is a low-density solid-state material derived from gel in which the liquid component of the gel has been replaced with gas. The result is an extremely low density solid with several remarkable properties, most notably its effectiveness as an insulator. It is nicknamed frozen smoke, solid smoke or blue smoke due to its semi-transparent nature and the way light scatters in the material; however, it feels like Styrofoam when touched.

a piece of aerogel

The material is truly fascinating – it felt extraordinarily light and very sensitive in my hand. However, it is said to have fantastic insulation properties. Such that a person can point a blow-torch on one side, and no heat would be felt on the other. When projected upon, light is caught inside its mass, creating a captivating effect:

Projection on aerogel @ JPL museum

More can be seen in this video.

Overall – its great to experience such a place, where people mostly think about other worlds and don’t really have to note what is going on in our little Earth. They think up big ideas, then brainstorm ways to make them happen!

[tags] jpl, aerogel, mars, nasa [/tags]

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