Final Project Report

"Hanabi Taikai with u "--Cynthia--Andy (professor)

*"Hanabi Taikai" is fireworks festival in Japanese

VIDEO DOCUMENTATION

IMG_6969.MOV

CONCEPTION AND DESIGN

-Conception:

"It is the company of the special ones that makes the fireworks exceptionally beautiful and unforgettable."

是身边之人的陪伴让花火格外美丽难忘。

I came up with this idea because I always wanted to go to Japan with my friends in the summer to attend the fireworks festival. However, many real-life factors make it impossible for us to travel far together at a given time. Through this project, I want to make my dream come true.

To express these above, I set up a scene where people sit on the grass and watch fireworks.

-Design:

I set up a common scene when watching a fireworks festival with friends in terms of physical interaction and visuals—sitting on the grass with friends, eating snacks, chatting, waiting for dark. I saw in a video that a real fireworks festival will have a small fireworks or two to warm up before it starts, and finally, the big fireworks go off. To simulate this, each person sitting in a specific position can trigger the corresponding small fireworks, and only three people sitting down simultaneously can trigger the final fireworks effect. This is also a manifestation of the theme of "indispensable without you." I also made red, green, and blue cushions and the fireworks effect in the corresponding colors (inspired by the YOASOBI's song "RGB"). As conveyed in the song, these three colors, although independent, can create countless possibilities through mixing, which is a metaphor for the relationship between people: in a world where it is difficult to meet the people they want to meet, the bonds between people are still tenacious, even if they have been separated and their trajectories of life are different. As long as we want to see each other again, we can still create a colorful world, just like what we experienced together before.

In order to make the fireworks more realistic, I combined the neopixel with the video, first letting the sparks of the real world spread and then releasing the "virtual fireworks," blurring the boundary between the real and the virtual.

The song "RGB"：https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS5YyieaXgc

"Neopixel as sparks" inspiration:【【硬核！项目分享】processing & arduino投币电子烟花-哔哩哔哩】 https://b23.tv/XEy4ODN

-User testing:

Before user testing, my work was quite ordinary. I only chose three straw mats for interaction, and the wires were also exposed. There is someone advised that the black point isn't clear enough for the experiencer to know where to stand, so I added RGB color mats on the cabinet. At Andy and Angy's suggestion, I created a grass scene and added a picnic-like blanket to make the experience more immersive and realistic. I also made a picnic basket and decorated it with flowers to hide the wires, the Arduino board and the breadboard, etc.

Before

user testing

After

IMA show

(Presentation &IMA show: Before the presentation, I didn't set up a part to "wait for dark," and the final video time was relatively short (about 40 seconds). In my presentation, I found that if the user triggers the final video (fireworks effect) very quickly, the whole interaction only lasts about 1 and a half minutes, which is relatively short and ends abruptly. In the IMA show, I added a "wait for dark" section and replaced the final video with a long video of about 2 minutes and 40 seconds. But contrary to the presentation, this interaction is too long for most interactors. Many people don't have the patience to wait for it to get dark, and they don't have the patience to watch the whole final video. At that point, I was only able to speed up the darkening speed... I have to admit that in the process of waiting for the dark and the final fireworks, the behavior people can do is just stand there and watch, there is no "interaction," and it is like a "punishment stand", which is probably the reason for people's loss of interest, and this is what I need to improve. (But that's what the real fireworks festival is!) I have to conclude that since it is an interactive project, it must be designed for interactive projects, and it cannot blindly imitate reality. ）

FABRICATION AND PRODUCTION

-Arduino: get triggers, control lights & send and get signals

In setup, neopixels and sensors are connected to certain pins. And serial communication is added.

In loops, sensors read signals and get values. The values are mapped to be a parameter to determine whether the certain sensor is triggered or not. If is triggered, send signals to processing and control the lights. I also added some functions to control the lights and restate when a round is over(told by Processing).

-Processing: send and receive signals & call the corresponding video

The program starts with an opening image. Upon receiving a sensor signal, the background transitions from blue to black, imitating the sky getting dark while preparing for video playback. Different videos are triggered by different sensor signals. There is also a background music loop before the final video is triggered, which pauses when the final video plays. After the final video(the big fireworks) finishes, the states are reset to restart the whole experience, and the program sends a signal to let the Arduino program restate everything.

In fact, for the setting of the small fireworks before the final big ones, I experienced some exploration. At first, I wanted to make each firework different, so I tried importing different videos only to find that they always overlapped. After that, I tried searching the Internet for Processing fireworks codes, trying to avoid overlapping and increase randomness by randomly generating fireworks. However, I found the code to control these fireworks too long, and obviously, I could not understand, and the generated fireworks were not realistic enough. So, in the end, I chose to use the same vertical video in a horizontal arrangement and add filters to make three videos with different colors to distinguish the different fireworks controlled by each sensor, adding variety.

RPReplay_Final1734419801.mov

-Fabrication: Box to hide the wires and the Arduino, the grass map, and the cushions(connected to the pressure sensor)

The pressure sensor is sensitive, simple, and interactive. If you step on it, it will be triggered, and if you don't step on it, it will not be triggered. Very simple and prompt feedback. So it came to my head at the beginning. But the original design of the guiding light was canceled because I found that it would be very troublesome if I wanted to connect the LED lights (I had to connect a long line, which was very time-consuming, and the effect would not be particularly good) and the "guide" function could be replaced by the opening text. And there will be no guiding lights in a real fireworks display. So I canceled that design.

Draft

Opening Scene

-Electronics: wires, etc.

In this project, I learned how to solder the big square pressure sensors to the original ones and how to solder the wires together to make the long wires I needed. I also found it hard to get wires fixed to the pressure sensors, which could lead to disconnecting and not working sensors (This time, I used double-sided tape. Next(?) time, maybe I will try hot glue.)

Big square sensor soldering

Wire soldering

CONCLUSIONS

It is said that deep memories are associated with strong emotions. My work aims to make people feel truly moved through fun interactions and beautiful fireworks so that they can remember and be grateful for the company of those around them and then, remember my work.

On reflection, I summarized four problems.

First, my work is a little fragile. In the IMA show, there were problems with the sensors (including wiring problems and wear and tear problems), and some sensors were not sensitive enough during the usual tests. If I had more time at this point, I would try to make sure that the technical part was perfect. Second, some of the expressions in the work are not clear enough, such as some people can't tell from just "looking" that they need to step on or sit on a mat to interact, and many people are at a loss when the screen is getting dark. This got me thinking about how to be not too direct but clear. Thirdly, some parts of my work are not well connected, for example, the music in the previous part stops abruptly when switching to the final video (?). ), which makes the experience of immersion decrease. Fourth, my work may be good if it is experienced in isolation(e.g., in the classroom). But if it is placed in a noisy environment like the IMA show, the sense of immersion will be reduced, and the sense of experience will be reduced.

In the future, I will make sure that the technical aspects are okay first, which is the basis for the whole project to work. I will also try different ways of expressing myself and find a suitable limit to be clear but not direct.

I am so glad several people have expressed their love for my work at the IMA show. Someone told me that they were very impressed and moved, and someone read my intention to simulate a fireworks festival in Japan. That's enough.

Anyway, this is an unforgettable experience!!!

DISASSEMBLY