Persephone: The Goddess of Spring Growth

The following vase is a combination of two techniques, hand-building and wheel throwing. The face, hair, vines, and flowers are all hand-built using NO molds or visuals. The vase was wheel thrown. The clay used to create the piece is called Ash. The glaze on the vines and flowers is called Rutile. The vase was inspired by the changing season and our connection to mother earth. The serenity and beauty which is within us all can be reflected in the art which we create and surround ourselves with. My art is a piece of me and I hold it very dear to my heart.

Cocoon Flower/Spice Planter

The following piece, approx. 2'5" long, was inspired due to a mistake in my throwing. The original vase was a bit crooked, therefore, I took it off the wheel and in a moment of frustration tossed it on the table beside me. However, in that moment, I saw a new shape from that haphazard mistake. It resembled the bulbous portion of a cocoon, the part which is below the attachment to the tree. I then decided to remove the top and bottom portion of the vase and replace it with smoothed hand built coils, in order for the final cocoon shape to have an organic resemblance to a real cocoon. The final steps included cutting a large hole on the top, thickening the lip for sturdiness, and cutting circular holes on the bottom for drainage. I am excited to see the final fired piece which will take some time because I am allowing it to dry slowly, in order to prevent cracking.

Photos are generally taken with a Nikon D90 or Sprint HTC Evo running CyanogenMod (simular to Windows mobile cell phone and iPhone). No cell phone service or AppStore applications were used, but DSL/cable modem internet service was used.

OpenTelecine, OpenCV, image processing

The two biggest challenges to overcome in the OpenTelecine project are optics and image processing. In previous blogs, we discussed some accomplishments in image processing for the rectangular geometries found in 8mm film frames and film spool holes. In this blog, we shall discuss the failures and upcoming challenges in configuring the camera and OpenTelecine optics to illuminate and capture 8mm frames.

The first image is a prototype of a projector using a SparkFun cardboard box, Petzl LED headlight, and an existing projector optical focus. An unusual attribute of this prototype is the lack of a well defined aperture. In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture of an optical system is the opening that determines the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. In our case, the aperture was cut out to be a large rectangular hole that spans multiple 8mm frames. Another unusual characteristic is that the film rests on a adjustable back-plane. This allows for the projector to have two optical parameters to adjust: the optical focus and the distance to the back-plane.



The prototype projector was set up in a dark room to project the 8mm film on a whiteboard. A Nikon D90 camera was set off to the side and capture a 10 second exposure of this image. Notice the imperfection in this photo, where the center spool hole is in perfect focus, whereas the left and right spool holes are not. Another unexpected discovery is that the images smear and streak off between frames, which is caused by the mechanical shutter and film transition. This is solved in practice by reducing the aperture size. 8mm film cameras generally have larger apertures then the projector, which causes a projector to display only a subset of each original frame. Striving to capture the maximum available frame in the OpenTelecine will be difficult because the frames will not have perfectly shaped rectangular frames and spool holes. The top of each frame will be smeared and streaked, whereas the spool holes are rounded rectangles.




Instead of capturing the film off the whiteboard, the camera and projector were placed inline to face each other directly. Notice that the images captured by using this approach are completely and totally unacceptable. Is this project doomed to fail?

Reflection, refraction, and chromatic dispersion are well understood, and there are precise mathematical solutions to this problem. My next attempt will come by a recommendation, which is to place the camera and project perpendicular to each, with a mirror between them at a 45 degree angle.

The project currently uses Ubuntu 11.04 (simular to Microsoft Windows), OpenCV, gimp (similar to Adobe), GNU gcc (similar to Microsoft .NET), and Eclipse. Photos are generally taken with a Nikon D90 or Sprint HTC Evo running CyanogenMod (simular to Windows mobile cell phone and iPhone).

Open Telecine, OpenCV, image processing

"This is the second post about an attempt to make an open source telecine. Telecine is the process of transferring motion picture film into video form. The preliminary goal of this project is currently limited to converting 8mm film to DVD using a digital camera, while levering other open source projects. Telecine has had much success in using flatbed scanners and ones that record from modified film projectors. The frame-by-frame projector use by this project will be built from scratch, by using: two stepper motors, an arduino board, an EasyDriver (from SparkFun), a MakerBot for printing 3D components, a LEDs, and optics. The software to convert the images into a movie is yet to be determined, but here is an attempt."

The first image processing restrictions that was added (to identify rectangles with the desired proprieties) is the angle off the X/Y axis. 8mm film possesses two desired rectangular geometries, a picture frames and the spool holes. Since the project will capture all images (in strictly a vertical or horizontal orientation), additional code was added (to the OpenCV example) to only identify horizontal and vertical rectangles. In the first set of images, notice the tolerance of rectangles up to a 2.5 degree from the horizontal axis, where the 15 degree rectangle was ignored.


A second image processing restrictions that was added (to identify rectangles with the desired proprieties) is the X to Y proportion. Some of today's media comes in a 16:9 or 4:3 rectangular format, whereas 8mm has it's own ratios. The next set of images show the acceptance of rectangles with the ratios possessed by a 8mm picture frame and the spool hole.

The project currently uses Ubuntu 11.04 (simular to Microsoft Windows), OpenCV, GNU gcc, and Eclipse. The photo of the pottery vase was taken with an Sprint HTC Evo (simular to iPhone).

hand sculpted face attached to wheel thrown vase

This is a hand sculpted face attached to wheel thrown vase, with decorative handbuilt butterflies in a whirlwind pattern. These movie was produced in Colorado Springs with an Sprint cell phone running Android/Cyanongen Mod (similar to a Windows Phone or an Apple iPhone). The movie was uploaded with Ubuntu (similar to Microsoft Windows or Apple laptop).

Open Telecine, OpenCV, image processing

This is the first post about an attempt to make an open source telecine. Telecine is the process of transferring motion picture film into video form. The preliminary goal of this project is currently limited to converting 8mm film to DVD using a digital camera, while levering other open source projects. Telecine has had much success in using flatbed scanners and ones that record from modifyed film projectors. The frame-by-frame projector use by this project will be built from scratch, by using: two stepper motors, an arduino board, an EasyDriver (from SparkFun), a MakerBot for printing 3D components, a LEDs, and optics. The software to convert the images into a movie is yet to be determined, but here is the first attempt.

The first set of images are a mockup of frames being capture and processed to determined the film spool holes. The 8mm spool holes need to be determined in order to perform cropping correctly, and to uniquely identify each frame. The green squares were automatically identified by image processing. An example (e.g. squares.cpp) contained within OpenCV was modified to enhance the discovery of rectangles with greater accuracy. The image processing is as follows: pyramid scaling (for smoothing imaging and filtering out some noise), Canny algorithm (for edge detection), initial contours detection, Douglas-Peucker algorithm (for reducing the number of points in a curve), and finally rectangle detection (for eliminating other types of polygons). The next task is to add code that will only detect rectangles with the correct proportions for a 8mm spool hole.

The second set of images are from Flatbed Scanner Digital Telecine (FSDT) to give a more realistic test. Notice that the image processing failed to detect one of the spool hole. Near perfection is paramount, because of the number of frames contained on large spools of film.

The project currently uses Ubuntu 11.04 (simular to Microsoft Windows), OpenCV, GNU gcc, and Eclipse. The photo of the pottery vase was taken with an Sprint HTC Evo (simular to iPhone).

Shipping, Boulder hotels, and High Fructose Corn Syrup

Today I looked at my shipping tracker, which show a product that was purchased in Boulder Colorado (just 150 miles from Colorado Springs with nice hotels) has taken at least 6 days to get to my house. Also reading about High Fructose Corn Syrup, from another blog link.

Cerritos, CA, United States 06/14/2011 12:40 A.M. Departure Scan Cerritos, CA, United States 06/13/2011 2:12 P.M. Multiple errors exist in the address label. UPS is attempting to determine the correct information to complete delivery. / The address has been corrected. The delivery has been rescheduled. 06/13/2011 12:13 P.M. Incorrect routing at UPS facility. 06/13/2011 6:54 A.M. Out For Delivery Cerritos, CA, United States 06/10/2011 4:32 P.M. Arrival Scan Salt Lake City, UT, United States 06/10/2011 1:08 A.M. Departure Scan Salt Lake City, UT, United States 06/09/2011 3:02 P.M. Arrival Scan Commerce City, CO, United States 06/09/2011 6:25 A.M. Departure Scan Commerce City, CO, United States 06/08/2011 10:30 P.M. Arrival Scan Boulder, CO, United States 06/08/2011 8:11 P.M. Departure Scan 06/08/2011 6:56 P.M. Origin Scan United States 06/08/2011 6:40 P.M. Order Processed: Ready for UPS

Sculpted Face taken with a cell phone

This is a hand sculpted face attached to wheel thrown vase, with decorative handbuilt butterflies, which will eventually adorn the entire vase in a whirlwind pattern. These images were taken in Colorado Springs with an Sprint cell phone running Android/Cyanongen Mod, which is not a Windows Phone or an Apple iPhone. The images where reduced with Ubuntu and Gimp, which is not Microsoft Windows or Apple laptop. The mobile phone resolution is 8MP.

Bicycle commute with Burley Nomad trailer and Boxer in Colorado Springs

Bicycle commute with trailer and Boxer in Colorado Springs. Zoey, the Boxer, rides in the cart when tired. It usually takes Zoey 10 miles on a hot day before she is ready to ride in the cart. The cart is a Burley Nomad, and the bicycles are Specialized. Watch the Video here!

Art and Cell Phones

A little poem I wrote for my followers. Has cell phone design been influenced by closed composition? Due to the appearance of closed spatial composition, the artist reflected a desire for no interaction or a deep sense of emotion, but instead wanted a fixed ornate object much like classical Greek sculptures. Which is implied in the strict vertical lines, which are seen from knee to foot and hip to head. At the top of a phone screen, there is no implication of movement or diagonal lines to suggest forward action. A phone is fixed in a moment, which seems to have no emotional output. Compared to a woman, she appears serene with a slight smile suggesting no emotion. Every part of her body is firmly planted and aligned, with makeup. In this sense, smart phones and ladies share common characteristic.

Art Sculpture Analysis

The Trailblazer is realistic but also has a touch of idealism added into its conceptualism.
When viewing the piece one can see the muscles and facial expression which suggests realism . Also the muscles are well defined creating shadow and intensity. The face is at piece with a slight smile to welcome you to look all around her. She is standing as most bicyclist would when at a halt, with one foot on the peddle and the other planted firmly on the ground. She is gazing forward as if frozen in time. The woman lacked any deformities or irregularities, which was the point of the piece considering it was to signify an idealistic view of a strong woman. Even though the texture is rough due to the realistic folds in her her shirt and waviness of her hair, she remains very smooth throughout. The tires on the bicycle are also rough but the rest is smooth just like her muscles and skin. She has no movement or interaction in plan, she is paused in a moment. Which draws me to the conclusion that the Trailblazer is closed spatial composition.