cyancdesign [Chris Yanc]

Interactive Designer and Developer

Whoa, nearly a full year running solo. And it had been very exciting. And number of good projects off the ground and some solid relationships formed. So what can be said of all this:

1. Things will go wrong, have a plan 'B'. or at least be able to plan on the fly.

2. Make time for friends and life outside of working. They will help you stay balanced.

3. Always have business cards on hand. You never know who you may run into.

4. Knowledge is everywhere, sometimes you just have to listen closer.

5. Don't be afraid to fail. But know when to take a break and clear your head.

6. Test and test and test... then test some more.

7. Be as courteous as possible to everyone you meet, you never know who are the decision makers in the end.

The Most Memorable Part of 2011

After a couple months of development in studio, it was time to install the Water Wall at Ripley's. This was the big one. Everything was packed up and shipped, all set to go once I got there. Everything is going good. Met with the contractors and client to discuss the installation, everything rather straight forward, this goes here, that goes there, awesome. The whiteboard was up, started getting the PVC and valves attached and wired up projector mount was stable and ready to go. Let's try the projector, see how it looks. Get the projector up onto the mount.

Plug in the projector and wait for the power light to come on...
...
...
...still waiting...

Ok, this is odd. Press the power button. And nothing happens.

Right, let's try the other outlet socket. And nothing happens again.

Umm. Maybe try another outlet all together? Nothing, no power.

Oh did my gut sink, one of the most memorable gut sinking feelings that have happened in my life. That unshakable instant reaction that it's been your responsibility for things to go smoothly and you are instantly failing. The projector had to have been the last thing on my mind that would have not worked. It isn't exactly a common projector and you can pick one up at Office Max. The mount it specifically for that projector and the throw distance is insanely short and not exactly readily available. It was working just fine in the studio. Something must have happened in transport. Awe Crap... Oh s#!%... AWE FFFFFFFFFUUUUUU. (Ok, started freaking out a little, hey it was 3am and I was tired, don't judge) Couldn't really work on anything moving forward without the projector. Should I open up the projector and see if it is something fixable? But what about the warranty? What can I do at 3am?

STOP! Take a breath. Stay calm and don't panic.

Not much that can be done at this time, tried to call support for the projector and to check the warranty but it's after hours, so back to the hotel I go for a bit of rest. Tomorrow is a new day. As the new morning kicks in, call up the client. Let them know what is happened, time to think solutions. Start calling all the local projector and A/V places I can find. No one has the same projector in stock. A blur of phone calls and disappointment. Who would need an extreme short throw projector anyways? Get in contact about the warranty, and low and behold, we'll have to send them the projector to get fixed, estimated time to get it back, 2 weeks. How much time do I have left to install, 3 days. Last option, order up a new projector and get it overnight directly to the installation location.

So what started as being a day head of schedule became 2 days behind and an extended weekend. Thankfully, the client was understanding of such possible mishaps, especially during installations. And finally everything was installed and running.

My best friend knew what was going on the whole time and knew all the stress I was feeling from it and she gave me an excellent nugget to think over. "I think it is best that everything went so wrong with your first project. This means that anything after this should feel like a cake walk." And honestly, since then I have agreed with that assessment.

So That Was 2011

Well, everything stayed afloat. I'm feeling proud of my work and I'm happy that I decided to try running freelance. I'm thankful from my connection with Supertouch in New York, I was very close to jumping ship and just joining them first hand but I want to keep at this solo run for a bit longer. Grew and stronger connection to the interactive design teachers at Akron U. giving workshops and working in the Collider Series. Everyone still loves the graffiti wall, using it for parties in and out of state and with Ingenuity Fest. And I'm still going to be pushing more ideas into the graffiti wall, I got some new ideas in the works for it as well.

And What for 2012?

Now, I'm not too sure. I have a couple projects waiting in the wings. Will they be as big as last year? Potentially. And now I'd be making a list of resolutions of what I intend to do, but that never seems to work out when I do that. So I'll just say, I have things I'll be working on and things I intend on working on.

Bring on the New Year!
Happy Experimenting (^_^)//

My Facebook friends and Twitter follows, whether they know it or not, are helping me lose some weight!

The short of is that I hooked up my fridge to my Facebook and Twitter accounts to post whenever I try and snack late night before going to bed. Not exactly a healthy habit that I have. But just by knowing that everyone I know will know when I'm trying to raid the fridge at night has really started to help me with that.

I have a tumblr page setup for it:

http://cyancdesigngutcheck.tumblr.com/

Also, I have an instructable up if your interested in the specifics of how it is put together, with code.
(^_^)//

http://www.instructables.com/id/Gut-Check-Fridge-a-Tweeting-and-Facebooking-Fri/

So far so good. And things are going swimmingly.

Interactive Hallway: The projection screens are up and I had a chance to test out the projectors donated from CASE. They will work out very well. I did a quick test run and found out what I needed to tweak and they are ready to go.

And! I was told there will be wireless internet access in that spot, so I plan on streaming some video of that part of the bridge from my ustream account. I'll be blasting the link during the weekend so long as the streaming doesn't interfere with anyone else's projects.

Digital Graffiti Wall: The oF version is a bit behind schedule, I'll still be working on it to see if it'll be ready in time, but the Flash version is still working well and if anything will be on display with it's new updates. I have 4 spray paint cans ready to go for use including one mini can for kids to use.  And I have my wireless broadband sorted out to save art live off of the wall to http://digitalgraffitiwall.tumblr.com I just hope I have a solid enough connection being under the bridge.

I think that is all for now.
I'll see you there!

The time is upon us again. Ingenuity Fest 2011 is right around the corner and it is time to get back to it.I'll be there once again but this time with 2 projects on display.

Return of the digital graffiti wall!

I'm currently in the process of recoding the application running it into OpenFrameworks. That's right, not Actionscript, which will be the backup if something goes wrong. Which is alright, because I do have some upgrades in the AS version that would be worth using anyways.

So why the move to oF? Smoothness. Since the oF version is built right in C++ as an actual application, it can just run much quicker. And it makes great use of openGL to make the graphics work much faster. I can have the video tracking portion of the application built into it as well, no more needing Community Core Vision, so everything is packed into one running application.

After learning so much oF with my projects with Ripley's Entertainment and Supertouch in NY, it seemed a waste to not push even further. The oF forum has been a wealth of knowledge whenever I got stuck. I may even be able to add in some new ideas that would have made Actionscript choke.

So keep a look out for the digital graffiti wall at the eastern end of the bridge.

Currently Unnamed Waterfall Project

After some back and forth about some available supplies, it has been decided to make a double projection interactive display. On the western side of the bridge, look for 2 large projections that react once you walk by them.

And here are some preview images of the current progress to enjoy.

I'm excited to get to show two projects at the event, I also look forward to meeting everyone who come to enjoy a great weekend of art, music and technology. I'll try to keep posting about everything as the time nears.

See you there.

So yeah, my site was nearly lost. Not by me though, by my web host. Something going screwy when they tried to move my site to a different server, or something. Everything I had posted since 2009 would have been gone, and all my emails as well (luckily I save the important ones locally just in case).

The last post would have been about getting ready from Ingenuity Fest for the first time and how I just figured out how to link 2 computers together in real time over a php socket, connecting the first multitouch table to a HD video playing computer. Oh how things change. I was working at Optiem, never heard of Onosys and had no idea how the future was going to unfold. Now I'm working solo with places like the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and Ripley's Entertainment. Learning about all the ups and downs that come with full-time freelancing.

Just some late night nostalgia kicking in. Maybe now would be a good time to catch up on some sleep.
...naw, not when there's SCIENCE to be done.