Drawing Machine
January 30, 2008
Thesis Proposal
Ben Leduc-Mills
Spring 2008
1. THESIS STATEMENT – What problem are you taking on, or what project are you proposing? This should be expressed in one or two sentences, and should be as specific and clear as you can be at the time. We anticipate that you will re-write this statement in increasingly specific terms as your sense of the project progresses.
I propose to build a physical drawing machine with the ability to draw complex illustrations based on various forms of user input. I have two goals; make something meaningful, and to make something pretty.
2. PERSONAL STATEMENT – Why are you interested in this subject? When did your interest start, and why? What particularly fascinates you in this line of thought or type of project? What do you hope to gain from the experience? This should be one or two pages (250-500 words).
I became interested in building a drawing machine by asking myself what I wanted to create before my time at ITP was up. I wanted to build a physical object, I wanted it to be able to create works of some permanence, and I wanted it to be fun. Of the projects that came to mind, a drawing machine appealed to me for several reasons, apart from fulfilling the aforementioned criteria.
First of all, the act of making a drawing machine seemed feasible, given the skill set I have acquired at ITP. A drawing machine would incorporate elements of physical computing, programming, and artistic expression through a huge variety of user interactions, which leads me to the second point: the range of potential artistic expression available. A drawing machine has, like most machines, an input and an output. The great part about a drawing machine is that the input (the data that becomes the drawing), the method (the program that translates the data), and the output (the actual drawing tool), are all variable in interesting ways.
For example, the input could be the keypad of a telephone, a voice, or some text. The program itself can be varied in a infinite number of ways to interpret and output the data it gets (line width, dots, text), and finally, the machine itself can be varied to produce different results based on what drawing instrument are used.
3. RESEARCH – Provide at least four examples of projects, books, products, or technologies that serve as background, inspiration, irritation, or research for the Thesis.
Tristan Perich is an ITP alum who made a simple form of drawing machine during his time here. I was impressed with the combination of simple mechanism and complex result.
A drawing machine I found during preliminary research is somewhat similar to what I have in mind in terms of physical appearance: http://bea.st/sight/sketch/.
Pendulum drawings at the Exploratorium when I was a child.
Etch-a-sketch.
4. WORK DESCRIPTION – One paragraph to one page description of what it is you actually intend to make or do to pursue your Thesis. As with the Thesis Statement, this should be expressed as specifically as possible, with the specificity increasing over time.
Begin research of both the physical parts needed and the possible programming methods. What programs, interfaces, connections, etc. can be leveraged to create interesting results.
Continue to research. Get theory started, order parts, begin programming.
Continue to build. Start testing.
Continue testing, refine, start user testing.
Finish.
