Prototypes
Thursday 27 July 2017
It's probably my favorite part of a project: building quick prototypes to test ideas, designs, technology... Getting results quick, isolating problems, finding solutions and playing around :) At YiPP we build a lot of prototypes and we wanted to share some of the nicest ones with you!
Like this one for Naturalis, who had just dug up a T-Rex skeleton. Among other things we made a digital graffiti wall where visitors could decide for themselves what T-Rex really looked like. Did she have feathers, scales or maybe polka dots?
In the one below we were testing an interactive solar system projection for Malta's science center Esplora, where visitors can 'catch' planets and learn more about them.
and then the full size test:
For the Philips museum, we wanted to try out real quick if the Kinect was precise enough to let you scan through MRI scan data of the human body with your hand... it was!
We also made a Bullet Time installation once for Technopolis. First we made a 12 camera test setup:
Projection mappings also benefit a lot from prototyping, so here we were trying to find out what kind of effects would look cool to project on top of a model of Amsterdam
Trying out some squiggly line effects for a 3D projection mapping for the Heineken experience
And a miniature interactive version of the same thing:
Endurance test of a custom built wireless RFID reader:
and lastly a city building game using those wireless RFID readers in combination with projecting over a 750 RFID chip grid
It's hard to overestimate the importance of prototyping, especially when you are working on interactive installations. No matter how basic your prototype is, it's always going to tell you more about what you are working on then when you're sitting behind a screen. So we prototype a lot, not only because it's fun, but it's actually an essential part of our work!