Gyroscopic Tilt-to-Draw
Display Your Tilting Skills
Taking inspiration from the classic Etch A Sketch, I sought to recreate the challenge and fun of drawing your own design in an interactive art piece. Viewers were free to create art using only two simple factors, the location of the cursor and its color. Using gyroscopic sensors connected up to Processing, two flat shapes were created for the display, the first one controlling the movement of the pixel by the angle of the shape, with the second offering a color wheel to pick from by tilting towards the desired hue. The pixel would draw continuously across the screen with a change to the tilt and, as with the Etch A Sketch, there was no undo button, only a way to wipe the screen to start again.
Roles: Concept, Construction, Programming
My Process
First, I planned out and created the drawing area layout in Processing.
Once the layout was set up, I then worked with the Arduino Uno to wire up, solder, and program the first gyroscopic sensor for the direction. I specifically used the X and Y values, both positive and negative, to determine the location from a center position. This is also where I tested a few different shapes and sizes out for the drawing as well as creating the right levels of sensitivity for the controls.
After I got the first sensor working and reading the correct direction, I then added the second one using the same process, but this time converting the X and Y values into an equation for the RGB color values.
The last steps were to fine tune the controls and to build the shapes to hold the sensors for a more user-friendly design.
Art Examples
