This short experimental piece of animation was was created using several processes, all of which began off life inside the computer. With the help of simple laser cutting, an iPad, a homemade motion rig and DSLR Danny and Alex created a unique stop-frame animation using long exposure photography to bring all these processes together in perfect synergy.
The film began life as simple animation of a whale swimming. Each frame of the animation was then saved as an individual CGI file, this file was then turned into a movie, where-by the form and position of the whale was record, “CAT scan style” from head to tail. These movies were then played on an iPad which was attached to the motion rig. As the movies played out, the iPad would steadily move along the track, re-drawing the shape of the 3D whale in real space. This process was captured using the DSLR camera via long exposures, the camera would record the light from each movie, as the iPad moved from A to B on the motion rig, turning the movie on the iPad into a single photograph on the camera. (If you’re struggling, think the recreation of Milla Jovovich’s character “Leeloo” in Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element)
Every Tuesday is Art Tuesday here at Adafruit! Today we celebrate artists and makers from around the world who are designing innovative and creative works using technology, science, electronics and more. You can start your own career as an artist today with Adafruit’s conductive paints, art-related electronics kits, LEDs, wearables, 3D printers and more! Make your most imaginative designs come to life with our helpful tutorials from the Adafruit Learning System. And don’t forget to check in every Art Tuesday for more artistic inspiration here on the Adafruit Blog!
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.