This summer I was invited to join my parents and my brother to camp a week in their mobile home on Öland, an island outside the main land of Sweden. Hesitantly I accepted the offer, but I regret nothing as it was very nice to get away for a while!
While I was there I couldn’t help but spamming photographs with my camera, as well as videos, which I guess is my normal behavior. I tried out my underwater camera housing in the ocean, but the sub surface visibility was incredibly bad, and it was my first prolonged experience of swimming around with flippers and a diving mask, both very cheaply bought.
Instead of writing a ton of text to insert the images into I’ve added titles to the images themselves. My choice of picture viewer for WordPress is Shutter Reloaded, sadly it does not yet support using the title of the IMG tag as a caption, it takes the title from the A tag, but the default behavior of WordPress is to post the title in the IMG tag… I’ve requested it twice, but nothing yet. I relly like Shutter Reloaded except for this small issue.
Anyway, here comes the pictures! In chronologial order, even.
I was going to post just a few pictures, but apparently it turned into quite a lot… oh well. Beneath is the camera running while I soak it in fresh water to dissolve the sea salt which would otherwise store up in the underwater house making the buttons wonky.
Just a little late, but I still have more summer pictures! Not sure when the next batch will be posted, but that will most likely be the last for this years summer :)
These pictures are from a month ago. I really need to post photos quicker, then again, I still haven’t posted anything from my summer vacation! I better get to that, soon…
When I arrived at work in the morning I noticed how the bushes had many white speckles of wet webs, spider webs. Of course I couldn’t resist taking a few pictures.
A bit interesting to see something like this when I (quite naturally) hadn’t seen the webs on the bushes before! The entire world is probably covered in webs; they are just normally hard to see.
Even though I lost a fair amount of blood when cutting my fingers three weeks ago I went to donate blood today again. My second time. This time around it went so smooth that I feel like I could do it every day! Except that I would be dried out pretty soon, eh.
I live right next to the central bus station in our town, so I just went down there, took the bus who went straight to the hospital. Arriving there I had to sit around a bit, as I was early, but then they let me in earlier than my original booking.
I’m still not very used to the puncturing of skin it requires to lose blood. I think I’m actually a bit worse at handling it since I cut my fingers. I guess that means my head is trying to tell me it does not to be cut or stabbed again!
They give you a gift as well as a drink and a sandwich every time you donate blood. This time I picked a black shirt with “Generous” on the chest. A nice thing is that they compensate you for your travelling expenses!
Both when walking to the bus station, first picture in this post, and while waiting for the bus to get back home I found the sun coming through the clouds and the wet ground to look very nice. So naturally I snapped a few pictures.
At work we are supposed to have private mugs so the general ones can be used by guests. I used a blue Christmas mug at first, but now I have one which is truly mine… me! Surely nobody will mistake it for theirs!
The process to generate this mug includes an eight year old idea, sawing, video recording, LEGO and custom software.
Read on if you want the full story behind the creation of the mug(s)!
Background
In 2000 I found photos made by Andrew Davidhazy, a professor in imaging and photographic technology, but by then I didn’t know how they were made or who had made them. Six months ago or so I found the files on my computer and could via Google Image search find where they came from!
Andrew Davidhazy utilized a scrolling film with a slit that exposes a beam of light over time, creating weird photos which fascinated me; especially those of people. As I didn’t know about this technique at the time, I came up with my own way of how to create similar images.
As depicted in the crude 3D animation above (from 2000-02-25) my idea was to use a video camera to record imagery, and then I would extract a column of pixels from each frame in the video to create my images. At the time I only speculated in what kind of apparatus I would need to rotate a camera perfectly around objects (like my own head) to create unwrapping pictures, but I never got to constructing anything as I was not very resourceful back then.
The image to the left is from 2001, generated by sitting on a rotating office chair while recording with a webcam. The software used in this case was a VB application which saved columns of actual screen pixels, made by a school classmate. Not especially practical but it worked, the entire thing was experimental.
In 2003 I begun to use parts of my thought out method with a static camera which rotated to create standard panoramas in Halo, a videogame for the Xbox. To do this I had my cousin create a specialized software to process the videos after my specifications. This is the same application I used for this project, five years later.
Creation Process
Now, in 2008, the concept sparked to life in my mind again when I got the pressure on me to find a private mug to use at work, and I decided it was about time to realize the old idea of unwrapping my head. Many of the things I would need this time around were readily available, or could be acquired cheaply. Here is what I needed.
Video-capable camera with lockable ISO/exposure setting.
A construction that would rotate the camera around my head.
Custom software to process the video with.
The Camera
The camera I used was my beloved Canon Ixus 75 bought in January prior to a skiing trip. It’s a cheap ultra compact camera but it’s the best video capture device I currently own, and it’s physically small enough to simplify the next step of the project. It captures a compressed video stream in 640×480 pixels at 30 frames per second, which had to make do. A feature I found after about 15 face scans was a way to lock the exposure/ISO setting during recording which generates a much better image. Too bad I didn’t find that earlier!
In accordance with my old idea of how to scan a head I decided I would create a device that carried the camera on around my head, looking inwards all the time. The easiest way to construct this was to use my old LEGO bricks.
The LEGO
First I created a vehicle with different speeds on the inner and outer wheels, which caused it to move in a circle. It ended up being way too hard to align it correctly for a perfect circle and it had to travel at a very slow speed to not vibrate or shake too noticeably.
My second concept was a whole frame that would rotate around my head. I experimented with different wheels and constructions. Wide tires would have too much sideways grip so they would only gradually follow the circular track, causing it all to wobble. I ended up using the thinnest tires I could find.
For propulsion I started using two motors facing each other on the construction, but as the motors got different speeds even though they were of the same model I used one large motor instead. I ordered the extra motor and extension cables to reach the battery pack from the LEGO store. In addition I bought additional tires off of eBay as I only had five of them from the beginning.
The final construction is supported by 16 wheels that is in contact with the surface, four of which are driven by the motor via gears, axles, screws and two differentials. The larger tires were added to counter some of the weight and to add grip. The camera hangs outside the outer supporting wheel which caused the inner to slip, causing the rig to travel outside the edge of the table.
The Table
First I got a second hand table which was one meter in diameter, sawing a hole in the center. This table was round and nice, but it could be extended; which meant the board was split in two. This caused the LEGO construction to jump as it crossed the seam to the other board. I went back to the second hand store again to find a table with a whole board. Finally I got a smaller table, square, and precisely the right size.
The Software
As I mentioned before I used the old application my cousin made for me when I created the Halo panoramas. One limitation it has is that it can only handle raw AVI files which cannot be larger than 1GB. To work around this I cropped the video to a small stripe and exported that without sound. A side benefit is that it saves disk space as well as making it lighter to work with.
The Scanning
I tried several different ways of positioning the table and myself before I got to the final scan session. This is how I ended up doing it.
I put the table on four stools to increase the height; so I could fit a chair underneath.
I bought a cheap lawn chair that fits under the table.
I using my Wii Balance Board (which I don’t use very much anymore, sadly!) to gain height from the chair, as I didn’t get high enough up as it was.
I hanged an Xbox Live Vision camera in the ceiling, hooked up to my Xbox 360 displaying a picture on the TV so I could align my head correctly.
I used a universal remote to deactivate the screensaver on the 360 when it activated.
I began with setting the camera to video mode, macro and fixed ISO value. Then I focused it on my hand which I put where my head would be, turned on the recording and inserted it into the LEGO construction and turned on the LEGO motor. Next I climbed into the setup, which almost always resulted in a sour shoulder or other muscle pain, and tried to align my head while the LEGO traveled around the table.
For a successful capture I need to sit still for about two minutes with the same face. Your face can relax when the camera has traveled past it, but the risk is that you change your posture if you relax too much. Some of the faces were hard to keep for two minutes, as well as not blinking when the camera passed!
Other considerations where lighting, angles and distance. I noticed that I got blue strikes through some images, and that was due to my wall mounted lamps getting into the video image. As for positioning, whatever you have closer to the camera will take up less horizontal room in the generated image, so to get a result that is as proportional as possible I needed to center my head. As you can see in the collection of scans keeping your head straight is also important. When you angle the head a whole lot of distortions enter the picture. If you lean your head to the side the whole image will be heavily distorted, but that was easy to control. It was harder to remember to look straight forward, if you do not your ears will be rotated and moved, getting different proportions compared to when you keep your head level.
The Mug
After several face scanning sessions across several months I finally decided I had images I was happy with. I cut them up in Photoshop and adjusted scales so my ears would be in the right places on the mug. After that I ordered three panorama mugs from Emmagjort.se, I found their price was very acceptable and even had phone contact to arrange the details, very nice!
This concludes the eight year old idea… fantasticly relieving! Of course I have ideas of how to make a much better construction from engineered metal parts, but that is 20 years off.
Yesterday (2008-10-05) I managed to do a really clumsy thing. I had my brothers visiting playing Zack & Wiki (not new but awesome!) so I was a bit out of focus when I battled with separating frozen bread slices for us to eat, after they had been grilled. After chopping away with less sharp tools I carelessly decided I would use my Global bread knife I got for my 25th birthday last year. It worked fantastically well, even too well. I had of course applied way too much force as the row of frozen slices previously had seemed like a solid object, but now the knife went straight through, into my unsuspecting fingers.
The first few moments of shock is quite unsettling. The feeling of seeing huge gaping gashes in your fingers is completely unreal, until the blood starts gushing out and you realize you should like… try to stop it. I ran to the sink to not mess up my kitchen, but as I was getting lightheaded and felt like fainting I got some tissues under my hand and laid down on the floor instead.
I called out for my brothers so they could phone my father, that was my instinctual reaction. He later managed to arrange a time at the emergency watch, and an hour later I was sitting in the waiting room filling out the damage report. 40 minutes later I got into a room and they began cleaning up my hand before the doctor would arrive, which took another 20 minutes.
The doctor had me straighten my fingers which hurt a whole lot and sent a funky jolt of pain through my index finger. At first they did not deem my injury very serious as a lot of dried up blood made it hard to see, so they went to another patient while the anesthetic got to work.
They got back a while later and began sewing me up. She originally didn’t think it was very deep, but due to the blood pumping out of the cuts she changed her mind. Instead of her first suggested one stitch on my long finger she used four, and five stitches on my index finger! The anesthetic wasn’t completely working when she started sewing, but I wanted it over with, and after enduring three or four stitches I didn’t feel much anymore.
Now I’m home from work trying to take it easy. Just using my fingers a little is quite painful, but I did get a fair amount of sleep tonight. Painkillers woohoo!
You might have noticed the friendly images in the text, below are some of the bloody and scary images, so if you aren’t into that kind of stuff avoid clicking the links! I’ve also added a warning screen if you step through the images in the display system.
WARNING
THE FOLLOWING IMAGES CONTAIN BLOOD & GORE!!
PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!!! IMG1IMG2IMG3IMG4IMG5IMG6 END OF DANGER
I have been careful when cutting things throughout my entire life, so I’m not quite sure how I got to this point. My guess is that it was a mix of distractions, stress and frustration. Distracted as the others were playing a video game, and I was interested in the puzzles, stress as I was already late preparing the food and we were very hungry, frustration as I couldn’t get the slices to separate! And when it comes down to it, I was not even trying to cut something, I was just going to separate them! Of course I’ve gotten many tips and ideas of how to separate frozen bread slices without damaging your fingers now, like I wont think twice the next time.
Lately I’ve been really busy with a few projects which are still not public. One of them is almost good enough to post soon, planned it last Tuesday… but then I got more ideas to implement… you will see, soon! (promise!) There’s so much going on, phew.
Today I got a package I had no idea what it contained, as I have ordered quite a few things lately. To my joy it was a gym bag which I had spontanously ordered after seeing a bag in the same range on Prylfeber.se! I love it, a bit small, but I don’t things will fit… I’ll just bring a smaller towel! Oh, and if it isn’t obvious enough, I’m still fond of LEGO, even though the new Technic parts freak me out.
Two days ago, that is Monday, the day started with the announcement that we had no water, as a water leak had been discovered near our building. During the day I saw various machines and people coming and going outside my window. At one point I was up on the top floor so I spent a couple of seconds snapping a few pictures from there. It’s not everyday that people sporadically dig up a large pit on in the lawn on the other side of the road. A change to my view.
We eventually got water from a nearby supply to keep the factory up and running, but midday yesterday things were like normal again, except for the pit then.
Oh, and while I’m talking about pictures… I have to sit down and pick some out from my vacation to post. Someday… soon, hopefully.
I also tried my shaky hand to record a zoomed in video to be able to create a loop. As you can see below my hands were indeed shaky, but at least it kind of loops! Next time I’ll make sure to get a tripod. I like video loops… but this one is a bit too wonky :P played back in four times the original speed.
Earlier I posted that I had acquired a trampoline to put in my parents garden, as I myself live in an apartment. Shortly afterward I got curious of how well it would work in water, if at all. It was quite a strange idea, but it got stuck in my head, so I had to try it out.
To make it possible to launch off of the trampoline into the water I wanted to increase the height by extending the legs. I checked if it was possible to order more leg parts, as they were stackable, but that was only possible if you actually had a broken part to replace. Then I checked the price for manufacturing extensions, which was more than half the price of a completely new trampoline! So I ended up buying a second one and used those legs for the extension.
For the trampoline not to sink in the sand on the lake bottom I prepared boards to have as feet on the legs. These were then attached with a rope to stabilize the structure somewhat.
To test the rig out I brought together a number of friends and headed out to a beach belonging to the second largest lake in the country. It was in my first week of vacation so it was cold in the water, a friend guesstimated 14°C, but it was the only weekend this summer that this amount of my friends were available!
To see the process and the end result, watch the video below! Enjoy!
I’ve talked to a few people which give blood, and I’ve been curious to try it out, it does serve a purpose! What pushed me into really contacting the blood central and registering was a talk with a friend’s grandfather, which had been a blood giver all his life. I’ve also talked to my neighbor about it, as she also is a blood giver.
Two weeks ago I finally booked a time, after having left a sample before my vacation, and it went perfectly fine! When I got there I had to sit in line for a few minutes, then I got to lie down and they slurped out 450ml of blood through my left arm!
I think the biggest mess with leaving blood is the iron pills I get to swallow after it. Apparently it would take a whole lot of eating until you have restored all that iron you lose with your blood, but pills will fix you up! Just that they make you weird in the stomach.
For people with fright of needles, I caution you to look away. Well, I guess that’s too late now… below are a two pictures the nurse was kind enough to take!
If you live in Sweden and also want to get rid of some of your blood, for the sake of others, go to GeBlod.nu! I have to say it results in a good feeling, like you are contributing to society in a good way, in addition to paying taxes and abiding the laws.
