We’re happy to announce another Introductory Processing workshops plus two shiny new workshops running at the lovely and well-outfitted SPACE Studios, this April to June: one aimed at creating interactive lighting installations using Arduino, LEDs, and DMX, and another where we explore using Processing to visualize data, learning some techniques of data sorting and visualization along the way.

Interactive Lighting With Arduino

First, we’re offering a new workshop from Arduino and interactive design guru Daniel Hirschmann:

With the ubiquity of LED lighting installations, artists and designers are looking at ways of introducing interactive elements to light based works. This class is intended to demonstrate methods and technologies to interface and create one’s own responsive light art works. Using the open source Arduino as our platform, over the course of 5 weeks, participants will learn how to use sensor information to effect their light pieces. By using various electronic components and techniques we will demonstrate how to expand the outputs of the Arduino. We will cover the DMX lighting control standard in depth – offering strategies for building responsive lighting systems with off the shelf DMX controllable fixtures. By the end of the class, participants will produce their own interactive lighting project.

Taking place on 4 consecutive Monday nights from 6:30-9:30PM at SPACE from April 26 to May 17 inclusive, with a final open workshop session on June 7.  The cost will be £160, paid upfront, unless you make other arrangements with us.  The cost includes a custom circuit board and electronic components necessary for the workshop.
[more details]

Intermediate Processing: Visualizing Data

Dry as the title may sound, this workshop will be an inspiring tour of projects using data in art and design, and the techniques behind them.  Visualizing data is a great way to learn more about Processing and what’s possible with software and visuals, because let’s face it, most of what we do in the digital world is taking data from one source (e.g. temperature, twitter messages, the daily length of your toenails) and converting it to another form (e.g. a bar graph).  In a scant 4 weeks, you will learn:

1. How to use data to create interesting visual imagery
2. What XML is and why it is useful
3. How to load and save data files (in a variety of formats)
4. How to represent data as code (object-oriented programming)
5. Basic math skills for dealing with data (mean, mode, median, etc)

Taking place on 3 consecutive Thursday nights from 7:15-9:15PM at SPACE from April 29 to May 20.  For those who have taken the introductory Processing course, or with basic exposure to programming (loops, variables, arrays).  You will need to bring a laptop, preferably with Processing installed (free download).   The cost will be £75, paid upfront, unless you make other arrangements with us.

Introductory Processing for Everyone

The course itself will be a relaxed but project-focused introduction to Processing and interactive art and design in general.  We will spend the bulk of the first three sessions on basic methods of working with code, general workflow, and feeling your way around the Processing environment, along the way building some small projects and gaining inspiration from art, design, and technologies such as Wii remotes, RFID, OSC, video, and more.  The material is flexible, based on the needs and wishes of the people attending.

Taking place on 5 consecutive Thursday nights from 7:15 – 9:15PM at SPACE from May 27 until June 24.

This will be a small workshop, so please reserve soon!   The cost will be £125 for the entire 5-week course, paid upfront, unless you make other arrangements with us.

Finally…

Please email reserve@openlabworkshops.org to reserve spot in any workshop!

All workshops take place at SPACE Studios, in Hackney, at 129 – 131 Mare St, Hackney E8 3RH

Nearest transport: London Fields (5 mins by rail from Liverpool St.), Bethnal Green (tube), various buses – please see http://www.spacestudios.org.uk/contact/SPACE/ for full details

This 2-day workshop will take place on Tuesday 6 & 13 April at The Flea Pit (Columbia Rd nr. Old Street, Shoreditch).
Cost: £40 (for two 2-hour sessions)
To reserve please email reserve@openlabworkshops.org – space is limited.

Are you new to programming and interactive electronics? Have you ever been interested in a crash course in connecting real world sensors with your computer?

This is the class for you! We start with a gentle introduction to programming using Processing, a free tool for digital art and design. Following that is a basic introduction to electronics and sensors using the Arduino platform. Finally, we demonstrate how you can connect the two together! Use a distance sensor to control the strength of a man-made wind, or use a mouse click to start a vibrating motor under someone’s chair… At the end of this class you will have the tools to do exactly these things and more.

Suitable for beginners. No previous experience necessary.

Day 1 – Processing

• Introduction to the Processing application – installing and basic use
• Drawing to the screen
• Basic programming concepts such as decisions (logic) and syntax
• Basic animation concepts
• Resources and where to find help

Day 2 – Arduino

• Introduction to the Arduino platform (hardware and software) – installing and basic use
• Programming the Arduino (syntax)
• Digital input / output, analog input / output, and Serial Communication
• Demonstrating how to get Processing and Arduinos to communicate.
• Resources and where to find help

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~= Workshop #6: Special Daniel vs. Daniel Edition ~=~=~=

When: Thursday 15 October, from 6pm-9:30pm
Where: Space Studios, 129 – 131 Mare St, Hackney E8 3RH
Nearest transport: Bethnal Green (tube), London Fields (Overground), Buses – see http://www.spacestudios.org.uk/contact/SPACE/

Cost: £15 for the entire night, or per workshop (see below).
How to pay: At the door, or via Paypal to be guaranteed a space.  Please email or Paypal to reserve@openlabworkshops.org to reserve a space in any workshop.

Schedule:

6PM: Simulating and Sonifying Natural Systems with Daniel Jones – £10
An increasingly popular practice in digital arts is creating sonic representations of dynamical systems — simulating natural phenomena such as insect swarms, tree growth, wind turbulence and neural networks, and translating such phenomena into sound, to create organic, dynamic audio-visual works. Working from a *basic knowledge* of the Java-based Processing environment, Daniel Jones explains how to create such a simulation and subsequently connect it to the open-source SuperCollider synthesis engine, providing a valuable addition to a digital artist’s toolkit.

Requirements:

• Processing (from http://processing.org/download/)

7:45PM: Introduction to Arduino: Microcontrollers, LEDs, Sensors, and You! with Daniel Hirschmann – £10
Newly-minted Goldsmiths’ lecturer Daniel introduces you to the Arduino as a platform for prototyping physical & digital interactive objects, installation, and things.  We will cover the programming environment, some basic electronics, and learn how to make sensors do stuff to lights.

Requirements:

• laptop computer with Arduino downloaded and installed.  Go through the Getting Started guide on the website.
• An Arduino Microcontroller platform.  These can be bought from Tinker.it.  If needed, a few will be on hand for use, or for sale.  Please let us know by email (see above) whether you’re interested in buying one on the day.
• Breadboard, hook-up wire, switches, LEDs, Potentiometers, Infrared Rangers, Ultrasonic rangers, FSR’s, other sensors…  If you don’t know what these are, DON’T worry!  We’ll have some available to use during the intro.  If you DO know what these are, and you have a them – bring them along and we can help you wire them up!

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~= Workshop #7: Programming is More than Just Words ~=~=~=

When: Tuesday 20 October, from 6pm-10:00pm
Where: The Roebuck pub (upstairs room), 50 Great Dover Street, SE1 4YG
Nearest transport: 5, 133, 343, 21 buses, Borough Tube (Northern line)
About 8 minute walk from London Bridge Station (Northern and Jubilee tube, rail, and bus station: 48, 47, 149 buses)

Cost: £15 for the entire night, or per workshop (see below).
How to pay: At the door, or via Paypal to be guaranteed a space (limited to 30 people per workshop).  There will be a few spaces for people who show up on the night.  Please email reserve@openlabworkshops.org to reserve a space in any workshop.

Schedule:

6PM: Processing Beginners’ Workshop with Evan Raskob – £10

You’ve heard Evan’s intro workshops and been slightly terrified by the advanced stuff (it’s ok to admit it).  So bring your basic questions and project ideas, and Evan will work thorough them to everyone’s benefit.  Or, if people are feeling quiet, he will go through some of his endless bag o’ tricks, including OSC and MIDI.

7:45PM: Understanding Sound and Music by Programming Computers with S. Jagannathan – £10

Session 1 (of 2): Building a music tuner program.

Your very own accurate musical instrument tuner spanning the entire audio range to tune any instrument.  Several tuning schemes supported including roll your own.  About 50% of the workshop/talk will have computer sound & music ideas – these will be programming language agnostic – in a format that musicians without any prior programming background but with an interest in computer music can understand. PD, max/msp, SuperCollider, etc. users will benefit from looking into that primal black box of sound generators!

Requirements:

• Basic knowledge of C – variables, loops, conditionals, basic pointers. (if you have done programming in the past it should be fairly straightforward.)
• Computer with the ability to compile and run C programs linked to portaudio libraries.

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