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Polar Scanner
2004
by Taylor Wright
Project Description:
This project was inspired by the death of my girlfriends scanner and a
slew of obscure academic classes. While salvaging parts from the
scanner I started to think about what a scanned document is.
People usually see scanned documents as a replica of what is scanned,
though we forget the time based element. There have been few bold
enough to move their hands around or make faces into the glass plate as
a scanner is operating to find exciting results! It is those brave
people who have found a higher potential for such devices. Scanned
objects could be considered a piece of static video, portraying a span
of time and space as a single instance.
Going with this idea, I thought it would be interesting to change the
linear motion of scanner to a radial motion. This would allow me to
scan an entire three dimensional space over time, allowing me to create
a static document describing a period of the location's "life". This
yielded interesting results, which became fantastic in the gallery
environment. People would watch trying to figure out what was happening
on screen, once realizing they would begin to interact with the
project, leaving a trace of themselves for others to come across and
continue the engagement.
This by mounting an Apple iSight to a stepper motor, this allowed me to
record video with a panning system. From there I made a system that
calculated the number of horizontal pixels per step were necessary to
create a consistent panoramic image. I then fabricated a frame out of
an aluminum block, which then held the stepper and teleo modules. The
device used old USB, power and stepper modules. I finished it off by
tapping a tripod mount so the system could be totted around.
Other than learning how to work with aluminum I'd say the project was
relatively easy to put together. The Teleo objects were straight
forward and consistent, and with a little assistance yielded remarkable
results.
-Taylor Wright
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