4D in mathematics is a very abstract concept in which this additional dimension is indistinguishable, yet acknowledged. This unknown to me relates to the pronounced visual effect the mapped structure of Tobin creates for the viewer. What is fascinating is that we give viewers an idea of what it might be like to see beyond 3D space, to see all points simultaneously for both the exterior and the virtual interior of the set. The combination of this mapped effect and Amon’s music produced some very intense emotional reactions from people after the MUTEK performance.
It's called a polargraph because it uses a dual-polar coordinates system internally, rather than the regular cartesian system we (and computer systems) tend to use.
The mechanism is not wholly original: I have mainly taken inspiration from Hektor the spraycan robot, but in researching my machine came across prior art in the form of the AS200 drawbot and Harvey Moon's drawing machine. And draftsmen will recognise this as a primitive, gravity assisted pen plotter. An awesome one.
The whole system is fairly technologically agnostic, but the current incarnation uses an Arduino microcontroller and an Adafruit Motorshield, along with a couple of stepper motors. The application that drives it from the computer is written in Processing. It decodes a bitmap and creates a map of the file using a polar coordinates system, recording pixel position, size and brightness. The hardware requests each pixel in turn, and renders it on the page using it's own shading and movement algorithms.
I'm experimenting with the rigging and the gondola all the time, trying to find the best way to hold a pen stable to let me draw reasonably quickly and accurately.
I'm using bristol board and smooth cartridge paper to draw on (bristol board doesn't come in A1 sizes), with Sharpie markers, Kuretake ZIG Writers and ZIG Millennium pens and UNIPIN fineliners for fine stuff.
