Assignment

Final Project (50 pts)

The final project is a chance for you to synthesize the topics we have covered so far in class (and the topics we will soon cover). This project may be a group project of groups of up to three. If this is a group project, at least two ESP32s must be used and communicate directly with each other using wifi, bluetooth, or ESP-NOW.

Final Project Proposal (5 points)

A short plaintext description of your idea submitted to CourseWorks. Include in your proposal:

• a high level description of the idea (1 paragraphs)
• a plan for the major checkpoints (with dates) you need to hit in order to accomplish that idea (a list including at least 4 checkpoints)
• the new piece of hardware or software you will include (1 paragraph - why this piece and what resources will you utilize to learn how this work)

Final Project In-progress Presentation (15 points)

On the last day of class, we will have presentations of the progress you have made so far. Presentations should be 3 min per group member.

You will be evaluated on the following points:

• Do you have slides prepared (3 points)
• Do you have photos and/or videos of your device (3 points)
• Do you have a live demo of your device (2 points)
• Did you complete your presentation before the 3 min timer went off (2 points)
• Have you made concrete progress in a way that suggests to the instructor that you will have a complete submission by the deadline (2 points)
• Have you provided feedback to your peers. At the time of presentation, each of you must post your slides to the discord #showcases channel and starting a thread. Students should provide feedback to your peers within that thread for project on which you have constructive comments. (3 points)

Final Project Documentation (30 points)

As always, the standard deliverables. If working in a group, you may all submit the same code repository, but each need to submit your own blog post. The post should detail, in your own words, the creative vision of the device you have created. You should detail the technical challenges you specifically (as opposed to other group members) faced during the implementation of the device.

(10 points) Some aspects of this project are specific to the final. In particular, you must:

• have an enclosure (2 points)
• use some external hardware (e.g. potentiometer, extended touch sensor, button, motors) (2 points)
• makes an appropriate choice about whether or not to use the battery (2 points)
• makes an appropriate choice about whether to use wired communication with a laptop, wireless communication, or no communication at all (2 points)
• have some level of overall code quality - this means no copy/pasting code unless it really really makes sense (2 points)

You must also meet the following “standard documentation deliverables”.

(10 pts) A blog post

Using a blog site of your choice (github pages, hackaday, medium, notion, etc) make a blog post describing your art. The post should give an overview of your artistic vision. In particular for this assignment, you should address how you have specialized your generative art to the space. What creative decisions did you work lead you to, and which decisions did you take? How were your decisions motivated by your larger creative vision for this project. In the same vein, also address any technical issues you encountered in your work. Particularly focus on issues that other artists may encounter when developing with your hardware setup.

(5 pts) A README

On your github repo add a readme that contains a short description and key information on reproducibility/installation/usage. This key information should be sufficient for a knowledge third party, outside the class, to replicate your design. This readme can be a subset of the material used in your blog post.

(5 pts) Visual documentation of your art (and in this case, the installation as a whole)

Both your blog post and the README should have some amount of visual documentation. Typically the blog post will have a video. The README can have some lighter weight visuals (e.g. a still image). The video can be a simple video shot on your phone - assuming you use basic best practices as discussed in class. You can host the video wherever you like as long as the hosting platform supports in-browser playback (e.g. YouTube, Vimeo). You may also choose to embed a gif in your README in place of a video link.