Project Megapixels

regionalchaos · Post by **regionalchaos** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 5:47 pm

sputnik wrote:Here is what the latest version looks like. It needs a bit more work, but this is almost it.

I think this looks great btw!! You should send out another email about it when it is soildified.

mars · Post by **mars** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:01 pm

Maybe, to simplify the image further, change pink portions to red.

Neon
//////////////

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 9:47 pm

Red on dark red wouldn't be contrasty enough to distinguish the face right.

bb

mars · Post by **mars** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 8:39 am

What I meant is just making the face and hand all one color--I'm not attached to that, just suggesting it.

sputnik · Post by **sputnik** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 10:15 am

regionalchaos wrote:Maybe we should assign the body / head / hand / torch pixels to people that have committed to large chunks, or that we know to be very committed to the project. Basically, participants that we can hopefully assume will be more 'reliable' and show up with the pixels. Then a lot of the random we'll bring 3 or 5 or 1 or what not, can be the fire pixels, and we can scale it as we get them...

Yes! We definately want to be sure that those pieces get made. And I agree that we can scatter the missing pieces in the flames much more easily.

sputnik · Post by **sputnik** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 10:19 am

mars wrote:What I meant is just making the face and hand all one color--I'm not attached to that, just suggesting it.

I like the pink in there. It's the fire lighting up his face.

Mozy bonz · Post by **Mozy bonz** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 10:37 am

Rockdad · Post by **Rockdad** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 10:39 am

Nice job Mozy! did that give you a pixel count when you created it?

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 11:57 am

How many colors is that? Can it be neutralized to maybe a dozen or less?

That way also you could standardize the colors (rit lemon yellow dye, 1 pkg per pixel) so everyone's colors would be relatively the same. (Remember from 22,000 miles it will be blended somewhat as well...)

Quick glance (tho should try it on the pixels), I got the following...

Shirt dark burgandy red
Shirt "light" dark red (also for the ear)
Face/hand dark Cherry red
Face/hand Carmine red
Face pink
Dark Grey
Silver
brown
Amber
Dark Yellow
Lemon yellow
Black

bb

thisisthatwhichis · Post by **thisisthatwhichis** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 12:31 pm

I like it Mozy. That helps define it for me....Need more thoughts from Sput though.

BBS, that's not a bad idea. Start with a standard white sheet with dye instructions to the colors needed for the project. Will likely get you closer to the desired colors, rather than asking several peeps to bring " insert any color description here"......

BTW, I don't think I've read a description of how it wil be secured to the playa...... Just curious.....

sputnik · Post by **sputnik** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 12:46 pm

The image that Mozy has put together is a bit coarser than the resolution of the image I put up. Probably has something to do with the derivation of a pixelated image from a pixelated image.

I do like the very clear boundaries between pixels. At some point I'll have to identify each color and it's grid location, so having it be obvious is a plus

I do want to have as few colors as possible. I like the 6 or 7 colors that Tom produced in the image at the top of the page. Fewer is better. As to colors. i suppose we could try having people dye their fabric, but that's twice as much work and no garauntee that the colors will match (maybe I'm wrong since I've never dyed anything). Seems to me that some people will let it sit too long and then have the color be too dark. It really would be a chore for someone producing 100 pixels. Again, convince me I'm wrong.

Satellite orbits at about 110 miles, but that's still a long way out.

As to securing. At this time I think that's still up in the air a bit. I know I need to lay out a grid on the ground. My original thought was to stake down bailing twine and then attach pixels to that. I've also been hearing that 12 inch landscape stakes are good. But that's a lot of stakes.

Dork · Post by **Dork** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 1:11 pm

Random idea for securing them that may not be feasible - how about having people fold the edges back and sewing them, leaving a loop like the top of a curtain? Run steel cables through the loops, then stake down the cables at the corners of the pixels?

Lot of cable and a lot of sewing not all the volunteers would be up for, but should work.

If the fabric is only attached at individual spots I'd worry about it ripping free when the wind kicks up.

sputnik · Post by **sputnik** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 2:13 pm

That's pretty much the concept I had in mind, but I doubt I'll be able to get steel cable (at least not in the quantity needed). The next call out is for donations of supplies or money or both.

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 3:18 pm

This may be a dumb question, but.......

Why would you need steel cable (which is 'spensive)? Wouldn't 1/4 or 3/8" rope be sturdy enough to work? WOuld be (I think) cheaper... and if sisal (hemp) rope could be buned afterwards...

bb

sputnik · Post by **sputnik** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 4:08 pm

Not a stupid question. I think rope is fine. In fact, I was only planning on using bailing twine and tacking the rows down every so often with pegs. Steel cable would be good here and there just for the strength, especially on the long runs.

Rockdad · Post by **Rockdad** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 8:03 am

Dave on Google

Mozy bonz · Post by **Mozy bonz** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 8:55 am

7 colors

Mozy bonz · Post by **Mozy bonz** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 9:39 am

Mozy bonz · Post by **Mozy bonz** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 9:45 am

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 2:20 pm

Why not just design a layout for BRC in the shape of the universal Burningman symbol?

sputnik · Post by **sputnik** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 2:46 pm

Because I don't like the symbol all that much. It's overused in my opinion.

Sensei · Post by **Sensei** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 2:55 pm

I believe what Sir Dougly is suggesting is shaping the entire city like 'Da Man'. Hmmm...

Good God, we'd have about 20 miles of esplanade!

sputnik · Post by **sputnik** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 6:42 pm

Oh, well. That belongs in a whole 'nother thread.

Annekerhymeswithmonica · Post by **Annekerhymeswithmonica** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 11:21 am

man, this is getting to be such a long thread already.
{I hope this is on the end, haha}

~~~> anyhoot, what I wanted to point out is that anything that is black will not remain black for very long when it is at ground level. Unless it is very very slippery shiny fabric, I guess, and the silt blows off easily.

I just LOVE the image of the flameblower, though. Very nummy.

Whereabouts is this going to be situated? And what day will it start?
We're driving from B.C. and hope to be there on the first day.
'course there's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip, haha.

cheerio
Anneke

sputnik · Post by **sputnik** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 11:36 am

Every color will fade with time, that's for sure. Maybe we can 'dust off' the image with a leafblower.

Location is up in the air right now. I'd like it to be relatively easy for people to get to. On the other hand, having it way off 10:00 and F will keep the incidental traffic down which is a bonus WRT vehicles driving through it randomly. What do you all think?

Construction of the grid (assuming we go that route) will begin on Saturday or Sunday before the event opens. Initial pixels should get laid on Monday with construction continuing through Thursday. Last I heard the sat photo would probably happen on Friday. Cleanup can begin after noon on friday.

If you haven't signed up on the site yet, you should because info is being sent out from there on a regular basis.

Volunteer coordination for on-site work should begin within the next week.

regionalchaos · Post by **regionalchaos** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 5:07 am

FYI- I'm off for Hawaii for a week. See you goons later!

sputnik · Post by **sputnik** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 5:45 am

Woot! Have fun

Gatecrasher · Post by **Gatecrasher** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 6:05 pm

Hey guys. Me again, the satellite guy. I took the picture last year and am an industry insider.

I'm pretty sure I can get the same IKONOS instrument again this year at no cost to y'all. I'll keep you up to date. I know DigitalGlobe has higher resolution, and if you want to follow that route as well, that's totally cool. There are pro's and con's and I'd love to drink a lot of beer with everyone and explain the inner workings of the instruments, since it's not necessarily a gimme that pixel resolution is the only differentiator. Not sure if they will both be available on the same day, but it might be good to get both arranged and try and have a piece that will last a few days. This will also reduce risk from dust storms or clouds (probably not a problem, but worth mentioning).

A few thing that will probably NOT make much difference except to make things a little blurrier than intended, because I think you're on a fine path....

Remember that the satellite pixels and the ground pixels will NOT line up unless The Man can exert some massive karma in to the heavens. As you work on your designs, you may want to try the following photoshop tests. Give yourself a bit of a boarder on the picture, upsample each pixel to 4x4, then offset the photo by cropping out a couple rows of pixels, then downsample back from 4x4 to 1x1 and be sure to use bilinear interpolation sampling, and not nearest neighbor.

Also remember that the panchromatic sensor is high resolution 1x1 and the color sensors are 4x4. In post processing, some wizardry is done to make it almost look like the image is color at 1x1. In order to not totally fuck up, I recommend keeping your detail lines a minimum of 2m pixels each for a line, and definitely much bigger than that for anything you NEED to see, and color is really going to need to be for fill, not lines.

Keep these in mind, and I'm sure things will work out.

One other thing, should you need to downscale, or if anyone else is considering doing a side-project. Emoticons are another thing that might work. They are instantly recognizable, small, and artists have done a lot to convey a big message in a small amount of pixel space. If you consider the design philosophy of art where every pixel counts, you're more likely to maximize your art without having to scale everything up.

Cheers!

Mike

sputnik · Post by **sputnik** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 7:38 pm

Thanks for the info Mike. At this point we're going with whatever we can get as far as the sat goes. There is no money to pay for an image, so, whatever happens, happens.

regionalchaos · Post by **regionalchaos** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 10:15 pm

Woot! I'm back from vacation (and a bit more tan than I normally am

. That's some good news about the Sat. image. It was nice to see the plug again in the JRS. The site traffic always seems to spike a little then, and it looks like we've had a few new folks both sign up, and commit to pixels!

Project Megapixels

Would you participate?

Advice from the Satellite Guy