I started writing a Smart Home Application

The Problem I am trying to solve

       Every morning I . . .

 

Wake up. . .

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Take a shower. . .

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Drink my coffee half dead . . .

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Get dressed. . . (you're welcome girls)

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Look at my clock and run to work completely late.

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Last Summer I started a project called Routine Home Automation on Phone. It runs your phone like a stop watch and will eventually trigger smart home scenes in a sequence.

With the knowledge learned in ICM I started the programming aspect of this over by creating an early prototype of the logic that would be used to run the workflow.

GOALS:

1. Design a Basic Interface

2. Allowing the user to create a basic concept of a "scene"

3. Allow for scenes to be arrangeable by the user

4. Allow for the scrubber to pass each scene

5. As the scrubber passes allow it to trigger accommodating attributes.

The project uses:

• Global Variables
• Objects
• Constructor Objects
• Functions embedded in constructor objects
• if / else statements to determine the variables

At the end...

I was successful in getting 4/5 of my goals to work. Source Code Here

1. Design a basic interface

I designed something super basic for myself. I was focused on the idea of making the objects that are generated playable by an order. Because I am taking a UX design class next semester and knowing that this would all have to be redesigned to meet Apple's iPhone style guides, I knew I could get better benefit out of that class only if I focused solely on the functionality I would need for the app as a whole.

2. Making Scenes Draggable

I started by working off some code made by Nloger on a Processing forum whom essentially created draggable constructor functions.

Then I came up with a way to have them populate in the sequence inviting the user to play with them. Reference Code can be seen in action here.

Our system has encountered an error. This exception has been automatically logged and reported. G6R5EYH86HNRH2XZ966M

3. Allow for scenes to be added, random and re-arrangable by the user.

The "scenes" generated are of random colors to signify their uniqueness. In the app version I hope to eventually allow the individual attributes within the scenes to be programmable as well. I also will work toward making the scrubber circle not re-color with the newest scene.

4. Allow for the scrubber to pass each screen.

This is done using If / Else Statements.

5. As the scrubber passes allow it to trigger accommodating attributes.

This is the part that I have yet to complete.

Where I think the secret lies... 

Conclusion

Overall with 4/5 goals completed for this project, I am pretty happy with where I am. I would like to continue to research and eventually add a time delay variable option as well as further design the ability of defining what a scene is.

A Collaborative Effort

This week I got to work with the ever fabulous and talented Hafi Yandi.

We were going for a Kaleidoscope look because we both had an enjoyment for stylistic and abstract art.

Hafi created the drawings which use mathematics to draw and reflect shapes on themselves. The challenge for me was to develop sliders which changed the variable amount of shapes in the drawing. One challenge we had to overcome was how not to make the image look trippy. Hafi was brilliant enough to drop the Frame Rate from P5's 60 FPS to 25 FPS for a more film like look.

For me, the challenge was to figure out how to set the sliders. Luckily, P5 processing has lots of great assets which helped put it together. All and All it was an enjoyable coding challenge AND I made a new friend!

I guess this was inevitable...I ended up in Code School

The shock of my first week in a masters program at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program didn't hit me until I started my first assignment. It was there I realized well this was inevitable, I'm in code school. Even my childhood best friend Kyle could have saw this coming when at 14 years old he announced I would one day pursue a degree in the computer sciences. . "Please Kyle I'm a filmmaker" I would argue.

To my stubborn credit I am still very much a filmmaker with two new short films on the way. Yet here I am taking a basic JavaScript course and playing with web browsers. Why?

Well as anyone with a pulse and works in the entertainment business will tell you - the game is changing. In the past 10 years we've seen the shift of content demands moving toward web based delivery. The boom of Youtube, Vimeo, and Social media has created new fields for filmmakers to explore and everyone has become their own producer. Even still with devices like RED's Hydrogen and iPhone X just around the corner we'll continue to see a surge in demand for AR and VR work. My point of course is this: if the technology is just getting on it's feet, one should get in early to embrace it and learn its flaws before anyone else does.

Of course, the funny thing about these tools is that they are being designed by gamers not filmmakers and what that tells you is that the solutions are not always there in front of us. Sometimes we need to build the things we need to use. This mentality has always been at the forefront of filmmaking. Camera operators, Visual Effects Artists, and Sound Recordists constantly build the tools that will help them achieve the effect they are looking for.

So for my first project I was challenged to draw a picture using just code. Here is what I came up with:

I know you are amazed by my innovations (sarcasm). In truth this took me quite a bit of time! The first challenge I had was how to work with the coordinate system. There was no grid like you may have in photoshop so a lot of this had to be based off guesswork. However, after some time I slowly started to understand: this is a hierarchy. I worked with the stem then based the face code on that then gradually filled each shape to draw something else. The web editor was fine but I wish I had more time to research how the coloring logic worked with the face. Outside of that, I am happy I was able to draw a pumpkin as I really do love my pumpkin spice lattes.

My birthday is on 9/11

Person: Your birthday is on 9/11? I'm so sorry.

Ryan: (with a forced laugh) Well hey, no one forgets it!

Person: Well it's fine, thankfully you were born many years before that day.

This is typically how the dialogue goes when people find out about my birthday. Its true, I was born nine years before the World Trade Center collapsed, but I assure you, I don't remember much before I was nine years old.

Growing up on Long Island, It's a miracle to say that I did not have any personal losses that day seeing as I don't have to look far to find someone who did. But if there's anything I learned, it was to appreciate the people and moments you do have.

That morning for me, a third-grader, was strange because while riding the bus to school the driver had the radio on full blast, which she never did and it wasn't music as usual.

My mom dropped off Dunkin' Donuts Munchkins so we could celebrate my birthday after recess. The teachers were quiet at school. They were instructed not to say anything. Kids were losing loved ones that day. My best friend Kyle, the know-it-all he was teased me about how no one was going to celebrate my birthday. One-by-one parents were pulling children out of school. Kyle would count down the number of students left. By the half point of students remaining, I remember thinking "God I hope Kyle goes next."

After school, I ended up having an italian dinner at Cafe Amici's with my grandparents and the entire restaurant singing happy birthday to me. All the while, replays of the plane strike ran on a television set behind the bar.

In the months before 9/11, my mother tried to get some family members to do a dinner cruise together. She thought it would be cool to do a trip around the manhattan skyline as a night out in the city. Life got in the way and people decided they were too busy. That dinner cruise was scheduled for September 10th, 2001. They missed out on the last sunset around the world trade center before it came down.

If there's anything I have learned from the anniversary of this tragedy its that you can't take anything for granted. Enjoy the moments you have with your loved ones, be there for those in pain, and continue to celebrate life every day. Birthdays are celebrated to remind us how far we've come and to keep moving. I enjoy the opportunity I have to be with loved ones, not only because they may not be there tomorrow but because I am lucky to have them in my life in the first place.

Graduation from NYU

Last month I had the privilege of completing my undergraduate career at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. The graduation was held at both Yankee Stadium and Madison Square Garden. It goes without saying that I am truly blessed for the experience of being able to complete my schooling in New York City. Over the course of 5 years I have met so many great people who have mentored and guided me. Apart from learning about my craft, I have had the privilege to study in fields I never thought I could explore, I bonded with people of different backgrounds from me and I have learned so much about collaboration and the ever complicated creative mindset it takes to be an artist. While I'll miss the days of submitting papers or staying up all night in the Bobst Library, I am excited for what the future has in store.