Description

Using input from a potentiometer to control rotational speed and a DC motor to perform rotations, this project is a rudimentary phenakistoscope (even though all phenakistoscopes are pretty rudimentary). For more information on these things, check out wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenakistoscope

By rotating a disc with a series of drawings and slits for viewing, it is possible to view a brief animation by holding the rotating disc up to a mirror and looking through the slits as they spin past.

A couple problems I encountered in putting this together: 1) I'm a terrible animator, apparently -- my poor little stick man didn't quite do what I wanted him to do, and instead he's doing a little jig, and 2) the motor spins the wheel a bit too fast for good viewing, even on the lowest levels.

Components

• breadboard
• 1 1k Ohm resistor
• 1 diode
• 1 transistor
• 1 DC motor
• 1 battery pack with 2 AA batteries
• 1 potentiometer
• wires
• Arduino board
• phenakistoscope wheel with animation images
• mirror for viewing
• rubber bands

Code

I didn't need to make any modifications to the code provided for the 4 October lab. I've pasted it below.

/*
 * one pot fades one motor
 * modified version of AnalogInput
 * by DojoDave <http://www.0j0.org>
 * http://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/AnalogInput 
 * Modified again by dave
 */

int potPin = 0;   // select the input pin for the potentiometer
int motorPin = 9; // select the pin for the Motor
int val = 0;      // variable to store the value coming from the sensor
void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
}
void loop() {
  val = analogRead(potPin);    // read the value from the sensor, between 0 - 1024
  Serial.println(val);
  analogWrite(motorPin, val/4); // analogWrite can be between 0-255
}

Photo and Video

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/46877131@N00/1540748908/

Video: http://www.vimeo.com/337985