The document describes PinThing, a project that aims to motorize pin art displays. It discusses using Arduino and other electronics to control pins bi-directionally and display animations or information. Potential applications mentioned include clocks, games, 3D sculptures, storefront displays, and more. The document also outlines the software like Python and pinthing.com that could be used to control pin movements and positions. Mechanical aspects like laser cutting and 3D design are also briefly covered.

1. PinThing
By
Jason
Huggins
h0p://twi0er.com/hugs
h0p://twi0er.com/pinthing
h0p://pinthing.com

3. Motorized
Pin
Art
What
if
you
could
motorize
every
pin
in
a
pin
art
display?

4. ApplicaQons
• Clocks
• Games
– Tetris,
Pong,
Snake!
• "Google
Earth
for
the
Blind”
– Render
a
3D
scene
in
actual
3D
• KineQc
Sculpture
/
Large
Art
displays
• Store-­‐front
window
displays
for
company
logos
• Your
Idea
Here!

5. Electronics:
• Arduino
• Custom
SchemaQc
(Yeah,
Fritzing!)
• H-­‐Bridges
– motor
bi-­‐direcQonal
control
• Serial-­‐In-­‐Parallel-­‐Out
Shi[
Registers
– controls
a
lot
using
a
li0le

7. So[ware:
• Visual
Python
(Vpython)
– “3D
so[ware
for
mere
mortals”
• PinThing.com
(three.js
/
canvas)
• pySerial
for
computer<-­‐>Arduino
control

9. from pinmachine import *
import time
a = pinblock()
b = pinblock()
c = pinblock()
d = pinblock()
a.block.pos = vector(-4.5,0,0)
b.block.pos = vector(-1.5,0,0)
c.block.pos = vector(1.5,0,0)
d.block.pos = vector(4.5,0,0)
# It's "show time" time. ;-)
while 1:
thetime = time.strftime("%I:%M:%S",time.localtime())
hours, minutes, seconds = thetime.split(':')
hours = hours.replace('0',' ')
a.show(hours[0])
b.show(hours[1])
c.show(minutes[0])
d.show(minutes[1])
time.sleep(1)

11. Mechanical:
• Laser
cuang
FTW!
• 2D
design
in
Inkscape
• Cuang
by
Ponoko.com